Chair person
Prof. Bernd Schneidmüller
Bernd Schneidmüller is Professor at the Centre of European History and Culture, University of Heidelberg, and deputy spokesman of the Collaborative Research Program "The Dynamics of Rituals". He is also coordinator of the German Research Council Priority Program "Integration and desintegration in European medieval cultures". After a long period working as a historian of medieval history on European nation-building, patterns of political identity, and monarchy and consent, he is now concentrating on the history of rituals and decision-making in the later middle ages. He has published several books on the Medieval Empire and kingship in France and Germany.
P 16 - Rituals of Power and Consensus
Chair: Prof. Bernd Schneidmüller
bernd.schneidmueller@urz.uni-heidelberg.de
Download preliminary daily schedule here (pdf)
(for better readability kindly print it out)
Common activities:
Reception
On Monday, 29 September, we will officially open the conference with a
reception from 19.30 to 22.30
Key Note Lecture
Tuesday, 30 September:
Key Note Speaker Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c.
"Magie und Ritual"
Plenary Discussion
Wednesday, 1 October at 18.00 introductory presentation:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Wulf, Freie Universität Berlin
"The Future of the Science of Ritual in a transcultural Context"
Exchange meeting
Thursday, 2 October from 9:00 - 12:00:
Exchange meeting between scientists from
the German Archaeological Institute
and the Collaborative Research
Center SFB 619
Speakers (synonym for referee, panelist, active participant)
Day 1 – Monday, 29 September 2008
9:00-9:45 Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger
Ritueller Konsens oder Entscheidungsverfahren?
Die frühneuzeitlichen Reichstage
9:45-10:30 Gert Melville
Rituelle Kommunikation in mittelalterlichen Ordensgemeinschaften
11:00-11:45 Gerd Althoff
Die Ambiguität von Ritualen
11:45-12:30
Hans Vorländer
Rituale im demokratischen Verfassungsstaat
14:00-14:45 Wojciech Falkowski
Humility and Humiliation of the King
14:45-15:30 Philippe Buc
Rituals and Religious Violence
16:00-16:45 Elie Podeh
The Evolution of State Rituals in the Arab World:
The Case of the Bay'a
16:45-17:30 Apostolos Spanos
Emperors and Saints in Byzantium
Day 2 – Tuesday, 30 September 2008
9:00-9:45 Joachim Quack
Political Rituals. Sense and Nonsense of a Term
and its Application to Ancient Egypt
9:45-10:30 Peter van Nuffelen
The Later Roman Empire as a ritualised society
11:00-11:45 Veit Rosenberger
Ritualdynamik: Prodigien in der Römischen Republik
Abstract
Rituals and ritual behavior shape social order in politics and society. Since they may be anticipated, have a visual immediacy, and offer an aesthetic framework, they create fields of interaction within the public sphere. Despite their apparent differences, rituals of power and rituals of consensus stem from a functionally similar context. Such ritual behavior can successfully generate and reproduce social order at the points where the way politics is shaped intersects with the hegemonic imagination. The evolution of these ritual forms becomes particularly evident in contexts of historic and cultural change.
This section presents the efficacy and evolution of political rituals in pre-modern communities. The perspectives of cultural comparison allow us to analyse the codes for presenting power and negotiating consensus, and to demonstrate the significance of ritual dynamics.
German version
Rituale und ritualisiertes Verhalten gestalten soziale Ordnungen in Politik und Gesellschaft. In öffentlichen Akten schaffen solche Handlungsformen durch Erwartbarkeit, visuelle Eingängigkeit und ästhetische Formung das Feld für Interaktionen. Rituale der Macht und Rituale des Konsenses stehen dabei in spannungsreichen Funktionszusammenhängen. Sie bilden Ordnungen ab und bringen sie gleichzeitig hervor, deutlich vor allem an den Schnittstellen von Politikgestaltung und Herrschaftsimagination. Im historischen und kulturellen Wandel lässt sich die Dynamik von Ritualen besonders gut erkennen.
Die Sektion will die Wirksamkeit und die Veränderung politischer Rituale in vormodernen Gemeinwesen präsentieren. Kulturvergleichende Perspektiven analysieren die Codierungen formalen Verhaltens von Machtpräsentation und Konsensaushandlung und bewerten die historische Kraft ritueller Dynamik.
