Disaster Ritual
Explorations of an Emerging Ritual Repertoire
1st Edition
Published on 12. August 2003
Book
Paperback/Softback
298 pages
978-90-429-1291-5 (ISBN)
Description
People increasingly look to rituals after a disaster. A silent procession
and a memorial service are carefully and observantly organised,
preparations are begun for a lasting monument in memory of the victims, or
people keep up the tradition of an annual commemoration. Remarkably
enough, this ritual repertoire has received hardly any attention from
researchers. This book is a report on the first exploration of these
rituals which emerged particularly in the 1990s. The exploration focuses
on the situation in the Netherlands. From the case studies analyzed a
strikingly coherent and well-organised repertoire comes to light, which
has become established in a rather short time. There appears to be
interaction with both Dutch and international contexts (i.e., influence
from the memorial rites after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the
'Dutroux affair' in Belgium, and the rites after a series of episodes of
street violence in the Netherlands), as well as with previous, more
divergent ritual traces of a Christian-liturgical, general-religious and
profane-secular nature. This study more particularly looks at disaster
ritual from the perspective of contemporary ritual dynamics. As such, it
makes a contribution to gauging the ritual-liturgical milieu today. To
this end, the central concepts of disaster and ritual are first defined.
Next follows an assessment, first in general through a survey of disasters
in the Netherlands and other countries, then on the basis of five Dutch
case studies, each of which illuminates a particular theme in disaster
ritual, and two international case studies (the 'Estonia' ferryboat
disaster and September 11). Then comes a more broadly conceived contextual
and analytic chapter in which the general context of contemporary ritual
developments is elaborated. The closing chapter has the nature of the
familiar 'synthesis and perspective'.
and a memorial service are carefully and observantly organised,
preparations are begun for a lasting monument in memory of the victims, or
people keep up the tradition of an annual commemoration. Remarkably
enough, this ritual repertoire has received hardly any attention from
researchers. This book is a report on the first exploration of these
rituals which emerged particularly in the 1990s. The exploration focuses
on the situation in the Netherlands. From the case studies analyzed a
strikingly coherent and well-organised repertoire comes to light, which
has become established in a rather short time. There appears to be
interaction with both Dutch and international contexts (i.e., influence
from the memorial rites after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the
'Dutroux affair' in Belgium, and the rites after a series of episodes of
street violence in the Netherlands), as well as with previous, more
divergent ritual traces of a Christian-liturgical, general-religious and
profane-secular nature. This study more particularly looks at disaster
ritual from the perspective of contemporary ritual dynamics. As such, it
makes a contribution to gauging the ritual-liturgical milieu today. To
this end, the central concepts of disaster and ritual are first defined.
Next follows an assessment, first in general through a survey of disasters
in the Netherlands and other countries, then on the basis of five Dutch
case studies, each of which illuminates a particular theme in disaster
ritual, and two international case studies (the 'Estonia' ferryboat
disaster and September 11). Then comes a more broadly conceived contextual
and analytic chapter in which the general context of contemporary ritual
developments is elaborated. The closing chapter has the nature of the
familiar 'synthesis and perspective'.