What is the main purpose of the rite of enhancement?

The Danger of the Unincorporated Dead

From this rite of passage perspective, it is possible to understand why the unincorporated dead, trapped permanently in the liminal realm, are often considered as dangerous. These wandering spirits, for whom no rites were performed, may act as hungry ghosts. They yearn to be reincorporated into the world of the living. Since they cannot be, they behave like hostile strangers who consequently must find sustenance at the expense of the living. Many cultures use elaborate strategies to confuse the spirit of the deceased so that it will not return to the realm of the living. Illness, misfortune, and associated healing rituals are often attempts to incorporate these lost souls. The ‘Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’ in modern states provides a resting-place for unincorporated spirits of the war dead.

2.2 Symbolic Actions

Of particular importance among the symbolic manifestations represented by acts and styles of behavior are rites and ceremonials as emotionally charged collective actions—usually performed in a rigorously prescribed sequence—by means of which an organizational community celebrates its successes, heroes, and organizational ideals. Various classifications of organizational rites—which assume a wide variety of connotations—have been proposed, as well as analysis of their manifest and covert cultural consequences (Trice and Beyer 1984). Among the most frequently observable rites are:

(a)

rites of passage (e.g., training seminars as a prelude to a promotion), which ease the transition of individuals to new roles and status;

rites of enhancement (like the awarding of bonuses for outstanding performance), which consolidate the social identities of the rewarded and induce others to emulate them;

rites of degradation (like the replacement of senior managers for some reason deemed unworthy), which solemnly and publicly reaffirm the importance of the social roles compromised by the behavior of the persons degraded;

rites of integration (like the celebrations organized by businesses on special occasions like Christmas or the anniversary of the company's foundation), which encourage shared feelings of equality and participation in a common enterprise, temporarily suspending the norms which sanction differences in power and status, but implicitly reaffirm the adequacy of those rules in day-to-day life;

rites of renewal (like the periodic drawing up of strategic plans), which reassure the organization's members that it is keeping up with the times and that present problems will be overcome, but at the same time bolster the legitimacy of existing systems of power and authority.

3.4 The Danger of the Unincorporated Dead

From this rite of passage perspective, it is possible to understand why the unincorporated dead, trapped permanently in the liminal realm, are often considered as dangerous. These wandering spirits, for whom no rites were performed, may act as hungry ghosts. They yearn to be reincorporated into the world of the living, and since they cannot be, they behave like hostile strangers who lack the means of subsistence which other dead find in their own world, and consequently must find at the expense of the living. Many cultures use elaborate strategies to confuse the spirit of the deceased so that it will not return to the realm of the living. Illness, misfortune, and associated healing rituals are often attempts to incorporate these lost souls (see Health: Anthropological Aspects; Shamanism; Spirit Possession, Anthropology of; Magic, Anthropology of; Witchcraft). The ‘tomb of the Unknown Soldier’ in modern states, provides a resting-place for unincorporated spirits of the war dead (see Collective Memory, Anthropology of).

Death as a Communal Event

Rituals, celebrations, and rites de passage, which the French anthropologist Van Gennep studied intensively more than a century ago, have marked the ways used by the living to say good-bye to their loved ones. Passage could be returning to the ancient fathers, a reunion with nature or deity, or the passage to hell or heaven. Within those celebrations, the dying person was not left alone, but within the community when he or she was to take leave. Within the hospital, surrounded by technology, a new environment has been shaped for the dying. Advance directives can be seen as an answer to that situation, an answer that again calls for others to sit near the bed and take part in the dying process. At least the advance directives give a sense of control to the dying person to die in his or her own way. Control and the wish to die at home have become strong factors present in advance directives as well in the request of voluntary euthanasia, as has become possible in countries like the Netherlands and Belgium. Control empowers the subject to make choices even when incapacitated. This paradoxical situation points to the moral quandary that has arisen with the mastery by medical technology of the dying phase of life, the quandary of how people should adapt the technology as a support in their wish for a humane and good death. That control should be respected in humane conversation and not seen as an excuse to leave the patient alone while the directives are obeyed.

Health Hazards of Female Genital Mutilation

There is good evidence the rites of female genital mutilation cause pain, disease, disabilities, and, occasionally death. Yet these rituals are prevalent in many countries, including Ethiopia, the Sudan, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Tanzania, Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Eritrea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Mauritania, Nigeria, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, and Egypt. More modified versions of the surgeries are performed in Southern Yemen and Musqat-Oman. It is also practiced by Muslim groups in the Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Europe, and North America.

Of the three forms of female genital mutilation. Type 1 is the least mutilating type and may not, unlike other forms, preclude sexual orgasms for women. Type 1 circumcision, however, is very difficult to perform without removing additional tissue. Dr. Nahid Toubia writes, “In my extensive clinical experience as a physician in Sudan, and after a careful review of the literature, I have not found a single case of female circumcision in which only the skin surrounding the clitoris is removed, without damaging the clitoris itself” (1994: 713). The tools commonly used by traditional practitioners, razors and knives, make it even more likely that additional tissue will be taken. In the southern Arabian countries of Southern Yemen and Musqat-Oman, Type 1 circumcision is commonly practiced. In African countries, however, Type 1 circumcision is often not regarded as a genuine circumcision. Only about 3% of the women had this type of circumcision in an east African survey conducted by Sudanese physician Asthma El Dareer.

