Download or read book Ritual written by Barry Stephenson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alongside description of a number of specific rites, this volume explores ritual from both theoretical and historical perspectives. Barry Stephenson focuses on the places where ritual touches everyday life: in politics and power; moments of transformation in the life cycle; as performance and embodiment. He also discusses the boundaries of ritual, and how and why certain behaviours have been studied as ritual while others have not.