{"id":93,"date":"2018-11-14T10:42:56","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T10:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/socp12.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/?post_type=chapter&p=93"},"modified":"2019-05-07T10:04:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T10:04:34","slug":"religious-performance-as-spectacle","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/chapter\/religious-performance-as-spectacle\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious Performance as Spectacle"},"content":{"raw":"
\"epgp<\/a>\r\n<\/span><\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nIntroduction<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n

Religious doctrine often turns to the written and solemnly spoken word to communicate what is considered to be most important in life. But another side of religion consistently appears: striking artistic objects and grand performances that engage all of the senses. Religious traditions have evoked some of the most astounding products of the human imagination to present them more vividly; in music, sculpture, painting, costumes, and now in contemporary media, religion has often produced quite a spectacle. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel is one of the most famous examples of art as religious spectacle. Ritual objects, household altars, iconic replicas, and small works of art often\u00a0serve to recreate a more personal form of the religious spectacle in the home or the neighborhood place of worship. Similarly, religious \u2018performance\u2019 is an extremely significant way in which religious communities construct identity and a sense of community. The performance of religious rituals offers a means for social groups to reaffirm their cohesion through a dramatic experience which energizes shared emotional states and reinforces the individually lived participation through a symbolically articulated communication. The bodily arousal of emotions represents an efficient strategy which allows communities to recover an experience of direct continuity with foundational (either\u00a0<\/span>real or imagined) events even situated in a remote past.\u00a0 The meaning and\u00a0<\/span>definition of ritual has not been fixed by the sociologists of religion. For the purpose of the present module however, we shall adhere to the performance of ritual, an approach which has gained much ground in sociology, anthropology and cultural and religious studies.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

In S<\/span>ection 1<\/strong> of this module,<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

we shall examine the meaning of \u2018performance\u2019. Performance can be ascribed to the realm\u00a0<\/span>of performing arts such as music, art and theatre. However, as will be highlighted below,\u00a0<\/span>performance is a crucial aspect of studying religion as well. \u2018Performance\u2019 in the sociology\u00a0<\/span>of religion explores religious activity in terms of the qualities of human action. In this\u00a0<\/span>respect, the varying meanings of \u2018ritual\u2019 and \u2018performance\u2019 will be elucidated with respect\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0 the theoretical works\u00a0 of Catherine\u00a0 Bell,\u00a0 Erving\u00a0 Goffman,\u00a0 Victor\u00a0 Turner,\u00a0 Stanley\u00a0<\/span>Tambiah, Clifford Geertz and Richard Schechner.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n

In Section 2<\/strong> of this module, we shall examine the meaning of \u2018spectacle\u2019 with specific reference to the work of Guy Debord who coined the term \u2018the society of spectacle\u2019. The term spectacle is now often used to describe any mass mediated event or image that attracts immense viewership but Debord had a very specific definition of the spectacle as a social relationship mediated by advertising and other mass media images.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

In Section 3<\/strong> of this module we shall attempt to integrate the meanings elucidated in the first two sections to come to an understanding of religious performance as spectacle. This section argues that a crucial part of religion is the performance of a ritual or practice in the public to create a visual impact and to transmit a web of meaning to participant and viewer alike. This will be explained by examining the nature of performance and spectacle in events such as religious festivals, public executions in medieval Europe, shamanic healing, religious terrorism national holidays like the Fourth of July in American civic religion.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nSECTION 1:<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nUnderstanding \u2018Performance\u2019<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n

The term 'performance<\/strong>' is broad, and can include artistic and aesthetic performances like concerts, theatrical events, and performance art; sporting events; social, political and religious events like rituals, ceremonies, proclamations and public decisions; certain kinds of language use; and those components of identity which require someone to do something. The concept of performance thereby enables an assessment of the ways in which individuals act and react<\/strong> in the world. It is a means of understanding how people situate themselves in the world, for themselves and for others. Performance studies provides an\u00a0opportunity to examine how people act and react in society. Performance studies is interdisciplinary, drawing from theories of the performing arts, anthropology and sociology, literary theory, and legal studies. The \u201cperformative turn\u201d in the social sciences acknowledges how <\/span>individual behavior derives from collective<\/strong>, even unconscious, influences and is manifest as observable behavior, both overt and quotidian, individual and collective (Davis 2008:1). <\/span>Catherine Bell<\/strong> writes that in the last several decades, the sociological study of religion has increasingly focused on the actual <\/span>\u2018doing\u2019 of religion<\/strong> (1998:205). Therefore, the term \u2018performance\u2019 in the sociology of religion explores religious activity in terms of the <\/span>qualities of human action<\/strong>. The meaning of the word \u2018performance\u2019 however is somewhat ambiguous. It may be defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has also come to mean the enactment of a script or score, as in a theatrical play or musical recital. More recent uses of \u2018performance\u2019 however emphasise a type of event in which <\/span>the very activity<\/strong> of the agent or artist <\/strong>is the most crucial dimension of the event itself instead of being only complementary to it (Bell 1998:205). Within this repertoire of meanings, religious studies uses the language of performance to stress the execution of a pre-existing script for activity (for example, conducting a traditional church service) or the explicitly unscripted dimensions of an activity in process (for example, the nature and quality of the church service) (Bell 1998:206). Performance approaches seek to explore how activities <\/span>create<\/em> culture, authority, transcendence and whatever forms of holistic ordering are required for people to act in meaningful and effective ways. Hence, by virtue of this underlying concern, performance theory analyses both religious and secular rituals as orchestrated events that construct people\u2019s perceptions and interpretations (Bell 1998:208). Intrinsic to the concerns of performance studies is a fresh awareness of human agents as active creators of both cultural continuity and change rather than passive inheritors of a system who are conditioned from birth to replicate it. Therefore, performance theory avoids arguments that rituals mould people to maintain the status quo, and instead looks at how people themselves fashion the rituals that shape their world (Bell 1998:209). The notion of \u2018performance\u2019 gained popularity in the 1960s. At that time, several well-known sociologists and anthropologists such as <\/span>Erving Goffman<\/strong> (1956), <\/span>Victor Turner<\/strong> (1988), <\/span>Stanley<\/strong> Tambiah <\/strong>(1979) and<\/span> Clifford Geertz <\/strong>(1973) began to use this terminology as a means to sidestep the mind\/body or thought\/action dichotomies that previous approaches to the study of ritual had imposed. Recent anthropological works by <\/span>Richard Schechner<\/strong> (2002) highlight the connections between rituals and performance art.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

According\u00a0 to\u00a0 <\/span>Erving\u00a0 Goffman\u00a0<\/strong>(1956), \u2018a \u201cperformance\u201d may be defined as all the activities of a given participant on a\u00a0<\/span>given occasion which serves to influence in any way any of the other participants...<\/span>When<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nan individual or performer plays the same part to the same audience on different<\/strong>\r\n\r\noccasions, a social relationship is likely to arise<\/strong>\u2019 (Goffman 1956:15-16). Thus for\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nGoffman, performance is imitative or \u2018mimetic\u2019. In other words, daily life bears a dramatic\r\n

structure because each of us is an \u2018actor\u2019 who plays certain \u2018parts\u2019 in front of a believing<\/p>\r\n\u2018audience\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 of\u00a0\u00a0 colleagues,\u00a0\u00a0 acquaintances,\u00a0\u00a0 family\u00a0\u00a0 and\u00a0\u00a0 friends.\u00a0 Goffman\u00a0\u00a0 called\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 this\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\ndisposition a \u2018front\u2019\u2014the posture one employs to convince someone else of something, or\r\n\r\nto\u00a0 earn\u00a0 a\u00a0 certain\u00a0 social\u00a0 standing\u00a0 (Goffman\u00a0 1956:13).\u00a0 For\u00a0 example,\u00a0 when\u00a0 a\u00a0 person\r\n\r\n\u2018becomes\u2019 an adult, he or she is actually adopting the prescriptive behaviour of adulthood\r\n

that is applicable in his or her society. In other words, he or she is performing<\/em> adulthood.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

