HomeAlcohol use in rituals and ethnographers
Alcohol use in rituals and ethnographers
L’alcool rituel et les ethnographes
The religious uses of alcohol
Usages religieux des conduites d’alcoolisations
Published on mercredi, décembre 09, 2015
Summary
This special issue will deal with two aspects of ritualistic alcohol use. The articles will not focus on certain areas and will not only address the religious framework of alcohol use, intoxication, and symbolism, but also the methodological approach and the place of the ethnographer on the fieldwork. The first aspect deals with the drinks and with the “drinking” in their symbolic and social functions as observed by various researchers with field experience. The second aspect deals with both the study of postures and the gathering of data in a reflexive approach on ritualistic alcohol use.
Announcement
Argument
Following issues of Terrain (1989) and Socio-anthropologie (2004) dedicated to the “drinking”, this special issue will deal with two aspects of ritualistic alcohol use. The articles will not focus on certain areas and will not only address the religious framework of alcohol use, intoxication, and symbolism, but also the methodological approach and the place of the ethnographer on the fieldwork.
The first aspect deals with the drinks and with the “drinking” in their symbolic and social functions as observed by various researchers with field experience. It mobilizes methodological tools used in ethnography. Alcohol is here considered as a “sociability” that distances itself from the field of pathology (Douglas; Fabre-Vassas; Fainzang). Thus, alcohol used as an offering is placed, sprayed and/or consumed in variable amounts; it is a requirement to the ritualistic efficacy of the rituals and to the commensality. Concerning the “drinking”, it represents a codified use, a mean to protect the ritualistic practices and the use of alcohol, but also a form of sociability. In this issue, the uses of alcohol are to be understood as religious and festive, as ceremonial and ritualistic, with the drinking being used during sacred and/or profane times of the religious context. The use of alcohol analyzed by the authors can refer to that of the religious officiants (shamans, healers-soothsayers, possessed, etc.), but also of certain specific populations (groups of men, women, young people, etc.), or even of the observers of the ongoing ritual (participants, public, ethnographers, etc.). The ritualistic and symbolic functions of libations and alcohol use, as well as their social uses, have to be studied for each ethnography. The will to consider alcohol in a ritualistic space and time is what gives it its meaning (Fabre-Vassas, 1989). As did Mary Douglas (1987) and Claudine Fabre-Vassas (1989), we raise the question of the symbolic efficacy of alcohol use, whose use during rituals is not considered as pathological.
The second aspect deals with both the study of postures and the gathering of data in a reflexive approach on ritualistic alcohol use. Indeed, the observer (participant or not) can identify and measure the use of alcohol, and the intoxication that can result from it, without the participants noticing. We therefore question the definitions of alcohol intoxication regarding, for instance, variable social codes in relation to the “drinking”. How to apprehend this issue in a context of ethnological detachment? How does the ethnographer deal with the invitation to take part in the drinking? De facto, the issues raised here to an anthropological reflection on the drinking.
References
- Bianquis I., 2012 L’alcool. Anthropologie d’un objet-frontière, L’Harmattan.
- Castelain J.-P., 1996 « La quête des mots. De quelques usages de l'alcool dans la France de l'Ouest », in : Communications, n°62, Vivre avec les drogues. pp.181-193.
- 1989 Manières de vivre, manières de boire. Alcool et sociabilité sur le port, Paris, Imago.
- Counihan C.M. & Kaplan S.L. (eds.), 1998 Food and Gender: Identity and Power, Gordon & Breach, New York.
- de Garine I. & de Garine V. (eds.), 2001 Drinking: Anthropological Approaches. Anthropology of Food and Nutrition, Berghahn Books, Oxford and New York.
- Douglas M., 1987 Constructive Drinking. Perspectives on Drink from Anthropology, edited by M.D., Cambridge University Press et Maison des sciences de l'homme, Paris.
- Fabre-Vassas C., 1989 « La boisson des ethnologues », Terrain, n° 13, pp.5-14.