Types 2 and 3, both of which preclude orgasms, are the most popular forms of circumcision. More than three-quarters of the girls in the Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, and other north African and southern Arabian countries undergo Type 2 or Type 3 circumcision, with many of the others circumcised by Type 1. One survey by El Dareer shows that more than 98% of Sudanese women have had this ritual surgery, 12% with Type 2, and 83% with Type 3.

Investigators Raquiya Haji Dualeh Abdalla, Olayinka Koso-Thomas, and Daphne Williams Ntiri found that in some African countries, most young girls between infancy and 10 years of age have had Type 3 circumcision. These and other investigators have discovered that traditional practitioners often use sharpened or hot stones, razors, or knives, frequently without anesthesia or antibiotics. In many communities, thorns are used to stitch the wound closed, or perform the infibulation, and a twig is inserted to keep an opening. The girl’s legs may be bound for a month or more while the scar heals.

A series of pioneering studies conducted in the Sudan by El Dareer, in Sierra Leone by Koso-Thomas, and in Somalia by Abdalla document that female genital cutting harms in many ways, having both short- and long-term complications. Later studies confirm their findings. The operation causes immediate problems that can even be fatal. They find initial problems are pain, bleeding, infection, tetanus, and shock. The degree of harm correlates with the type of circumcision El Dareer found that bleeding occurred in all forms of circumcision, accounting for 21.3% of the immediate medical problems: infections are frequent because the surgical conditions are often unhygienic. She also found that the inability to pass urine was common, constituting 21.65% of the immediate complications.

El Dareer found that these rites cause many long-term medical complications, including difficulty in the consummation of marriage and hazardous labor and delivery. Urinary tract infections are another long-term complication that 24.5% of women recognized as caused by these rites, and 23.8% recognized that the rituals has caused suffering chronic pelvic infection. The published studies by investigators from the regions where these rituals are practiced uniformly find that women expressed similar complaints and had similar complications from female genital mutilation: at the site of the surgery, scarring can make penetration difficult and intercourse painful; cysts may form, requiring surgical repairs; a variety of menstrual problems arise if the opening is left too small to allow adequate drainage; fistulas or tears in the bowel or urinary tract are common, causing incontinence, which in turn leads to social as well as medical problems; maternal-fetal complications and prolonged and obstructed labor are also well-established consequences.

As high as the rate of these reported complications are, investigator El Dareer believes that the actual rates are probably even higher for several reasons. First, female genital cutting, although widely practiced, is technically illegal in many of these regions, and people are reluctant to discuss illegal activities. (These laws are sometimes the unenforced remnants of colonial days.) Second, people may be ashamed to admit that they have had complications, fearing they are to blame. Third, some women believe that female circumcision or infibulation is necessary for their health and well-being and may not fully associate these problems with the surgery. They assume that their problems would have been worse without it. Of course, many other women, as these studies show, are well aware of the complications from these rituals.

Varna

It comes to pass that rite assumes, as it were, an imperious power all of its own, such that the people forget the original motivation or rationale underlying the imperative. This leads to the establishment of differential duties and moral codes for the major groups or “classes” constitutive of the basically priestly-cum-agrarian society. Each “class” constitutes a needful functional unit in the larger complex. Here a particular principle of social ordering is adopted (probably introduced into India by the Aryans around 2000 BC), according to which society is organized into a fourfold (but originally threefold) functional division or “class” scheme, called varna (literally, “color” or “category”). These are, with their respective preserves, namely, brāhmana (brahmin) for religious and educational tasks; kshatriya, for sovereign and defense tasks; vaiśya, for agriculture and economic tasks; and śūadra, for menial tasks. (One is reminded here of Plato's “stations-of-life” division.) Overall, the sources of power get distributed evenly at different places, and ideally differences in function need not entail differences in interests, rights, and privileges; but the outcome in practice shows otherwise. A system of subdivisions or “castes” (jāti) proliferates the class functions further, gradually turning varna into a discriminatory, hereditary-based institution. In any event, the brahmins certainly enjoy the better end of the system and they wield enormous power. A life-affirming but rigidly casuistic morality develops. In Max Weber's judgment, the Vedas “do not contain a rational ethic”—if such an ethic did exist anywhere that far back! (Weber, 1958: 261, 337).

The stages or life cycles (aśramas) an individual goes through may entail distinct or differently arranged moral rules, roles, and goals or values for the group or subgroup he or she belongs to. It was likewise for kings and rulers, with added responsibilities and privileges. Differentia are superimposed on the organic unity of nature. A kind of oblique distributive justice is assumed, and in time the question of moral “choice” is categorically left out: one either does it or does not, and enjoys the rewards or suffers the consequences thereof. Here lay the rudiments of the idea of karma, which we develop later. We shall return to the concepts of aśrama and karma shortly.

