Victor Turner Ndembu

First of all, in the past two decades, and especially in the last few years, some sociologists and anthropologists have started to examine a number of areas and activities in modern societies using approaches drawn from analyses of ritual, ceremony, and symbolism. The connection of symbol and ritual to the nation of National Socialism has not been highlighted often. Continuing hereby with the first reading that I read, Francois Foret highlighted that European Union being an international political order has likely transformed the political rituals into a new one. The rituals of the European that is the enactment of European governance opposing a European ceremonial, cherishing the memory of the European on its special day; European anthem and …show more content…
For Turner, whose task has been actually influential, the anthropologist is by no way is limited to the actor's comprehension of references. We cannot deny that, the values and norms of ritual actions may be so self-evident as to inhibit the actor from whether it connects to either part or the society as a whole. In verifying the symbolic structure of Ndembu rituals, Turner describes three different levels or process for deriving at meanings that go beyond the description of activity. Firstly, exegetical that is where the proper meaning is derived from the layman or from the specialist of the rituals. Thus, the meaning of the flag is derived from individuals' accounts. The next one is operational is where meaning is equated with use and inferences are drawn. Thus, where the flag is displayed, and should know by whom, and the times of display would be considered. Finally, Positional is where the meaning is derived by observing the relation of one symbol to others in a totality. In relation to the flag, its sacred character can be seen in comparison to other decorative …show more content…
V. Turner's work has also been significant with its new orientation toward the ritual process (Turner 1969, 1974). Turner sees transition points as situations where the person is in limbo-with ambiguous, unstructured statuses. Such luminal states are warning both to the self and to the social group at points at which the social structure is less compelling. In these situations, the anti-structural elements of common human ties, which Turner labels communities and hereby gain importance.The role of ritual in facilitating the transition from one place to another in the social structure occupies a central position in analyses of those transition points connected to biological processes that is birth, puberty, procreation, aging, and death. In his study of rites of passage in primitive and modem societies, Young asserts that the dramatizing and symbolizing aspects of such rituals create more emotions in depth. This intensification, in turn, allows alleviate tension and bring the person into a new model. The ritual both symbolizes the anomalies of the luminal state and resolves them in new roles. There is another group of studies that explain the significance of symbolic meanings in sociological analysis but but are neither connected to the institutional order