This performance is imitative or mimetic because the person is also involved in imitating the codes of adult conduct that he or she has observed in other adults.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Similarto\u00a0<\/span>Emile Durkheim<\/strong>,<\/span>Victor\u00a0<\/strong>Turner <\/strong>(1957, 1969, 1988) believed that social order depended on rituals and ceremonial\u00a0<\/span>performances.\u00a0\u00a0 However,\u00a0\u00a0 unlike\u00a0\u00a0 Goffman\u00a0 who\u00a0\u00a0 highlighted\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 mimetic\u00a0\u00a0 nature\u00a0\u00a0 of\u00a0<\/span>performance, Turner argued that performance implies creation or \u2018poeisis\u2019. He saw <\/span>cultureas being in a constant state of change as members of the culture negotiated common <\/span>beliefs.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

In his research in the late 1960s, Turner began to see <\/span>a universal theatrical language at\u00a0<\/strong>play in the various cultural rituals <\/strong>he studied. He determined that all groups\u2014be it the\u00a0<\/span>Ndembu people of north-western Zambia or tree-painters in medieval China\u2014 perform\u00a0<\/span>rituals that dramatize and communicate stories about themselves (Turner 1957, 1969).<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

They all, for example, engage in some form of coming-of-age ceremonies, exorcism rites,\u00a0<\/span>or warfare-- behaviour which contains a theatrical component and which enable the actor to\u00a0<\/span>achieve a change in stature, manage crisis or give birth to a new state of affairs. Turner\u00a0<\/span>noted that such rites tend to occur in a \u2018liminal\u2019 space of heightened intensity separate from\u00a0<\/span>routine life, much like a dramatic theater performance. Given that these ritual acts exhibit\u00a0<\/span>many of the same means of expression employed on a theater stage, Turner termed them\u00a0<\/span>\u2018social dramas.\u2019 <\/span>Stanley Tambiah<\/strong> (1979) defines ritual as \u2018a culturally constructed system <\/span>of symbolic communication\u2019 which is built upon \u2018particular cosmological or ideological <\/span>constructs\u2019 (Tambiah 1979:9). Tambiah espouses the the <\/span>performative nature of ritual<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n

He writes that ritual action in its constitutive features is performative in three senses: firstly, as linguistic performance, \u2018wherein saying something is also doing something as a conventional act\u2019; secondly as \u2018a staged performance that uses multiple media by which the participants experience the event intensively\u2019; and thirdly, in the third sense of indexical values- being attached to and inferred by actors during the performance (1979:9). Ritual performance, relying on dramatic devices like acts of verbal and physical repetition, role playing, music, dance, props, and established costuming, is a codification and transmission of information and beliefs held by a particular group of individuals. Clifford Geertz\u00a0<\/strong>(1973) views culture as a public performance<\/strong> of signs and symbolic acts. In Geertz's view cultural patterns are the means through which people attribute meaning and structure various events in their lives. Therefore the study of culture according to Geertz is the study of the mechanism employed by individuals and groups in order to orient themselves in the world.\u00a0\u00a0 According\u00a0 to\u00a0\u00a0 Geertz,\u00a0\u00a0 religious\u00a0\u00a0 rituals\u00a0\u00a0 are\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018full-blown\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ceremonies\u00a0\u00a0 \"cultural performances\"...which\u00a0\u00a0 represent\u00a0\u00a0 not\u00a0 only\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 point\u00a0 at\u00a0\u00a0 which\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0 dispositional\u00a0 and conceptual aspects of religious life converge for the believer, but also the point at which the interaction\u00a0 between\u00a0 them\u00a0 can\u00a0 be\u00a0 most\u00a0 readily\u00a0 examined\u00a0 by\u00a0 the\u00a0 detached\u00a0 observer\u2019 (1973:113).\u00a0\u00a0 Geertz\u00a0 provides\u00a0 an\u00a0 example\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 here,\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Whenever\u00a0\u00a0 Madrasi\u00a0 Brahmans\u00a0 (andnon-Brahmans, too, for that matter) wished to exhibit to me some feature of Hinduism..or invited me to see, a particular rite or ceremony in the life cycle, in a temple festival, or in the general sphere of religious and cultural performances. Reflecting on this in the course of my interviews and observations I found that the more abstract generalizations about Hinduism..could generally be checked, directly or indirectly, against these observable performances (1973: 113). Thus, the performance of religion as ritual not only provides a code of meanings to the participants of that ritual but also sets up a frame of observation for the outsider. Richard Schechner<\/strong> (2002) has initiated a full-fledged disciplinary study of performance theory. He extends the meaning of ritual as being a part of the everyday\u00a0(Schechner 2002:52). \u2018Rituals are collective memories encoded into actions...Many people equate ritual with religion, with the sacred. In religion, rituals give form to the sacred, communicate doctrine, open pathways to the supernatural, and mold individuals into communities. <\/span>But secular public life and everyday life are also full of ritual<\/strong>. Great events of state often combine sacred and secular ritual, as in the coronations, inaugurations, or funerals of leaders.\u2019 (2002:52) Ritual can lead \u2018people into a \u201csecond reality,\u201d separate from ordinary reality; this reality is one where people can perform actions different from what they do ordinarily\u2019 (2002:52).<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nSECTION 2:<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nUnderstanding \u2018Spectacle\u2019<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n

