Ritual is one of the oldest, and certainly most enigmatic, threads in the history of human culture. It presents a profound paradox: people ascribe the utmost importance to their rituals, but few can explain why they are so important. Apparently pointless ceremonies pervade every documented society, from handshakes to hexes, hazings to parades. Before we ever ... Show More
Apr 2025
Amy Zhang, "Circular Ecologies: Environmentalism and Waste Politics in Urban China" (Stanford UP, 2024)
After four decades of reform and development, China is confronting a domestic waste crisis. As the world's largest waste-generating nation, the World Economic Forum projects that by 2030, the volume of household waste in China will be double that of the United States. Starting in ... Show More
1h 7m
Apr 15
Lia Kent, "The Unruly Dead: Spirits, Memory, and State Formation in Timor-Leste" (U Wisconsin Press, 2024)
“What might it mean to take the dead seriously as political actors?” asks Lia Kent in this exciting new contribution to critical human rights scholarship The Unruly Dead: Spirits, Memory, and State Formation in Timor-Leste (U Wisconsin Press, 2024). In Timor-Leste, a new nation- ... Show More
1h 4m
Apr 15
Yingyi Ma, "Ambitious and Anxious: How Chinese College Students Succeed and Struggle in American Higher Education" (Columbia UP, 2020)
In Ambitious and Anxious: How Chinese College Students Succeed and Struggle in American Higher Education (Columbia UP, 2020), sociologist Yingyi Ma offers a multifaceted analysis of a new wave of international Chinese students—mostly self-funded—who have transformed American high ... Show More
55m 27s
Mar 2023
On Ritual and Living Life in Ceremony with Day Schildkret
<p>In this episode with award-winning author, artist, ritualist Day Schildkret we explore the power of rituals to help us feel more grounded, safe, connected and alive. </p> <p>WE CONNET ON:</p> <ul> <li>Learning how to slow down to enjoy and celebrate life</li> <li>Combining rit ... Show More
54m 8s
May 2023
#386 Thierry Janssen : Des rituels pour une existence pleine de sens
<p>Anne Ghesquière reçoit dans Métamorphose Thierry Janssen, ancien chirurgien devenu psychothérapeute, écrivain et fondateur de fondateur de l’École De La Posture Juste à Bruxelles. Les rituels peuvent-ils nous aider à mieux vivre dans un monde incertain, à trouver du sens et à ... Show More
1h 2m
Mar 2023
How Rituals Attach us to our Communities with Dimitris Xygalatas, Ph.D.
"If you randomly assign people in two groups and you give them different insignia or you have them go through different practices, as we saw in this study, they come to like each other more. It's very easy to create this basic sense of belonging and identity. Ritual is particular ... Show More
56m 54s