- Fainzang S., 1995 « L’alcool, les nerfs, le cerveau et le sang », l’Homme, n°135.
- Fiskesjö M., 2010 “Participant Intoxication and Self-Other Dynamics in the Wa context”, The Asia
- Pacific Journal of Anthropology, n°11, pp.111-127.
- Hell B., 1983 L'Homme et la bière, Colmar, Ed. J.-P. Gyss.
- Kradolfer S., 2006 « Boire et manger : l’épreuve du terrain », Journal des anthropologues, n°106-107.
- Lacaze G., 2004a « Convivialité, consommation d’alcool et catégories de personne chez les Mongols et les Kazakhs », Les Annales de la Fondation Fyssen n°19, pp.30-47.
- 2004b « Boire et se saoûler : les sorties de l’âme pendant l’ivresse », in C. Méchin et D. Le Breton (eds), Le corps et ses orifices. Paris, L’Harmattan, pp.141-164.
- 2003 « Boire et donner à boire. Chez les peuples centrasiatiques de tradition nomade pastorale », Cahiers de l’IREB, n°16, pp.38-45.
- 2002 « Les Techniques D’alimentation Mongoles : Manger, Boire, Gouter et Lecher », Nomadic Peoples, Vol. 6.
- Le Roux P., 2002 « Des hommes aux dieux : boissons fermentées, rituelles et festives d’Asie du Sud-Est et au-delà », Journal of the Siam Society, vol. 90, no. 1-2.
- Nahoum-Grappe V., 1989 « Boire un coup… », Terrain, n°13, pp.72-80.
- Obadia L., 2004 « Le « boire » », Socio-anthropologie [En ligne], n°15.
- Zheng Z., 2000 « Bière de millet ou de riz : la technique brassicole des Austronésiens de Taiwan », in A. Hubert & P. Le Failler (eds.), Opiums : les plantes du plaisir et de la convivialité en Asie, Paris, L’Harmattan, pp. 391-400.
Submission guidelines
Proposals for contributions based on fieldwok research are all welcome (in English or in French).
They should be no longer than 400 words, and should be addressed to Delphine Burguet (burguet.delphine@gmail.com), Olivia Legrip-Randriambelo (olivia.legrip@hotmail.fr) and to the office of the journal Civilisations (civilisations@ulb.ac.be )
before February 1st, 2016.
Authors will be contacted in March and informed whether their proposal was accepted or not. If it has been accepted, they will have to provide their contribution in June, for peer-reviewing.
Civilisations is a peer-reviewed journal of anthropology. Published continuously since 1951, it features articles in French and English in the various fields of anthropology, without regional or time limitations. Revived in 2002 with a new editorial board and a new subtitle (Revue internationale d'anthropologie et de sciences humaines), Civilisations particularly encourage the submission of articles where anthropological approaches meet other social sciences, to better tackle processes of society making.
Coordinated by
- Delphine Burguet (Imaf, EHESS/LARHRA, Lyon 2)
- Olivia Legrip-Randriambelo (Imaf, EHESS/LARHRA, Lyon 2)
Subjects
- Ethnology, anthropology (Main subject)
- Mind and language > Religion
- Mind and language > Representation
Date(s)
- lundi, février 01, 2016
Attached files
Keywords
- alcool, rituel, représentation, ethnographie, méthodologie, alcohol, ritual, representation, ethnography, methodology
Contact(s)
- Olivia Legrip-Randriambelo
courriel : olivia [dot] legrip [at] hotmail [dot] fr - Delphine Burguet
courriel : burguet [dot] delphine [at] gmail [dot] com - Civilisations
courriel : civilisations [at] ulb [dot] ac [dot] be
Reference Urls
Information source
- Anne Marie Desmarlieres
courriel : civilisations [at] ulb [dot] ac [dot] be
To cite this announcement
« Alcohol use in rituals and ethnographers », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on mercredi, décembre 09, 2015, https://calenda-formation.labocleo.org/350268