In descriptive terms, a spectacle is a public display, or, to be more precise, a public event that is notable for its impressive appearance. This definition includes a range of different visually oriented cultural forms, from live theatrical performances to inanimate museum exhibits to reproduced images in film and television. No matter what form a spectacle takes, what is most important is that it is watched or seen, with the most spectacular events drawing the largest audiences. Within industrial and post-industrial cultural and state formations, spectacle<\/strong> has been appropriated to describe appearances that are purported to be simultaneously enticing, deceptive, distracting and superficial. As Baz<\/strong> Kershaw <\/strong>writes, \u2018Spectacle seems always aimed to produce excessive reactions -the WOW! factor- and at its most effective it touches highly sensitive spots in the changing nature of the human psyche by dealing directly with extremities of power: gods, monarchy, regicide, war, terrorism, catastrophe, apocalypse now\u2019 (Kershaw 2003:592). The dominant forms of spectacle change over time; poetic performance was an important type of spectacle in ancient societies, whereas modern societies are dominated by reproduced<\/strong> spectacle <\/strong>such as that of television. The concept of the spectacle is most closely associated with the work of French Marxist Guy Debord<\/strong>, who in 1967 characterized postwar consumer capitalism as the \u201csociety of the spectacle.\u201d<\/strong> While it is now common to use the term loosely to dismiss visually distracting entertainments, Debord had a very specific definition of the spectacle as a social relationship mediated by advertising and other mass media images. Debord said that the society of the spectacle came to existence in the late 1920s (Debord 1988). As Debord writes, \u2018The spectacle presents itself simultaneously as all of society, as part of society, and as instrument of unification. As a part of society it is specifically the sector which concentrates all gazing and all consciousness...The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images\u2019 (Debord 1967). The idea of one system of images implies that individuals have little power to contest dominant constructions. This is why modern conceptions of the spectacle tend to be associated with a very passive notion of spectatorship. The critique of the spectacle<\/em> is a development and application of Karl Marx's concept of <\/strong>fetishism of commodities<\/strong> (Marx, 1980). In the society of the spectacle, the commodities rule the workers and the consumers instead of being ruled by them. The consumers are passive subjects that contemplate the reified spectacle. According to Debord, there are three different forms of spectacle (Debord 1988). The concentrated spectacle is that which is associated with\u00a0<\/strong>concentrated bureaucracy. Debord associated this spectacular form mostly with the <\/span>Eastern Bloc of Communism and <\/span>Fascism. Every aspect of life, like property, music, and communication is concentrated and is identified with the bureaucratic class. The concentrated spectacle generally identifies itself with a powerful political leader. The concentrated spectacle is made effective through a state of permanent violence and police terror. <\/span>The diffuse spectacle<\/strong> is the spectacle associated with advanced <\/span>capitalism and commodity abundance. The diffuse spectacle is more effective than the concentrated spectacle. The diffuse spectacle operates mostly through seduction, while the concentrated spectacle operates mostly through violence. <\/span>The integrated spectacle is<\/strong> associated with modern capitalist countries. According to Debord, the integrated spectacle goes by the label of <\/span>liberal democracy. This spectacle introduces a state of permanent general secrecy, where experts and specialists dictate the morality, statistics, and opinions of the spectacle.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nSECTION 3:<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nUnderstanding \u2018Religious Performance\u2019 as \u2018Spectacle\u2019<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n

From the above discussion on performance and spectacle, it will be clear that a crucial part of religion is the performance of a ritual or practice in the public to create a visual impact or to transmit a web of meaning to the insider-participant or the outsider-viewer. This is similar to theatrical events and spectacles. All religious \u2018events\u2019 that are performative construct a discourse of meaning into the performative activity. The performance of public namaaz<\/em> by Muslims for instance is intended to convey the sentiment of \u2018umma\u2019 or the collectivity of Muslims worldwide among the namaazis<\/em>, to reiterate the traditional practices of prayer in Islam, to imbue a linguistic commonality of all Muslims reciting Arabic verses from the Quran, and to communicate to the observer the nature and quality of Islamic collective praying. It is inherent in religious performance to create a spectacle. For example, festivals create not only an intensity of collective emotion but also a visual effect. A religious festival provides opportunities to observe the communicative system conveyed through complex performance events. According to Beverly J. Stoeltje<\/strong>, a festival prepares a communicative scenery for manifestations of ethnicity and cultural unity with the special objective to demonstrate and experience a particular identity. Therefore a festival is a cultural performance which is scheduled, temporally and spatially bounded, programmed, characterized by co-ordinated public occasions and heightened occasions of aesthetic expression (Stoeltje 1992). A festival performance serves the purpose of the articulation of the group's heritage, it is a communicative situation actively engaging participants, presenting a combination of participation and performance in a public context. Motivation for participation in festivals includes social interaction that allows for the exploration and negotiation of many kinds of relationships. For example, festivals in India like Ravan vadh and Diwali inscribe mythology and celebrate the defeat of demon-kings by demi-gods like Ram. These festivals are immense crowd pullers; their spectacular value aside, they convey the triumph of \u2018good over will\u2019 to onlookers. As Catherine Bell <\/strong>writes, ritual has \u2018in common with theatrical performances, dramatic spectacles, and public events, the performative dimension per se \u2013 that is, the deliberate, self-conscious \u201cdoing\u201d of highly symbolic actions in public \u2013 is key to what makes ritual,theater, and spectacle what they are\u2019 (Bell 1997:159). For example, in medieval Europe the most important public events, with the exceptions of political and civic events such as coronations, were often religious spectacle. These ranged from processions to Advent celebrations to public penitence to saints\u2019 days festivals. Morality plays, passion plays, Pentecost plays, and nativity dramas all served the role that television and film do for today\u2019s audiences (Hanawelt and Reyerson 1994: xviii). <\/span>Invoking awe is also one of the<\/strong> key elements of religious spectacle. <\/strong>In her comparative study of medieval and contemporary portrayals of the crucifixion, religious studies scholar Alison Griffiths roots the religious spectacle in just this sense of awe, calling it one of the essential design aspects of religious spectacle (2007: 9). <\/span>Joel F. Harrington<\/strong> writes how the combination of ritualistic performance and spectacle was sought to control the masses and instill a sense of discipline by punishment. \u2018In the medieval era, <\/span>public executions were meant to\u00a0<\/strong>accomplish two goals: first, to shock spectators and, second, to reaffirm divine and temporal authority. <\/strong>A steady and reliable executioner played the pivotal role in achieving this delicate balance through his ritualized and regulated application of violence on the state's behalf. The court condemnation, the death procession, and the execution itself constituted three acts in a carefully choreographed morality play, what historian Richard van Dulmen called \u201cthe theater of horror.\u201d The \u201cgood death\u201d Meister Frantz Schmidt, an executioner in 16th-century Nuremberg, sought was essentially a drama of religious redemption, in which the poor sinner acknowledged and atoned for his or her crimes, voluntarily served as an admonitory example, and in return was granted a swift death and the promise of salvation..Mishaps leading to mob violence and lynch justice jeopardized the core message of religious redemption and state authority.\u2019 (Harrington 2013). <\/span>As<\/strong> Mitchell Merback <\/strong>writes with respect to public executions, \u2018the community insisted that the spectacle be edifying, not as a lesson in the majesty of the law but as <\/span>a drama of<\/strong> Christian repentance, purification, and salvation\u2019 <\/strong>(Merback 1999:144). Religious performance as spectacle is manifested in a very dramatic fashion by <\/span>shamanism.<\/strong> A <\/span>shaman <\/strong>is a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a ritual, and practices divination and healing. As Richard Schechner writes, \u2018The word \u201cshaman\u201d is of Tungus (Siberian) origin. It can be argued that in a strict sense shamanism belongs solely to north central Asia \u2013 and perhaps, via the land bridge once linking Siberia to Alaska, to the Americas. But as a practice and theory, shamanism occurs all over the world. Originally a practice of hunter-gatherer peoples, shamanism is today found in agricultural, industrial, and post-industrial societies...In certain ways, <\/span>shamans are very much like stage actors<\/strong>: both shamans and actors play many roles using both stock and new means of expression...Shamanic narratives most often center on a life-and-death struggle against powerful opponents: placating the keepers of the dead, fighting a disease, exorcising a demon, overcoming a spell that is threatening an individual or an entire community...The costumes are carefully constructed; there is drumming, music, and dancing. <\/span>Always there<\/strong> is audience participation<\/strong>. In shamanic healing, the one afflicted by disease is passive, sometimes barely conscious...<\/span>In shamanic performance, entertainment is integral<\/strong> \u2013 the efficacy of the cure or exorcism depends on the excellence of the performance. For the healing to succeed,the community\u2019s attention must be grabbed and focused; energies must be enlisted and directed.\u2019 (2002:198-200)<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Another kind of \u2018religious performance\u2019 is found in acts of terror, by Islamic jihadists for example. As <\/span>Mark Juergensmeyer<\/strong> writes, <\/span>\u2018religious terrorism can be as<\/strong> \u201cperformance violence,\u201d <\/strong>illustrating that performance violence is planned in order to obtain tangible goals, and also to theatrically enact and communicate an imagined reality. The scenario that underlies the performance of religious terrorism is often one of cosmic war. Some religious terrorism could also be motivated by scenarios other than cosmic war. The idea of warfare involves more than an attitude; it is ultimately a world view and an assertion of power.\u2019 (Juergensmeyer 2013) As <\/span>Diana Taylor<\/strong> writes, \u2018when people refer to the \u201cSeptember 11th tragedy,\u201d they usually refer to that <\/span>awesome spectacle of pity and<\/strong> fear <\/strong>so brilliantly executed by the suicide pilots and so efficiently<\/span> delivered nationally and globally by the U.S. Media <\/strong>(Taylor 2002:95-96). It is noteworthy to examine the role of religious performance in seemingly secular societies such as the United States. As the sociologist <\/span>Robert Bellah<\/strong> has argued, \u2018While some have argued that Christianity is the national faith..as the generalized religion of \"the American Way of Life,\" few have realized that there actually exists alongside of and rather clearly differentiated from the churches an elaborate and well-institutionalized civil religion in America.\u2019 (Bellah 1967) <\/span>American<\/strong> civil religion <\/strong>is a nonsectarian quasi-<\/span>religious faith that exists within the <\/span>United States with sacred symbols drawn from national history. It has been portrayed as a cohesive force, a common set of values that foster social and cultural integration. The celebration of the Fourth of July or Independence day is a near-religious performance in this context.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nConclusion<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n

