Speakers and Spoken.

Bell, Catherine M. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. New York: Oxford University Press. 1997. xv + 351 pp. $19.95 (paper).

This book is not an introduction to "ritual," but a comprehensive account of the academic "practice" of analysis which constitutes the nascent field of Ritual Studies. The selection of rituals here, and the discussion that frames them, aims not to portray the practices themselves, but to illustrate the ways in which scholarship has, does, and might in the future approach behaviors associated with the western intellectual construct "ritual." The book, divided into three parts, first surveys the most influential theories pertaining to ritual, then describes some major categories of ritual activity, and finally depicts the complex socio-cultural dynamics at play in the process of ritualizing. Bell's aim is twofold. The stated objective is "to introduce the general, but serious reader to the basics as well as the complexities of this area..." (xii). The second objective is not explicitly stated, but quite unmistakable: to infuse her own particular socio-political functionalist perspective into the fundamental discourse on "ritual." In this, Bell is continuing one of her earlier arguments in Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice born of the suspicion that ritual is fundamentally constructed and maintained to reinforce inequalities of power, and that practitioners of ritual misrecognize how, through physical practices that reproduce doctrinal traditions and identities, they are accomplices in their own socialization. In spite of this internal bias, there are, however, many other "perspectives" which are given clear elucidation. Still, Bell's sociological interest limits what proposes to be a thorough account to an almost exclusive focus on the social "dimensions" of ritual practice. I found myself asking: "Where are the individuals performing the rites?" After all, are not societies the complex sum of those individuals of which they are comprised?

Part One, "Theories: The History of Interpretation," traces the evolution of ritual studies from the early anthropological accounts of exotic "others" to the more recent "practice" theorists. More interested in highlighting the relative strengths and weaknesses of various "perspectives" than in writing a purely diachronic history of theories, Bell traces the genealogy of three broad methodological approaches: (1) those seeking the origins and/or essence of ritual; (2) functionalists and structuralists; and (3) culturalists, including symbolists, linguists, "performance" theorists, and most recently, the "practice" theorists who have most deeply influenced Bell's own approach. The latter are described as "particularly attentive to the political dimensions of social relationships, especially with regard to how positions of domination and subordination are variously constituted, manipulated, or resisted" (76). In the conclusion of each section, Bell effectively illustrates the contours of these methodological groupings by presenting one model rite (respectively: Babylonian Akitu festival, Ndembu Mukanda initiation, British and Swazi enthronements) and then contrasting the various approaches through showing how they have, or might have, analyzed these particular ceremonies.

In Part Two, "Rites: The Spectrum of Ritual Activities," Bell moves from explanatory "perspectives" to descriptive "dimensions," presenting her own typological framework of the "basic genres of ritual action" (passage, calendrical/commemorative, exchange and communion, affliction, feast/fast/festival, and political) as well as the "characteristics of ritual-like activities" (formalism, traditionalism, disciplined invariance, rule-governance, sacred symbols, and performance). This section is rich with illustrations drawn from a wide array of practices, but it is here that Bell most clearly emphasizes her suspicions of the political "strategies" at work in ritual. For example, in discussing "ritual responses to healing" therapeutic dynamics are glossed over only to emphasize how in such rites, "the values of traditional roles and responsibilities are reaffirmed as more important than the individual grudges, griefs, and fears cathartically released in the rite" (117). Such rites are viewed as, "particularly effective in maintaining the status quo of the traditional social order in a community..." (120). Bell's sociopolitical functionalism finds its most reasonable voice in her perceptive analysis of "political rites" where she argues that, "when ritual is the principal medium by which power relationships are constructed, the power is usually perceived as coming from sources beyond the immediate control of the human community" (129). Bell illustrates this section with several fascinating examples from recent history, but focuses special attention on the enthronement of Japanese Crown Prince Akhito in 1990, where she observes that "ritual allows for the construction of power in terms that appeal to a sense of cosmological fit, not an explicit social contract" (132). While this section does indeed highlight how ritual "actually creates situations," Bell is overly concerned with how it "create[s] power in the very tangible exercise of it" (136). Bell shows almost no interest in how practitioners perceive their rites as creating positive or meaningful situations. Ritual is rarely allowed to be viewed as an appropriate or meaningful response to human experience. Instead, Bell repeatedly emphasizes its deceptive qualities, its "way of engaging some wide consensus that those acting are doing so as a type of natural response to a world conceived and interpreted as affected by forces that transcend..." (169). Bell's negative perspective is apparently the consequence of her own religious skepticism. "While ritual-like action is thought to be that type of action that best responds to the sacred nature of things," she writes, "in actuality, ritual-like action effectively creates the sacred... (156-57).

