Jörg Neuheiser Livres

"Much scholarship on nineteenth-century English workers has been devoted to the radical reform politics that powerfully unsettled the social order in the century's first decades. Comparatively neglected have been the impetuous patriotism, royalism and xenophobic anti-Catholicism that countless men and women demonstrated in the early Victorian period. This much-needed study of the era's 'conservatism from below' explores the role of religion in everyday culture and the Tories' successful mobilization across class boundaries. Long before they were able to vote, large swathes of the lower classes embraced Britain's monarchical, religious and legal institutions in the defence of traditional English culture."-- Back cover

Rituals are stylish. Whether in exotic places or in modern Britain – their theatricality captures the imagination of audiences over centuries, the modern reader not less than contemporary participants and beholders. Thick descriptions of individual actions and symbolic events fascinate historians as they allow immediate access to the past and open new avenues for the understanding of social processes. Or do they? Ever since the „cultural“ or „performative turn“ in historiography, the study of performances and rituals became fashionable. In many cases, however, historians and political scientists work with so all-embracing definitions of “ritual” as to render the term almost meaningless. While exploring how studies of rituals can further historical and political research, the essays in this volume focus on rituals centred around symbolic communication of power. In a number of case studies they chart their development from the eighteenth century to the present, and unravel the complexity and richness of civic rituals, protest marches, and sectarian parades. Rituals emerge as sites of contests over identity, respectability, and space – as well as a difficult yet unrenouncable source for historians interested in British history. Authors: Frank O’Gorman, Rosemary Sweet, Andreas Fahrmeir, Detlev Mares, Matthias Reiß, Dominic Bryan