Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The field of ritual studies has often been relegated to the disciplines of religious
studies and anthropology, and typically understood within a religious context. However,
this dissertation applies the study of ritual to a nonprofit organization as a distinct
organizational culture that engages in mission driven work that, at times, can also
function as a series of deeply meaningful rituals; within ritual studies, this process of
practical work taking on enhanced meaning is known as ritualization.
Utilizing Ronald Grimes' categories of ritual sensibilities (specifically decorum,
magic, ceremony, liturgy, and celebration), this research sought to better understand how
the work of The Lord's Acre, a nonprofit community garden dedicated to addressing the
conditions of food insecurity, can similarly be viewed as ritualized activities. The study
was conducted through the use of intensive participant observation and interviews
conducted between 2018-2020 on site in Fairview, North Carolina. The research
uncovered several important revelations.
First, the work of the garden often hinged upon the use of ritual language, spaces,
and objects, and some of the rituals defied the clear categorization under Grimes' schema.
Instead, ritual attitudes toward the work under observation became blends of multiple
categories, such as celebratory ceremonies, thus helping to reify Grimes' theory. Secondly, at times, the rituals undertaken at the organization resembled rites of passage
popularized by Arnold van Gennep and also sustained periods of liminality, or
communitas, popularized by Victor Turner, especially in the organization's attempts to
build community through educating others about food insecurity. Finally, the research
discovered that the practice of liturgy, conventionally thought to reside within religious
nonprofit organizations, was active within the organization and thus may also be alive
and well within secular nonprofit organizations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:IUPUI/oai:scholarworks.iupui.edu:1805/30861 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Alexander, James Robert |
| Contributors | Craig, David, Benjamin, Lehn, King, David, Vogt, Wendy |
| Source Sets | Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
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