Consider this: All human affairs involve gift exchange, or reciprocity. This is true at the human level
when we exchange gifts with the holidays. It is equally true in religious ritual, where a sacrifice may be
exchanged from good crops, or more generally, praise of the Lord is exchanged for divine blessing. In
fact, ritual might be considered religion in motion, when belief is backed by action, and at the heart of
that action is reciprocity. However, this reciprocity may or may not be equal, so that the gods (or the
priests and other elites in society) often assert their power and dominance of the situation. All of this is
not just a matter of theology but is embedded in particular local cultural groups and the way they
perform exchanges.
Study:
• Stein and Stein, Chapter 4
• Ritual and Types of Ritual (Power Point slides on Titanium).
• Library sources.
Guidelines:
• Find rituals particular to a place, indigenous culture, or subgroup of a religion, e.g. Navaho in
Arizona, Moroccan Sephardic Jews in Toronto, or Pentecostal Christian snake handlers in West
Virginia. Do not choose anything broad or non-specific (e.g. Christmas or Bar Mitzvahs in
general are not specific).
• Choose two rituals that have some aspect of gift-giving, whether material or symbolic, or
between humans or supernatural beings.
• The rituals should have something in common and be at the same scale (a 2-minute ritual should
not be compared to a month-long celebration, etc.). A typical paper would compare the same
type of ritual, for instance a puberty rite of passage or a harvest festival, in two different cultures.
• Do not include the full description of any ritual, just discuss or compare a few elements of the
ritual action.
The Paper:
Title: Ritual Gifts: [culture 1 and culture 2]. Example: Ritual Gifts (Maori and Samoan). You may
also add your own subtitle.
Body: each bullet should be at least a paragraph
o Introduction: Introduce and identify 2 rituals
o Comparison: Compare 3 similarities in the rituals.
o Interpretation: Discuss gift exchange involved in the rituals, whether material or non material. How does exchange reflect the social relationships among people, and how they relate
to the supernatural or divine?
o Analysis: How would you classify your two rituals, using one of these
categories?: technological, therapy, ideological, salvation, or revitalization. See Table 4.1 in
the textbook (and the pages following) and the Types of Ritual document on Titanium.
o Ritual today: can you relate a personal gift exchange experience that highlights what you have
written about ritual? Be brief.
o Conclusion: what did you learn?
References:
• 2 as follows are required. More are welcome.
o 1. the textbook (see General Instructions for how to reference)
o 2. At least one peer-reviewed journal article or scholarly book from the campus library or
similar source. ‘A’ papers will have at least two.
Do Nots (read carefully):
• Do not include abstracts or certificates.
• Do not use websites, unless authorized.
• Do not use encyclopedias unless the entry is substantive (more than 10 pages) and includes an
author for the specific entry you are using other than the editor of the whole encyclopedia.
Again, include page numbers in your reference.
• Do not use reference dictionaries, reviews, or other short sources.
• Do not use how-to or self-help guides
• Do not use religious texts, apologetics, or other religious literature.