1. Special Issue: Transformations in Contemporary South Asian Ritual: From Sacred Action to Public Performance (2016).
2. Sondra L. Hausner is Associate Professor in the Study of Religion at the University of Oxford. She is trained in public policy (Princeton 1991) and sociocultural anthropology (Cornell 2002).
摘要
The performance of communal identity is a time-honoured way of representing a group to itself and to others. Performance in communal events marks the contours of a community, demonstrating who belongs and who does not. Such a pattern is particularly apparent in diasporic communities, where newly arrived residents need and want to stick together. In this article, a study of Gurungs, Nepali immigrants in Britain and Belgium, we turn to the possibility of refracting further this open-ended field of performance: What kinds of performance effect a particular or desired political stance? Which kinds of identity emerge in which setting, and how does performance play a role in determining the preeminent or dominant category? And, perhaps most importantly for our ongoing attempts to establish generalizable theories of ritual, is there a difference between collective performance and individual practice? I argue here that practice must be understood at the level of the individual, while performance may be conducted by and for the sake of the individual self or by and for the purpose of consolidating the collective group. Ritual practice thus may be seen as conducted by the self, while ritual performance is understood as conducted for the other.
目次
Abstract 99 Introduction 99 Gurungs in Europe 100 Religion 101 Ritual Performance and Ritual Practice 102 Collective Performance I: New Years' Celebrations 102 Collective Performance II: Funerals 103 Individual Practice: Altars and Shrines 104 Practice and Performance 105 Conclusion: Individual and Collective 106 References 106 Biographical Sketch 108 Notes 108
