Ritual, Heritage and Identity

Christiane Brosius is Professor and Chair of Visual and Media Anthropology at Karl Jaspers Center of Transcultural Studies, Heidelberg, Germany. Karin Polit is Research Associate in Anthropology at Institute for Ethnology, University of Heidelberg.

• List of Plates and Figures -- Glossary -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Ritual, Heritage and Identity in a Globalised World/Christiane Brosius and Karin M. Polit -- Part I: Framing Heritage -- 1. Heritage in Ritual and Identity/Gregory J. Ashworth -- 2. The ‘Ritualisation of Ritual’ in the Construction of Heritage/Richard Handler -- 3. Useable Pasts — Creative Futures: How Normative Recognition Opens New Horizons for Publicly Committed Scholars/Christine M. Merkel -- 4. Performativity and Dynamics of Intangible Cultural Heritage/Christoph Wulf -- Part II: Ethnography and Practice -- 5. The Cultural Politics of Transnational Heritage Rituals: Akshardham Cultural Complex in New Delhi/Christiane Brosius -- 6. Political Patronage and Ritual Competitions at Dussehra Festival in Northern India/Daniela Berti -- 7. Heritage, Art and Elections: Popular Culture, Ritual and Political Competition in Uttarakhand/Karin M. Polit -- 8. Randala Ritual: Women’s Heritage and Identity in Gujarat, India/Purnima Shah -- 9. Synthesising Practice and Performance, Securing Recognition: Thangmi Cultural Heritage in Nepal and India/Sara Shneiderman -- 10. From ‘Wasteful Superstition’ to ‘Beautiful Tradition’: Changing Assessments of Popular Ritual in Late Socialist Vietnam/Kirsten W. Endres -- 11. Scripturalisation of Ritual in Eastern Nepal/Martin Gaenszle -- About the Editors -- Notes on Contributors -- Index.

"Brosius and Polit’s edited work is a double journey, intellectual and cultural. In this edited collection, scholars interested in cultural anthropology engage questions of identity, culture, ritual, and politics given a globalized, postmodern world, relying mostly on illustrations taken from the India’s diverse and rich society... For readers who enjoy exploring new terrain in the hope of returning with new perspectives that will enrich their lives and work, this book will not disappoint."- Ryan LaMothe, Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, St. Meinrad, IN; Homiletic Journal, vol. 37, no.1.