This thesis probes the possibility of a gender-balanced theory of ritual by elucidating the role of gender issues in the rite of passage. Ritual is a system of patterned and repetitive practices which constitutes the very basis of society and culture. ...
This thesis probes the possibility of a gender-balanced theory of ritual by elucidating the role of gender issues in the rite of passage. Ritual is a system of patterned and repetitive practices which constitutes the very basis of society and culture. It contributes to the formation of personal identity and the maintenance of society. The rite of passage makes individuals undergoing life crises acquire specific identities and be incorporated into the society. And the society maintains itself by reproducing its members through the rite of passage. In such a process, diverse symbolic apparatuses and various complex elements of preserving social orders are used, among which gender is one of the most important element. This thesis starts with the recognition that, though there have been many useful theories regarding the rite of passage, most of them proves to be defective in the light of gender issue. With such a problematic, this thesis deals with three topics. (1) To examine the classical theories regarding the rite of passage. Here, I examine the theories of Arnold van Gennep, Victor Turner, and Mircea Eliade. Arnold van Gennep established a functionalist theory for the rite of passage. He identified the three-fold structure of the rite of passage: separation, transition, and incorporation. He expecially emphasized the importance of the phase of transition, which is characterized as symbolic death and liminality. Turner sophisticated van Gennep’s theory of the liminality in the phase of transition and enlarged it into a wider context of society and culture. In especial, his concept of communitas as anti-structure, another important aspect of the phase of transition along with the liminality, has been a useful analytic tool for both ritual studies and cultural studies. Eliade established a symbolist theory that related ritual to the hierophany and understood ritual as a sacred drama re-enacting the events of origin in the archaic past. He regarded the rite of passage as a moment for the initiates to be united with the cosmic sacredness. (2) Secondly, to examine the critical debates on the classical theories for the rite of passage, Here, I examined the discussions of Caroline Walker Bynum and Bruce Lincoln. By analysing the biographies and stories of female saints and women believers, Bynum pointed out that van Gennep’s and Turner’s theory of the liminality did not encompass the life and experience of women. For men, the liminality is triggered by the sharp separation with the past, for women, such a separation is impossible. Bynum also criticizsed Turner’s concept of the communitas as being applied only to male elites from which women are utterly disconnected. Lincoln criticized Eliade’s romantic theory relating ritual to the sacred cosmology and said that Eliade ignored another aspect of ritual such as power and ideology. He insisted that the rite of passage is an important apparatus to maintain the previous dominant orders by passing on patriarchal ideology to women and forging girls into women required by the society. (3) Third, to examine new cases of creating new rites of passage for women. Almost traditional rites could not have been able to encompass the life and experience of women. As the result, many feminists have tried to create new rites of passage including the life and experience of women. Here, I examined how Jewish and Christian feminists, goddess worshippers, and secular feminists have experimented with new rites of passage reflecting women’s lives and experiences such as the first mensturation, menopause, giving birth, marriage, divorce, aging, and rape. All these works is expected to provide an important basis for the problem of gender regarding the rite of passage and the ritual in general.