It is clear from the above discussion that religious performance is universal to all societies and cultures. Human agents also invoke spectacular effect while performing acts of resistance. For example, the Dandi March led by Gandhi and the Salt Satyagraha were performances of civil disobedience that created a very popular spectacle. Be that as it may, the spectacle of religious performance has immense value not only in visuality and entertainment but also in discourses of identity, community belonging. Even while controlling masses through religious doctrines, it is the performativity of religion that proves to be extremely effective. The methods of religious performance are also employed by countries to instill among citizens a sense of national pride. This is especially true for India where the nation itself is considered as a Hindu \u2018devi\u2019; only by worshipping her can one \u2018perform\u2019 one\u2019s patriotism.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
you can view video on Religious Performance as Spectacle<\/strong><\/td>\r\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n\r\n\r\nReference bibliography<\/strong>\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. Tracy C. Davis (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Performance Studies<\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Catherine Bell, \u2018Performance\u2019, in Mark C. Taylor (ed.) Critical Terms for Religious<\/em> Studies <\/em>(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life<\/em> (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, 1956)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  4. Victor Turner, The Anthropology of Performance<\/em> (New York: PAJ Publications, 1988)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  5. Victor Turner, Schism and Continuity in an African Society: A Study of Ndembu<\/em> Village Life <\/em>(Berg Publishers, 1957)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  6. Victor Turner, The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual<\/em> (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1969)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  7. Stanley Tambiah, A Performative Approach to Ritual: Radcliffe-Brown Lecture 1979\u00a0<\/em>(London, Proceedings of the British Academy: Oxford University Press, 1979)<\/li>\r\n \t
  8. Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures<\/em> (New York: Basic Books, 1973)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  9. Richard Schechner, Performance Studies: An Introduction<\/em> (Third edition) (London,\u00a0<\/span>New York: Routledge, 2002)<\/li>\r\n \t
  10. Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle,<\/em> translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith (New York: Zone Books, 1967, 1995)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  11. Guy Debord, Comments on the Society of the Spectacle,<\/em> translated by Malcolm Imrie (London, New York: Verso, 1988, 1990)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  12. Baz Kershaw, \u2018Curiosity or Contempt: On Spectacle, the Human, and Activism\u2019, Source: Theatre Journal<\/em>, Vol. 55, No. 4, Theatre and Activism (Dec., 2003), pp.\u00a0<\/span>591-611 \u00a0Published\u00a0 by:\u00a0 The\u00a0 Johns\u00a0 Hopkins\u00a0 University\u00a0 Press\u00a0 Stable\u00a0 URL:http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/25069332 <\/a>Accessed: 24-03-2016 13:21 UTC<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  13. \u2018Some Aspects of Marx\u2019s notion of commodity fetishism\u2019 from Marx's \u2018Capital\u2019,\u00a0<\/em>Philosophy and Political Economy <\/em>by Geoffrey Pilling 1980, available\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/pilling\/works\/capital\/ch05.htm<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
  14. Catherine Bell, Ritual<\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  15. B. A. Hanawelt and K.L. Reyerson \u201cIntroduction,\u201d in B.A. Hanawelt and K.L. Reyerson (eds), City and Spectacle in Medieval Europe<\/em>, (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1994, ix\u2013xx.)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  16. Beverly J. Stoeltje, \u2018Festival\u2019 in Folklore, Cultural Performances and Popular<\/em> Entertainments<\/em>, ed. by Richard Bauman (New York 1992)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  17. Alison Griffiths, \u201cThe revered gaze: the medieval imaginary of Mel Gibson\u2019s The Passion of the Christ,\u201d Cinema Journal<\/em> 2007, 46: 3\u201339.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  18. Joel F. Harrington, The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the<\/em> Turbulent Sixteenth Century <\/em>(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013) excerpts quoted from <\/span>http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/news_and_politics\/history\/2013\/05\/executioners_in_m<\/a> edieval_europe_history_of_capital_punishment.html<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
  19. Mitchell Merback, The Thief, the Cross and the Wheel: Pain and the Spectacle of<\/em> Punishment in Medieval and Renaissance Europe <\/em>(Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1999)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  20. Mark Juergensmeyer, \u2018Religious Terrorism as Performative Violence\u2019 in Michael Jerryson, Mark Juergensmeyer, and Margo Kitts (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of<\/em><\/a> Religion and Violence <\/em><\/a>(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  21. Diana Taylor, untitled entry in \u201cA Forum on Theatre and Tragedy in the Wake of September 11, 2001,\u201d 2002, 95\u201396, quoted in Richard Schechner, Performance<\/em> Studies: An Introduction<\/em>, p. 281<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  22. Robert Bellah, \u2018Civil Religion in America\u2019, Daedalus<\/em>, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, from the issue entitled, \"Religion in America,\" Winter 1967, Vol. 96, No. 1, pp. 1-21<\/span>Ira Stoll, \u2018The Theology of the Fourth of July\u2019, TIME,<\/em> July 3 2014, available at <\/span>http:\/\/time.com\/2951223\/fourth-of-july-god-religion-america\/<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
    \"epgp<\/a>
    \n<\/span><\/div>\n
    \n

