Voices of the Ritual: Devotion to Female Saints and Shrines in the Holy Land (Oxford Ritual Studies)

Voices of the Ritual analyzes the revival of rituals performed at female saint shrines in the Middle East. In the midst of turbulent political contention over land and borders, Nurit Stadler shows, religious minorities lay claim to space through rituals enacted at sacred spaces in the Holy Land. Using ethnographic analysis, Stadler explores the rise of these rituals, their focus on the body, female materiality, and their place in the Israeli-Palestinian landscape. Stadler examines the varied features of the practice and implications of the rituals, looking at themes of femininity and material experience. She considers the role of the body in rituals that represent the act of birth or the circle of life and that aim to foster an intimate connection between the female saint and her worshippers. Stadler underscores the political, cultural, and spatial elements of this practice, bringing attention to how religious minorities (Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druze, among others) have utilized these rituals to assert their right to the land. Voices of the Ritual offers a valuable assessment of religious ritual practice that encrypts female themes into a landscape that has historically been defined by war and conflict. "Voices of the Ritual analyzes the revival of and manifestation of rituals at female saint shrines in the Holy Land. The book's central claim is that, in the Middle East, a turbulent, often violent political context, states tend to have no clear physical borders, and lands are constantly at stake. In this context, deprived ethno-religious groups with no voice in the political, cultural, media, and legal arenas look for alternative venues to voice their entitlements. Through the book I argue that in Israel/Palestine, religious minorities (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druze, and others) employ rituals in various sacred places, especially female saints' shrines, to claim their belonging to and appropriation of territory. At the heart of this book is the question: What does this female ritualistic revival mean-politically, culturally, and spatially? To answer this question, I base my analysis on a long ethnographic study (2003-2017) that analyzes the rise of female sacred shrines, focusing on four dimensions of the ritual: the body in motion, female materiality, place, and the rituals encrypted in the Israel/Palestine landscape. The book sets out to examine the popularity of body rituals in sacred places, and the female themes that stem from these rituals. I show that, in the practices at these shrines, mostly canonical, the idea of the "body in motion" is central, with rituals imitating birth and the cycle of life using a set of body gestures. These mimetic rituals, performed by men and women, are intimate forces that extend between the female saint and the worshippers. Female materiality strengthens intimacy and creates a bridge between the experience and the material. Minority groups in these venues, Jews and Christians, use these sacred shrines, their female contents and intimate bodily ritualistic experience, to stake a claim to and appropriate the land. The intimacy between saint and worshipper (females and males each in their own modes) created with the body that imitates the cycle of life, and the female material scattered around, are keys to intimate claims to the land, making the land familiar to worshippers. Rituals encrypt female themes into the landscape, a dynamic that is taking place in a zone that has for decades been dominated by violent, masculine-disseminated war and conflict"-- University Press Scholarship Online "Voices of the Ritual analyzes the revival of and manifestation of rituals at female saint shrines in the Holy Land. The book's central claim is that, in the Middle East, a turbulent, often violent political context, states tend to have no clear physical borders, and lands are constantly at stake. In this context, deprived ethno-religious groups with no voice in the political, cultural, media, and legal arenas look for alternative venues to voice their entitlements. Through the book I argue that in Israel/Palestine, religious minorities (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druze, and others) employ rituals in various sacred places, especially female saints' shrines, to claim their belonging to and appropriation of territory. At the heart of this book is the question: What does this female ritualistic revival mean-politically, culturally, and spatially? To answer this question, I base my analysis on a long ethnographic study (2003-2017) that analyzes the rise of female sacred shrines, focusing on four dimensions of the ritual: the body in motion, female materiality, place, and the rituals encrypted in the Israel/Palestine landscape. The book sets out to examine the popularity of body rituals in sacred places, and the female themes that stem from these rituals. I show that, in the practices at these shrines, mostly canonical, the idea of the "body in motion" is central, with rituals imitating birth and the cycle of life using a set of body gestures. These mimetic rituals, performed by men and women, are intimate forces that extend between the female saint and the worshippers. Female materiality strengthens intimacy and creates a bridge between the