Publication date:
13 December 2012Length of book:
136 pagesPublisher
University Press of AmericaDimensions:
239x160mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780761859970
Dancing with the Gods: Essays in Ga Ritual explores cosmological concepts and ritual actions of the Ga people of southeastern Ghana through case studies of calendrical agricultural rites, social status transition rites, and redressive rites. Based on fieldwork in the 1960s, the essays present descriptive analyses of verbal and non-verbal ritual action. While verbal ritual actions specify ideas pertinent to a particular rite, non-verbal ritual actions express more general concepts. Kilson’s analyses show how the same motifs of non-verbal ritual action recur in sacred and secular Ga rites. Whenever and wherever such motifs occur, they convey the same basic underlying Ga concepts, thereby creating a unified conceptual network of belief that is the foundation of the Ga ritual system. The essays in this collection previously appeared in Anthropos, Journal of African Studies, Journal of Religion in Africa, Parabola, and Sextant.
In Dancing with the Gods: Essays in Ga Ritual, Professor Marion Kilson expertly probes the verbal and non-verbal ritual behaviors of the Ga to provide us with a thoughtful understanding of the meaning of Ga beliefs and practices. Through her exposition we hear the voices of the people as they perform rites related to the fundamental necessities of living. Verbal ritual acts establish the contracts between spirits and objects, which the non-verbal component enacts. The two are thus inseparable in apprehending the complexities of Ga cosmology.
Dr. Kilson’s approach is highly systematic. She lays out the properties by which the Ga order classes of beings and their existential values. Human beings are positioned in the middle between the Supreme Being and divine beings on one side and animals and plants on the other. This configuration provides the context of ritual and secular action, and to understand its meaning as a religious paradigm, Kilson draws upon major scholars within the sociology of religion. She demonstrates the power of the analytic tradition of the L’Annee Sociologique and its utility in understanding cosmologies. She has successfully undertaken the difficult task of providing us with an understanding of the meaning of a people’s ritual life.
Dr. Kilson’s approach is highly systematic. She lays out the properties by which the Ga order classes of beings and their existential values. Human beings are positioned in the middle between the Supreme Being and divine beings on one side and animals and plants on the other. This configuration provides the context of ritual and secular action, and to understand its meaning as a religious paradigm, Kilson draws upon major scholars within the sociology of religion. She demonstrates the power of the analytic tradition of the L’Annee Sociologique and its utility in understanding cosmologies. She has successfully undertaken the difficult task of providing us with an understanding of the meaning of a people’s ritual life.