     <\/p>\n

    Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Religious doctrine often turns to the written and solemnly spoken word to communicate what is considered to be most important in life. But another side of religion consistently appears: striking artistic objects and grand performances that engage all of the senses. Religious traditions have evoked some of the most astounding products of the human imagination to present them more vividly; in music, sculpture, painting, costumes, and now in contemporary media, religion has often produced quite a spectacle. Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel is one of the most famous examples of art as religious spectacle. Ritual objects, household altars, iconic replicas, and small works of art often\u00a0serve to recreate a more personal form of the religious spectacle in the home or the neighborhood place of worship. Similarly, religious \u2018performance\u2019 is an extremely significant way in which religious communities construct identity and a sense of community. The performance of religious rituals offers a means for social groups to reaffirm their cohesion through a dramatic experience which energizes shared emotional states and reinforces the individually lived participation through a symbolically articulated communication. The bodily arousal of emotions represents an efficient strategy which allows communities to recover an experience of direct continuity with foundational (either\u00a0<\/span>real or imagined) events even situated in a remote past.\u00a0 The meaning and\u00a0<\/span>definition of ritual has not been fixed by the sociologists of religion. For the purpose of the present module however, we shall adhere to the performance of ritual, an approach which has gained much ground in sociology, anthropology and cultural and religious studies.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    In S<\/span>ection 1<\/strong> of this module,<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    we shall examine the meaning of \u2018performance\u2019. Performance can be ascribed to the realm\u00a0<\/span>of performing arts such as music, art and theatre. However, as will be highlighted below,\u00a0<\/span>performance is a crucial aspect of studying religion as well. \u2018Performance\u2019 in the sociology\u00a0<\/span>of religion explores religious activity in terms of the qualities of human action. In this\u00a0<\/span>respect, the varying meanings of \u2018ritual\u2019 and \u2018performance\u2019 will be elucidated with respect\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0 the theoretical works\u00a0 of Catherine\u00a0 Bell,\u00a0 Erving\u00a0 Goffman,\u00a0 Victor\u00a0 Turner,\u00a0 Stanley\u00a0<\/span>Tambiah, Clifford Geertz and Richard Schechner.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

     <\/p>\n

    In Section 2<\/strong> of this module, we shall examine the meaning of \u2018spectacle\u2019 with specific reference to the work of Guy Debord who coined the term \u2018the society of spectacle\u2019. The term spectacle is now often used to describe any mass mediated event or image that attracts immense viewership but Debord had a very specific definition of the spectacle as a social relationship mediated by advertising and other mass media images.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    In Section 3<\/strong> of this module we shall attempt to integrate the meanings elucidated in the first two sections to come to an understanding of religious performance as spectacle. This section argues that a crucial part of religion is the performance of a ritual or practice in the public to create a visual impact and to transmit a web of meaning to participant and viewer alike. This will be explained by examining the nature of performance and spectacle in events such as religious festivals, public executions in medieval Europe, shamanic healing, religious terrorism national holidays like the Fourth of July in American civic religion.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    SECTION 1:<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Understanding \u2018Performance\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    The term ‘performance<\/strong>‘ is broad, and can include artistic and aesthetic performances like concerts, theatrical events, and performance art; sporting events; social, political and religious events like rituals, ceremonies, proclamations and public decisions; certain kinds of language use; and those components of identity which require someone to do something. The concept of performance thereby enables an assessment of the ways in which individuals act and react<\/strong> in the world. It is a means of understanding how people situate themselves in the world, for themselves and for others. Performance studies provides an\u00a0opportunity to examine how people act and react in society. Performance studies is interdisciplinary, drawing from theories of the performing arts, anthropology and sociology, literary theory, and legal studies. The \u201cperformative turn\u201d in the social sciences acknowledges how <\/span>individual behavior derives from collective<\/strong>, even unconscious, influences and is manifest as observable behavior, both overt and quotidian, individual and collective (Davis 2008:1). <\/span>Catherine Bell<\/strong> writes that in the last several decades, the sociological study of religion has increasingly focused on the actual <\/span>\u2018doing\u2019 of religion<\/strong> (1998:205). Therefore, the term \u2018performance\u2019 in the sociology of religion explores religious activity in terms of the <\/span>qualities of human action<\/strong>. The meaning of the word \u2018performance\u2019 however is somewhat ambiguous. It may be defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has also come to mean the enactment of a script or score, as in a theatrical play or musical recital. More recent uses of \u2018performance\u2019 however emphasise a type of event in which <\/span>the very activity<\/strong> of the agent or artist <\/strong>is the most crucial dimension of the event itself instead of being only complementary to it (Bell 1998:205). Within this repertoire of meanings, religious studies uses the language of performance to stress the execution of a pre-existing script for activity (for example, conducting a traditional church service) or the explicitly unscripted dimensions of an activity in process (for example, the nature and quality of the church service) (Bell 1998:206). Performance approaches seek to explore how activities <\/span>create<\/em> culture, authority, transcendence and whatever forms of holistic ordering are required for people to act in meaningful and effective ways. Hence, by virtue of this underlying concern, performance theory analyses both religious and secular rituals as orchestrated events that construct people\u2019s perceptions and interpretations (Bell 1998:208). Intrinsic to the concerns of performance studies is a fresh awareness of human agents as active creators of both cultural continuity and change rather than passive inheritors of a system who are conditioned from birth to replicate it. Therefore, performance theory avoids arguments that rituals mould people to maintain the status quo, and instead looks at how people themselves fashion the rituals that shape their world (Bell 1998:209). The notion of \u2018performance\u2019 gained popularity in the 1960s. At that time, several well-known sociologists and anthropologists such as <\/span>Erving Goffman<\/strong> (1956), <\/span>Victor Turner<\/strong> (1988), <\/span>Stanley<\/strong> Tambiah <\/strong>(1979) and<\/span> Clifford Geertz <\/strong>(1973) began to use this terminology as a means to sidestep the mind\/body or thought\/action dichotomies that previous approaches to the study of ritual had imposed. Recent anthropological works by <\/span>Richard Schechner<\/strong> (2002) highlight the connections between rituals and performance art.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    According\u00a0 to\u00a0 <\/span>Erving\u00a0 Goffman\u00a0<\/strong>(1956), \u2018a \u201cperformance\u201d may be defined as all the activities of a given participant on a\u00a0<\/span>given occasion which serves to influence in any way any of the other participants…<\/span>When<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

     <\/p>\n

    an individual or performer plays the same part to the same audience on different<\/strong><\/p>\n

    occasions, a social relationship is likely to arise<\/strong>\u2019 (Goffman 1956:15-16). Thus for<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Goffman, performance is imitative or \u2018mimetic\u2019. In other words, daily life bears a dramatic<\/p>\n

    structure because each of us is an \u2018actor\u2019 who plays certain \u2018parts\u2019 in front of a believing<\/p>\n

    \u2018audience\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 of\u00a0\u00a0 colleagues,\u00a0\u00a0 acquaintances,\u00a0\u00a0 family\u00a0\u00a0 and\u00a0\u00a0 friends.\u00a0 Goffman\u00a0\u00a0 called\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 this<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    disposition a \u2018front\u2019\u2014the posture one employs to convince someone else of something, or<\/p>\n

    to\u00a0 earn\u00a0 a\u00a0 certain\u00a0 social\u00a0 standing\u00a0 (Goffman\u00a0 1956:13).\u00a0 For\u00a0 example,\u00a0 when\u00a0 a\u00a0 person<\/p>\n