experience and the material. Minority groups in these venues, Jews and Christians, use these sacred shrines, their female contents and intimate bodily ritualistic experience, to stake a claim to and appropriate the land. The intimacy between saint and worshipper (females and males each in their own modes) created with the body that imitates the cycle of life, and the female material scattered around, are keys to intimate claims to the land, making the land familiar to worshippers. Rituals encrypt female themes into the landscape, a dynamic that is taking place in a zone that has for decades been dominated by violent, masculine-disseminated war and conflict"-- Provided by publisher "Voices of the Ritual analyzes the revival of and manifestation of rituals at female saint shrines in the Holy Land. The book's central claim is that, in the Middle East, a turbulent, often violent political context, states tend to have no clear physical borders, and lands are constantly at stake. In this context, deprived ethno-religious groups with no voice in the political, cultural, media, and legal arenas look for alternative venues to voice their entitlements. Through the book I argue that in Israel/Palestine, religious minorities (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druze, and others) employ rituals in various sacred places, especially female saints' shrines, to claim their belonging to and appropriation of territory. At the heart of this book is the question: What does this female ritualistic revival mean-politically, culturally, and spatially? To answer this question, I base my analysis on a long ethnographic study (2003-2017) that analyzes the rise of female sacred shrines, focusing on four dimensions of the ritual: the body in motion, female materiality, place, and the rituals encrypted in the Israel/Palestine landscape. The book sets out to examine the popularity of body rituals in sacred places, and the female themes that stem from these rituals. I show that, in the practices at these shrines, mostly canonical, the idea of the "body in motion" is central, with rituals imitating birth and the cycle of life using a set of body gestures. These mimetic rituals, performed by men and women, are intimate forces that extend between the female saint and the worshippers. Female materiality strengthens intimacy and creates a bridge between the experience and the material. Minority groups in these venues, Jews and Christians, use these sacred shrines, their female contents and intimate bodily ritualistic experience, to stake a claim to and appropriate the land. The intimacy between saint and worshipper (females and males each in their own modes) created with the body that imitates the cycle of life, and the female material scattered around, are keys to intimate claims to the land, making the land familiar to worshippers. Rituals encrypt female themes into the landscape, a dynamic that is taking place in a zone that has for decades been dominated by violent, masculine-disseminated war and conflict"-- Fourni par l'éditeur Voices of the Ritual analyzes the revival of rituals performed at female saint shrines in the Middle East. In the midst of turbulent political contention over land and borders, Nurit Stadler shows, religious minorities lay claim to space through rituals enacted at sacred spaces in the Holy Land. Using ethnographic analysis, Stadler explores the rise of these rituals, their focus on the body, female materiality, and their place in the Israeli-Palestinian landscape.Stadler examines the varied features of the practice and implications of the rituals, looking at themes of femininity and material experience. She considers the role of the body in rituals that represent the act of birth or the circle of life and that aim to foster an intimate connection between the female saint and her worshippers. Stadler underscores the political, cultural, and spatial elements of this practice, bringing attention to how religious minorities (Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druze, among others) have utilized these rituals to assert their right to the land. Voices of the Ritual offers a valuable assessment of religious ritual practice that encrypts female themes into a landscape that has historically been defined by war and conflict. Voices of the Ritual analyzes the revival of and manifestation of rituals at female saint shrines in the Holy Land. In the Middle East, a turbulent, often violent place, states tend to have no clear physical borders, and lands are constantly in flux. Here, groups with no voice in the political, cultural, media, and legal arenas look for alternative venues to voice their entitlements. Members of religious minorities employ rituals in various sacred places to claim their belonging to and appropriation of territory. What does this female ritualistic revival mean-politically, culturally, and spatially? The author bases her analysis on a long ethnographic study (2003-2017) that analyzes the rise of female sacred shrines Voices of the Ritual analyzes the revival of rituals performed at female saint shrines in the Middle East, highlighting the ways in which members of minority religious groups have laid claim to space through rituals enacted at sacred spaces in the Holy Land. Using ethnographic analysis, Stadler tracks the popularity of the rituals and the themes of female materiality they are often grounded in