Part Three, "The Fabric of Ritual Life" is a multifaceted analysis of the factors that contribute to a society's construction of ritual life. Why do some societies have more ritual than others? Why do ritual traditions change, or not change? While focusing on what accounts for the "degree" or "density" of ritual in certain societies, Bell expounds upon the typologies of Weber, Bellah, and Douglas, ultimately recasting the latter's into her own four societal "styles" of ritual action: (1) "appeasement and appeal," (2) "cosmic ordering," (3) "moral redemption," and (4) "personal spirituality" (185-90). Bell textures the discussion further by focusing on other well-known typologies, contrasting the ritual styles between, for example, oral societies and literate ones, religions emphasizing orthopraxy and those that stress orthodoxy, and religious groups that may be distinguished as church, sect, and cult.

In one of the most interesting sections, Bell analyzes the necessities, mechanisms, and effects of "ritual change," illuminating the interplay of tradition, crisis, and self-expression that factor into shifts within communal practices. Special attention is focused on how modern phenomena such as TV, feminism, multiculturalism, and the "modern" quest for "personal spirituality" have influenced traditional practices. But Bell also addresses issues of resistance to change, including a fascinating account of deep resistance to change in recently established American civil rites, such as the National Anthem (229-31). In this section, quite appropriately, emphasis is placed on the underlying socio-political forces in ritual change. Bell eventually tempers her own perspective, acknowledging that "it is not really clear how effective ritual actually is in socializing, resocializing, or desocializing" (252). The book concludes with a provocative inward glance at how academic writing on "ritual" has "reified" an abstract universal category to such an extent that the "power of ritual" itself comes to legitimate contemporary ritual change.

The learning assembled in this book is quite remarkable; it is brimming with illuminating descriptive and analytic accounts of "rituals" that span the globe and the centuries. Examples range from Balinese cockfighting to the Olympic ceremonials, Chinese miniature gardens to the Nuremburg rallies, Hindu samskoras to British judicial costume. Bell has examined a wealth of scholarship in the fields of anthropology, and religious studies and most readers are sure to find their horizons expanded. However, the reader ought to consider how such a broad-based project is necessarily doomed to distortion. On the one hand, Bell's delineation of the "spectrum" and "contexts" of ritual life is shaped too forcefully by examples from those cultures with which she is most familiar, namely: Chinese religions, Christianity, and the contemporary American scene. For example, Bell seems deeply influenced by the ancient Chinese philosopher Xunzi, whom she quotes as Leaching, "rites are the highest expression of the hierarchical order, the basis for strengthening the state, the way by which to create authority..." (188).On the other hand, in an attempt to be comprehensive and cover other cultures, she must rely heavily on secondary literature that may present a skewed or limited view. As a student of Jewish ritual, I found it particularly disturbing when in several discussions of contemporary Jewish practice, her only sources were articles from the New York Times - hardly a reliable Journal of Jewish Studies! In one case, for example, Bell speaks of "halakic" identity when she means "ethnic" identity, resulting in the misleading labeling of "halakic Jews" as those with only genetic claims, and wrongfully excluding all "converts" from this category (195).

The shortcomings highlighted here should be considered in light of the author's own claim that, "Ultimately, this book will argue that talk about ritual may reveal more about the speakers than the spoken" (xi). After reading Bell's ambitious and generally insightful work, I am left wishing that such a book would have been written as a collaboration among specialists: authorities on the "dimensions" of the particular cultures from which the data is drawn, as well as theorists whose "perspectives" penetrate deeper than that presented here.

Yakov Travis teaches at the Cleveland College of Jewish Studies.