    \u2018becomes\u2019 an adult, he or she is actually adopting the prescriptive behaviour of adulthood<\/p>\n

    that is applicable in his or her society. In other words, he or she is performing<\/em> adulthood.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    This performance is imitative or mimetic because the person is also involved in imitating the codes of adult conduct that he or she has observed in other adults.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Similarto\u00a0<\/span>Emile Durkheim<\/strong>,<\/span>Victor\u00a0<\/strong>Turner <\/strong>(1957, 1969, 1988) believed that social order depended on rituals and ceremonial\u00a0<\/span>performances.\u00a0\u00a0 However,\u00a0\u00a0 unlike\u00a0\u00a0 Goffman\u00a0 who\u00a0\u00a0 highlighted\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 mimetic\u00a0\u00a0 nature\u00a0\u00a0 of\u00a0<\/span>performance, Turner argued that performance implies creation or \u2018poeisis\u2019. He saw <\/span>cultureas being in a constant state of change as members of the culture negotiated common <\/span>beliefs.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    In his research in the late 1960s, Turner began to see <\/span>a universal theatrical language at\u00a0<\/strong>play in the various cultural rituals <\/strong>he studied. He determined that all groups\u2014be it the\u00a0<\/span>Ndembu people of north-western Zambia or tree-painters in medieval China\u2014 perform\u00a0<\/span>rituals that dramatize and communicate stories about themselves (Turner 1957, 1969).<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    They all, for example, engage in some form of coming-of-age ceremonies, exorcism rites,\u00a0<\/span>or warfare– behaviour which contains a theatrical component and which enable the actor to\u00a0<\/span>achieve a change in stature, manage crisis or give birth to a new state of affairs. Turner\u00a0<\/span>noted that such rites tend to occur in a \u2018liminal\u2019 space of heightened intensity separate from\u00a0<\/span>routine life, much like a dramatic theater performance. Given that these ritual acts exhibit\u00a0<\/span>many of the same means of expression employed on a theater stage, Turner termed them\u00a0<\/span>\u2018social dramas.\u2019 <\/span>Stanley Tambiah<\/strong> (1979) defines ritual as \u2018a culturally constructed system <\/span>of symbolic communication\u2019 which is built upon \u2018particular cosmological or ideological <\/span>constructs\u2019 (Tambiah 1979:9). Tambiah espouses the the <\/span>performative nature of ritual<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

     <\/p>\n

    He writes that ritual action in its constitutive features is performative in three senses: firstly, as linguistic performance, \u2018wherein saying something is also doing something as a conventional act\u2019; secondly as \u2018a staged performance that uses multiple media by which the participants experience the event intensively\u2019; and thirdly, in the third sense of indexical values- being attached to and inferred by actors during the performance (1979:9). Ritual performance, relying on dramatic devices like acts of verbal and physical repetition, role playing, music, dance, props, and established costuming, is a codification and transmission of information and beliefs held by a particular group of individuals. Clifford Geertz\u00a0<\/strong>(1973) views culture as a public performance<\/strong> of signs and symbolic acts. In Geertz’s view cultural patterns are the means through which people attribute meaning and structure various events in their lives. Therefore the study of culture according to Geertz is the study of the mechanism employed by individuals and groups in order to orient themselves in the world.\u00a0\u00a0 According\u00a0 to\u00a0\u00a0 Geertz,\u00a0\u00a0 religious\u00a0\u00a0 rituals\u00a0\u00a0 are\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018full-blown\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ceremonies\u00a0\u00a0 “cultural performances”…which\u00a0\u00a0 represent\u00a0\u00a0 not\u00a0 only\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 point\u00a0 at\u00a0\u00a0 which\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0 dispositional\u00a0 and conceptual aspects of religious life converge for the believer, but also the point at which the interaction\u00a0 between\u00a0 them\u00a0 can\u00a0 be\u00a0 most\u00a0 readily\u00a0 examined\u00a0 by\u00a0 the\u00a0 detached\u00a0 observer\u2019 (1973:113).\u00a0\u00a0 Geertz\u00a0 provides\u00a0 an\u00a0 example\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 here,\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Whenever\u00a0\u00a0 Madrasi\u00a0 Brahmans\u00a0 (andnon-Brahmans, too, for that matter) wished to exhibit to me some feature of Hinduism..or invited me to see, a particular rite or ceremony in the life cycle, in a temple festival, or in the general sphere of religious and cultural performances. Reflecting on this in the course of my interviews and observations I found that the more abstract generalizations about Hinduism..could generally be checked, directly or indirectly, against these observable performances (1973: 113). Thus, the performance of religion as ritual not only provides a code of meanings to the participants of that ritual but also sets up a frame of observation for the outsider. Richard Schechner<\/strong> (2002) has initiated a full-fledged disciplinary study of performance theory. He extends the meaning of ritual as being a part of the everyday\u00a0(Schechner 2002:52). \u2018Rituals are collective memories encoded into actions…Many people equate ritual with religion, with the sacred. In religion, rituals give form to the sacred, communicate doctrine, open pathways to the supernatural, and mold individuals into communities. <\/span>But secular public life and everyday life are also full of ritual<\/strong>. Great events of state often combine sacred and secular ritual, as in the coronations, inaugurations, or funerals of leaders.\u2019 (2002:52) Ritual can lead \u2018people into a \u201csecond reality,\u201d separate from ordinary reality; this reality is one where people can perform actions different from what they do ordinarily\u2019 (2002:52).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

     <\/p>\n

    SECTION 2:<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Understanding \u2018Spectacle\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    In descriptive terms, a spectacle is a public display, or, to be more precise, a public event that is notable for its impressive appearance. This definition includes a range of different visually oriented cultural forms, from live theatrical performances to inanimate museum exhibits to reproduced images in film and television. No matter what form a spectacle takes, what is most important is that it is watched or seen, with the most spectacular events drawing the largest audiences. Within industrial and post-industrial cultural and state formations, spectacle<\/strong> has been appropriated to describe appearances that are purported to be simultaneously enticing, deceptive, distracting and superficial. As Baz<\/strong> Kershaw <\/strong>writes, \u2018Spectacle seems always aimed to produce excessive reactions -the WOW! factor- and at its most effective it touches highly sensitive spots in the changing nature of the human psyche by dealing directly with extremities of power: gods, monarchy, regicide, war, terrorism, catastrophe, apocalypse now\u2019 (Kershaw 2003:592). The dominant forms of spectacle change over time; poetic performance was an important type of spectacle in ancient societies, whereas modern societies are dominated by reproduced<\/strong> spectacle <\/strong>such as that of television. The concept of the spectacle is most closely associated with the work of French Marxist Guy Debord<\/strong>, who in 1967 characterized postwar consumer capitalism as the \u201csociety of the spectacle.\u201d<\/strong> While it is now common to use the term loosely to dismiss visually distracting entertainments, Debord had a very specific definition of the spectacle as a social relationship mediated by advertising and other mass media images. Debord said that the society of the spectacle came to existence in the late 1920s (Debord 1988). As Debord writes, \u2018The spectacle presents itself simultaneously as all of society, as part of society, and as instrument of unification. As a part of society it is specifically the sector which concentrates all gazing and all consciousness…The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images\u2019 (Debord 1967). The idea of one system of images implies that individuals have little power to contest dominant constructions. This is why modern conceptions of the spectacle tend to be associated with a very passive notion of spectatorship. The critique of the spectacle<\/em> is a development and application of Karl Marx’s concept of <\/strong>fetishism of commodities<\/strong> (Marx, 1980). In the society of the spectacle, the commodities rule the workers and the consumers instead of being ruled by them. The consumers are passive subjects that contemplate the reified spectacle. According to Debord, there are three different forms of spectacle (Debord 1988). The concentrated spectacle is that which is associated with\u00a0<\/strong>concentrated bureaucracy. Debord associated this spectacular form mostly with the <\/span>Eastern Bloc of Communism and <\/span>Fascism. Every aspect of life, like property, music, and communication is concentrated and is identified with the bureaucratic class. The concentrated spectacle generally identifies itself with a powerful political leader. The concentrated spectacle is made effective through a state of permanent violence and police terror. <\/span>The diffuse spectacle<\/strong> is the spectacle associated with advanced <\/span>capitalism and commodity abundance. The diffuse spectacle is more effective than the concentrated spectacle. The diffuse spectacle operates mostly through seduction, while the concentrated spectacle operates mostly through violence. <\/span>The integrated spectacle is<\/strong> associated with modern capitalist countries. According to Debord, the integrated spectacle goes by the label of <\/span>liberal democracy. This spectacle introduces a state of permanent general secrecy, where experts and specialists dictate the morality, statistics, and opinions of the spectacle.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

