Ritual as Technology in East Asia

Workshop organized by Grace Y Shen, Dagmar Schäfer

Independent Research Group "Concepts and Modalities"

General Information:

Ritual and technology exist in a paradoxical relationship in which they define one another through both difference and analogy. As our understandings have deepened, it has become clear that technology neither works nor signifies in the same way everywhere, and that, when it does, it is often because the environment has been molded to suit its needs. Ritual, on the other hand, is as integral to processes of knowing, doing and making as it is to the production of symbolic meaning. In a sense, ritual and technology are both manifestations of local desires, and they entail complex ordering mechanisms to authorize, verify, and communicate their successful operation. Taking this as our starting point, the “Ritual as Technology in East Asia Workshop” at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science brings scholars from several disciplines together to ask what the study of ritual and the study of technology can offer one another. In particular, we want to examine how we (and our actors) know when something works, what this suggests about reality and truth claims, and how aesthetic, material, and symbolic elements shape these constructions of efficacy and meaning.

If you wish to participate as an observer, or require further information, please contact Gina Grzimek (ggrzimek@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de).