The Ties That Bind Us: Ritual, Fusion, and Identification

Most social scientists endorse some version of the claim that participating in collective rituals promotes social cohesion. The systematic testing and evaluation of this claim, however, has been prevented by a lack of precision regarding the nature of both ‘ritual’and ‘social cohesion’ as well as a lack of integration between the theories and findings of the social and evolutionary sciences. By directly addressing these challenges, we argue that a systematic investigation and evaluation of the claim that ritual promotes social cohesion is achievable.

We present a general and testable theory of the relationship between ritual, cohesion, and cooperation that more precisely connects particular elements of ‘ritual,’ such as causal opacity and emotional arousal, to two particular forms
of ‘social cohesion’: group identification and identity fusion. Further, we ground this theory in an evolutionary account of why particular modes of ritual practice would be adaptive for societies with particular resource acquisition strategies. In setting out our conceptual framework we report numerous ongoing investigations that test our hypotheses against data from controlled psychological experiments as well as from theethnographic, archaeological, and historical records.

Ritual, Play and Animals in early human societies: Manipulating the Bones in temple period Malta: Eating and Augury in the Maltese Temples.

Examination of antiquarian records and feasting ritual in prehistoric Malta

Pots, prestige and ritual in neolithic southern Italy,

Malone, C.A.T., in Papers in Italian Archaeology IV. Vol. ii. Prehistory, C.A.T. Malone and S.K.F. Stoddart, (eds.). 1985, British Archaeological Reports, Oxford: Cambridge. p. 118-151.

Daily life behind the ritual of the Temple Builders,

Stoddart, S.K.F., C.A.T. Malone, and D. Trump, in Past ( 1988, Prehistoric Society p. 4-5.

Ritual, identity and nation: when the historian becomes the high priest of commemoration

This paper questions the use of 'memory', 'remembering' and 'collective memory' as a conceptual tool in historical study. It will ague that a synchronic model for commemorative practice needs to be highlighted, and in doing so questions the role of historians in commemorative practice.

Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez: humanismo y compromiso político de un republicano en el exilio

Es de lo más oportuno el presente homenaje a Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez en el marco de la XX Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara 2006, pues además de ser ciudadano excepcional de Andalucía, invitada de honora a esta feria, Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez es una figura emblemática del exilio republicano y, precisamente, este año conmemoramos 75 años del inicio de la República Española establecida democráticamente en 1931, así como 70 años del comienzo de la heroica resistencia de los republicanos durante la Guerra Civil que término con la trágica imposición de la dictadura franquista y con el exilio de muchos españoles, entre ellos, de manera muy especial, de nuestro homenajeado.

Do pensamento político e económico à moeda. Da moeda ao pensamento político e económico

Tese de mestrado, Estudos Clássicos, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2013

Griots cosmopolitas : mobilidade e performance de artistas mandingas entre Lisboa e Guiné-Bissau

Tese de doutoramento, Antropologia (Antropologia da Etnicidade e do Político), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, 2014

O governo da linguagem cerimonial: costume etiqueta no Timor-Leste colonial

Este ensaio explora o elevado significado adquirido por antigos costumes e cerimoniais na gestão de poder, status e autoridade socio-política em Timor-Leste, com especial enfoque no período compreendido entre as décadas de 1850 e 1910. Argumenta-se que, em Timor colonial, a cerimonialidade formava a linguagem e a tecnologia através da qual a autoridade político-jural Portuguesa e Timorense se constituía e se exercia nas interacções coloniais. A cerimonialidade garantia o exercício do comando assim como a comunicação social entre os actores coloniais portugueses e os povos e as classes dirigentes timorenses, numa diversidade de situações: durante interacções pacíficas e conjuntivas, mas também, e de modo importante, em ocasiões de tensão política, conflito, ou violência física iminente.