     <\/p>\n

    SECTION 3:<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Understanding \u2018Religious Performance\u2019 as \u2018Spectacle\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    From the above discussion on performance and spectacle, it will be clear that a crucial part of religion is the performance of a ritual or practice in the public to create a visual impact or to transmit a web of meaning to the insider-participant or the outsider-viewer. This is similar to theatrical events and spectacles. All religious \u2018events\u2019 that are performative construct a discourse of meaning into the performative activity. The performance of public namaaz<\/em> by Muslims for instance is intended to convey the sentiment of \u2018umma\u2019 or the collectivity of Muslims worldwide among the namaazis<\/em>, to reiterate the traditional practices of prayer in Islam, to imbue a linguistic commonality of all Muslims reciting Arabic verses from the Quran, and to communicate to the observer the nature and quality of Islamic collective praying. It is inherent in religious performance to create a spectacle. For example, festivals create not only an intensity of collective emotion but also a visual effect. A religious festival provides opportunities to observe the communicative system conveyed through complex performance events. According to Beverly J. Stoeltje<\/strong>, a festival prepares a communicative scenery for manifestations of ethnicity and cultural unity with the special objective to demonstrate and experience a particular identity. Therefore a festival is a cultural performance which is scheduled, temporally and spatially bounded, programmed, characterized by co-ordinated public occasions and heightened occasions of aesthetic expression (Stoeltje 1992). A festival performance serves the purpose of the articulation of the group’s heritage, it is a communicative situation actively engaging participants, presenting a combination of participation and performance in a public context. Motivation for participation in festivals includes social interaction that allows for the exploration and negotiation of many kinds of relationships. For example, festivals in India like Ravan vadh and Diwali inscribe mythology and celebrate the defeat of demon-kings by demi-gods like Ram. These festivals are immense crowd pullers; their spectacular value aside, they convey the triumph of \u2018good over will\u2019 to onlookers. As Catherine Bell <\/strong>writes, ritual has \u2018in common with theatrical performances, dramatic spectacles, and public events, the performative dimension per se \u2013 that is, the deliberate, self-conscious \u201cdoing\u201d of highly symbolic actions in public \u2013 is key to what makes ritual,theater, and spectacle what they are\u2019 (Bell 1997:159). For example, in medieval Europe the most important public events, with the exceptions of political and civic events such as coronations, were often religious spectacle. These ranged from processions to Advent celebrations to public penitence to saints\u2019 days festivals. Morality plays, passion plays, Pentecost plays, and nativity dramas all served the role that television and film do for today\u2019s audiences (Hanawelt and Reyerson 1994: xviii). <\/span>Invoking awe is also one of the<\/strong> key elements of religious spectacle. <\/strong>In her comparative study of medieval and contemporary portrayals of the crucifixion, religious studies scholar Alison Griffiths roots the religious spectacle in just this sense of awe, calling it one of the essential design aspects of religious spectacle (2007: 9). <\/span>Joel F. Harrington<\/strong> writes how the combination of ritualistic performance and spectacle was sought to control the masses and instill a sense of discipline by punishment. \u2018In the medieval era, <\/span>public executions were meant to\u00a0<\/strong>accomplish two goals: first, to shock spectators and, second, to reaffirm divine and temporal authority. <\/strong>A steady and reliable executioner played the pivotal role in achieving this delicate balance through his ritualized and regulated application of violence on the state’s behalf. The court condemnation, the death procession, and the execution itself constituted three acts in a carefully choreographed morality play, what historian Richard van Dulmen called \u201cthe theater of horror.\u201d The \u201cgood death\u201d Meister Frantz Schmidt, an executioner in 16th-century Nuremberg, sought was essentially a drama of religious redemption, in which the poor sinner acknowledged and atoned for his or her crimes, voluntarily served as an admonitory example, and in return was granted a swift death and the promise of salvation..Mishaps leading to mob violence and lynch justice jeopardized the core message of religious redemption and state authority.\u2019 (Harrington 2013). <\/span>As<\/strong> Mitchell Merback <\/strong>writes with respect to public executions, \u2018the community insisted that the spectacle be edifying, not as a lesson in the majesty of the law but as <\/span>a drama of<\/strong> Christian repentance, purification, and salvation\u2019 <\/strong>(Merback 1999:144). Religious performance as spectacle is manifested in a very dramatic fashion by <\/span>shamanism.<\/strong> A <\/span>shaman <\/strong>is a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a ritual, and practices divination and healing. As Richard Schechner writes, \u2018The word \u201cshaman\u201d is of Tungus (Siberian) origin. It can be argued that in a strict sense shamanism belongs solely to north central Asia \u2013 and perhaps, via the land bridge once linking Siberia to Alaska, to the Americas. But as a practice and theory, shamanism occurs all over the world. Originally a practice of hunter-gatherer peoples, shamanism is today found in agricultural, industrial, and post-industrial societies…In certain ways, <\/span>shamans are very much like stage actors<\/strong>: both shamans and actors play many roles using both stock and new means of expression…Shamanic narratives most often center on a life-and-death struggle against powerful opponents: placating the keepers of the dead, fighting a disease, exorcising a demon, overcoming a spell that is threatening an individual or an entire community…The costumes are carefully constructed; there is drumming, music, and dancing. <\/span>Always there<\/strong> is audience participation<\/strong>. In shamanic healing, the one afflicted by disease is passive, sometimes barely conscious…<\/span>In shamanic performance, entertainment is integral<\/strong> \u2013 the efficacy of the cure or exorcism depends on the excellence of the performance. For the healing to succeed,the community\u2019s attention must be grabbed and focused; energies must be enlisted and directed.\u2019 (2002:198-200)<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Another kind of \u2018religious performance\u2019 is found in acts of terror, by Islamic jihadists for example. As <\/span>Mark Juergensmeyer<\/strong> writes, <\/span>\u2018religious terrorism can be as<\/strong> \u201cperformance violence,\u201d <\/strong>illustrating that performance violence is planned in order to obtain tangible goals, and also to theatrically enact and communicate an imagined reality. The scenario that underlies the performance of religious terrorism is often one of cosmic war. Some religious terrorism could also be motivated by scenarios other than cosmic war. The idea of warfare involves more than an attitude; it is ultimately a world view and an assertion of power.\u2019 (Juergensmeyer 2013) As <\/span>Diana Taylor<\/strong> writes, \u2018when people refer to the \u201cSeptember 11th tragedy,\u201d they usually refer to that <\/span>awesome spectacle of pity and<\/strong> fear <\/strong>so brilliantly executed by the suicide pilots and so efficiently<\/span> delivered nationally and globally by the U.S. Media <\/strong>(Taylor 2002:95-96). It is noteworthy to examine the role of religious performance in seemingly secular societies such as the United States. As the sociologist <\/span>Robert Bellah<\/strong> has argued, \u2018While some have argued that Christianity is the national faith..as the generalized religion of “the American Way of Life,” few have realized that there actually exists alongside of and rather clearly differentiated from the churches an elaborate and well-institutionalized civil religion in America.\u2019 (Bellah 1967) <\/span>American<\/strong> civil religion <\/strong>is a nonsectarian quasi-<\/span>religious faith that exists within the <\/span>United States with sacred symbols drawn from national history. It has been portrayed as a cohesive force, a common set of values that foster social and cultural integration. The celebration of the Fourth of July or Independence day is a near-religious performance in this context.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

