SFB - Sonderforschungsbereich Kulturen des Performativen

PROJECT OUTLINE

It is the aim of the project to question the construction of rituals and ritual play from an historical and religious-anthropological perspective with respect to their contribution to concepts of cultural change and the production of the future. On the one hand, we are investigating genuinely religious rituals and their transformation into artistic processes; on the other hand, their scientific discursivization and theorization, especially in the realm of the history of scholarship. The focus of our project lies on the assumption that (ludic) rituals and (ritualized) play are defined as risky processes due to the commitment ("enjeu") they demand. This notion implies not only the potential of failure but also the possibility of provoking risks.

The past funding phase revealed that the historicization of the research on ritual and play coupled with our emphasis on the element of risk could lead to new and productive insights: in contrast to the thesis proposing a sense of coherence, achieved through rituals, which secures and affirms orientation, our approach allowed us to stress the unpredictable and emergent nature of ritual processes as part of their performative make-up by taking into consideration their possible failure and the danger they provoke. This approach relies on the assumed inherent dynamic of rituals but also transcends it, because our project also examines their potential to be experimental, playfully risky, or catastrophic. This potential is also relevant to situations where rituals superficially serve the minimization of risk factors. In light of our research, we define risk as a productive force and object of reflection rather than merely as a synonym for instability.

The current funding phase will once again apply the anthropological dynamic of risk to the study of ludic and ritual processes. Our objectives will now be deepened and specified with the help of two crucial aspects: firstly, we aim to shed more light on the temporal modality which is, by virtue of their risky nature, inherent to ritual and play; secondly, we seek to identify and analyze the creation of destructive or violent moments. Both of these dimensions of our research lead to the question of the conditions for general and specifically cultural change, because they define rituals in terms of their tendency to approach the future by reflecting on and transforming the past.




	A7 Ritual and Risk. The Performativity of Play Between Cultural Anthropology, Religion and Art
	PROJECT OUTLINE It is the aim of the project to question the construction of rituals and ritual play from an historical and religious-anthropological perspective with respect to their contribution to concepts of cultural change and the production of the future. On the one hand, we are investigating genuinely religious rituals and their transformation into artistic processes; on the other hand, their scientific discursivization and theorization, especially in the realm of the history of scholarship. The focus of our project lies on the assumption that (ludic) rituals and (ritualized) play are defined as risky processes due to the commitment ("enjeu") they demand. This notion implies not only the potential of failure but also the possibility of provoking risks. The past funding phase revealed that the historicization of the research on ritual and play coupled with our emphasis on the element of risk could lead to new and productive insights: in contrast to the thesis proposing a sense of coherence, achieved through rituals, which secures and affirms orientation, our approach allowed us to stress the unpredictable and emergent nature of ritual processes as part of their performative make-up by taking into consideration their possible failure and the danger they provoke. This approach relies on the assumed inherent dynamic of rituals but also transcends it, because our project also examines their potential to be experimental, playfully risky, or catastrophic. This potential is also relevant to situations where rituals superficially serve the minimization of risk factors. In light of our research, we define risk as a productive force and object of reflection rather than merely as a synonym for instability. The current funding phase will once again apply the anthropological dynamic of risk to the study of ludic and ritual processes. Our objectives will now be deepened and specified with the help of two crucial aspects: firstly, we aim to shed more light on the temporal modality which is, by virtue of their risky nature, inherent to ritual and play; secondly, we seek to identify and analyze the creation of destructive or violent moments. Both of these dimensions of our research lead to the question of the conditions for general and specifically cultural change, because they define rituals in terms of their tendency to approach the future by reflecting on and transforming the past.