     <\/p>\n

    Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    It is clear from the above discussion that religious performance is universal to all societies and cultures. Human agents also invoke spectacular effect while performing acts of resistance. For example, the Dandi March led by Gandhi and the Salt Satyagraha were performances of civil disobedience that created a very popular spectacle. Be that as it may, the spectacle of religious performance has immense value not only in visuality and entertainment but also in discourses of identity, community belonging. Even while controlling masses through religious doctrines, it is the performativity of religion that proves to be extremely effective. The methods of religious performance are also employed by countries to instill among citizens a sense of national pride. This is especially true for India where the nation itself is considered as a Hindu \u2018devi\u2019; only by worshipping her can one \u2018perform\u2019 one\u2019s patriotism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    you can view video on Religious Performance as Spectacle<\/strong><\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Reference bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Tracy C. Davis (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Performance Studies<\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)<\/li>\n
    2. Catherine Bell, \u2018Performance\u2019, in Mark C. Taylor (ed.) Critical Terms for Religious<\/em> Studies <\/em>(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998)<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life<\/em> (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, 1956)<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. Victor Turner, The Anthropology of Performance<\/em> (New York: PAJ Publications, 1988)<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. Victor Turner, Schism and Continuity in an African Society: A Study of Ndembu<\/em> Village Life <\/em>(Berg Publishers, 1957)<\/span><\/li>\n
    6. Victor Turner, The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual<\/em> (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1969)<\/span><\/li>\n
    7. Stanley Tambiah, A Performative Approach to Ritual: Radcliffe-Brown Lecture 1979\u00a0<\/em>(London, Proceedings of the British Academy: Oxford University Press, 1979)<\/li>\n
    8. Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures<\/em> (New York: Basic Books, 1973)<\/span><\/li>\n
    9. Richard Schechner, Performance Studies: An Introduction<\/em> (Third edition) (London,\u00a0<\/span>New York: Routledge, 2002)<\/li>\n
    10. Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle,<\/em> translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith (New York: Zone Books, 1967, 1995)<\/span><\/li>\n
    11. Guy Debord, Comments on the Society of the Spectacle,<\/em> translated by Malcolm Imrie (London, New York: Verso, 1988, 1990)<\/span><\/li>\n
    12. Baz Kershaw, \u2018Curiosity or Contempt: On Spectacle, the Human, and Activism\u2019, Source: Theatre Journal<\/em>, Vol. 55, No. 4, Theatre and Activism (Dec., 2003), pp.\u00a0<\/span>591-611 \u00a0Published\u00a0 by:\u00a0 The\u00a0 Johns\u00a0 Hopkins\u00a0 University\u00a0 Press\u00a0 Stable\u00a0 URL:http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/25069332 <\/a>Accessed: 24-03-2016 13:21 UTC<\/span><\/li>\n
    13. \u2018Some Aspects of Marx\u2019s notion of commodity fetishism\u2019 from Marx’s \u2018Capital\u2019,\u00a0<\/em>Philosophy and Political Economy <\/em>by Geoffrey Pilling 1980, available\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/pilling\/works\/capital\/ch05.htm<\/a><\/li>\n
    14. Catherine Bell, Ritual<\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)<\/span><\/li>\n
    15. B. A. Hanawelt and K.L. Reyerson \u201cIntroduction,\u201d in B.A. Hanawelt and K.L. Reyerson (eds), City and Spectacle in Medieval Europe<\/em>, (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1994, ix\u2013xx.)<\/span><\/li>\n
    16. Beverly J. Stoeltje, \u2018Festival\u2019 in Folklore, Cultural Performances and Popular<\/em> Entertainments<\/em>, ed. by Richard Bauman (New York 1992)<\/span><\/li>\n
    17. Alison Griffiths, \u201cThe revered gaze: the medieval imaginary of Mel Gibson\u2019s The Passion of the Christ,\u201d Cinema Journal<\/em> 2007, 46: 3\u201339.<\/span><\/li>\n
    18. Joel F. Harrington, The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the<\/em> Turbulent Sixteenth Century <\/em>(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013) excerpts quoted from <\/span>http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/news_and_politics\/history\/2013\/05\/executioners_in_m<\/a> edieval_europe_history_of_capital_punishment.html<\/a><\/li>\n
    19. Mitchell Merback, The Thief, the Cross and the Wheel: Pain and the Spectacle of<\/em> Punishment in Medieval and Renaissance Europe <\/em>(Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1999)<\/span><\/li>\n
    20. Mark Juergensmeyer, \u2018Religious Terrorism as Performative Violence\u2019 in Michael Jerryson, Mark Juergensmeyer, and Margo Kitts (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of<\/em><\/a> Religion and Violence <\/em><\/a>(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)<\/span><\/li>\n
    21. Diana Taylor, untitled entry in \u201cA Forum on Theatre and Tragedy in the Wake of September 11, 2001,\u201d 2002, 95\u201396, quoted in Richard Schechner, Performance<\/em> Studies: An Introduction<\/em>, p. 281<\/span><\/li>\n
    22. Robert Bellah, \u2018Civil Religion in America\u2019, Daedalus<\/em>, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, from the issue entitled, “Religion in America,” Winter 1967, Vol. 96, No. 1, pp. 1-21<\/span>Ira Stoll, \u2018The Theology of the Fourth of July\u2019, TIME,<\/em> July 3 2014, available at <\/span>http:\/\/time.com\/2951223\/fourth-of-july-god-religion-america\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"menu_order":16,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["heba-ahmed"],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[68],"license":[],"class_list":["post-93","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","contributor-heba-ahmed"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/93","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/93\/revisions\/234"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/93\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/socp12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}