What counts as “ethics” then is largely the normative preoccupations, brought under the pervasive and guiding concept of dharma; the justification is usually that this is the “divine” or natural ordering of things (in the sense of locating the order in some transcendental plenum or law, depicted in the imageless and, later, iconic gods, not necessarily in an absolute or supremely existent being, as God), which is also identified with dharma qua Dharma. This is akin to the ancient, especially the Stoics', conception of Natural Law in the Western tradition. This may also provide a basis for belief in the absoluteness of the moral law from which the rules and norms are supposed to have been derived. But virtually no attempt is made, until perhaps much later or elsewhere in the broad tradition, at self-reflexively analyzing the logic of the ethical concepts and reasoning used. Indeed, questions such as: “What do we ‘mean’ when we say of an action that it is morally right (or morally wrong)?” can hardly be said to have attracted the kind of critical, albeit purely theoretical, attention afforded in (meta-)ethical thinking in recent times.

That is not to say, however, that genuine issues, concerns, and paradoxes or aporias of ethical relevance are not raised, even if they are couched in religious, mystical, or mythological ideas or terms. To give an illustration: Scriptures proscribe injury to creatures and meat-eating, but a priest would wrong the gods if he did not partake of the remains of a certain ritual animal sacrifice. With the gods wronged, rta cannot be maintained: What then should he do? It also follows that meat-eating is not unambiguously decried in the Scriptures, as more recent studies have attempted to show. However, that qualification or thinking over paradoxical scenarios merely is not sufficient by itself, for exceptions do not constitute the weight and strength of much of the moral norms that govern the daily lives and affairs of the people. Despite the persistence of the ritualistic Weltanschauung, texts from across the counter-traditions (śramana), traditions, such as the Jaina and the more deconstructive Buddhist, are evocative of certain more humanistic virtues and ethical ideals, such as being truthful (satya), giving (dāna), restraint (dama), austerities (tapas), affection and gratitude, fidelity, forgiveness, nonthieving, noncheating, giving others their just desserts (justice), avoiding injury or himsā to all creatures, and being responsive to the guest/stranger. As the gods of the Vedas, who portray these ideals, recede from the people's consciousness, citizens are encouraged to take more responsibility upon themselves, and transform these ideals into virtues, habits, and dispositions with corresponding moral “objects” or reals in the world. Old ethical problems achieve new meaning. Thus the question of whether the princely god Indra should slay the obstructive demon Vrtra becomes a question for the king: Should he vanquish the ascetics who stand in the way of his sovereignty?

Arnold van Gennep

What the authors have come to understand as liminality in relation to social and cultural practices stems in no small part from the work of Arnold van Gennep (1873–1957), whose Rites de passage was published in 1909, but not translated into English until 1960. Measured against the legacy of sociological and anthropological ‘founding fathers’ such as Emile Durkheim, van Gennep's body of work has remained on the periphery of theory and debate (Thomassen, 2009: p. 7). With an impressive 437 titles in his bibliography, van Gennep, who mastered 18 different languages (Thomassen, 2009: p. 8), published on a wide range of topics but it is his work on liminality that has by far proved the most influential.

Derived from the Latin word for ‘threshold’ (limen) – an etymological reminder of the important spatial underpinnings to the concept – for van Gennep, ‘liminal’ is more directly related to the symbolic processes and ritual conventions that structure and define key moments of social transition, or ‘rites of passage.’ His research examined the relationship between liminal experiences and lasting effects of those experiences, arguing that structure/order is derived from liminality – from the crucial middle or ‘in-between’ states that facilitate ritual passage from one social stage to another. For van Gennep, liminality does not presuppose certainty or offer an explanatory causality with regard to outcome, but rather describes a world of contingency “where … ‘reality’ itself, can be carried in different directions” (Thomassen, 2009: p. 5). Liminality is thus a means to conceptualize the moments between structure and agency: “in liminality, the very distinction between structure and agency ceases to make meaning; and yet, in the hyper-reality of agency in liminality, structuration takes place” (Thomassen, 2009: p. 5).

As elaborated by van Gennep, rites of passage form an explanatory codification or analytical tool by which to understand all rites and his work distinguishes between different types of ritual, ranging from change in status to those that mark the passage of time. Rites of passage become a special category with three subcategories: separation, transition (the liminal phase), and reincorporation (the postliminal stage). Basing his analysis on existing empirical and ethnographic data, van Gennep observed a pattern in rituals that he argued is universal and replicable across cultures and societies (Thomassen, 2009: p. 6). Celebrations or initiations are important features of social rites of passage that are classified into four types of social movement:

The passage of people from one status to another, e.g., marriage (moving from fiancée to wife or husband), initiation ceremonies in which the outsider of a group becomes an insider.

The passage from one place to another, e.g., moving home.

The passage from one situation to another, e.g., starting a new job, school, joining university.

The passage of time – typically the passage of a whole social group moving from one period to another, e.g., New Year, New Government or Ruling authority (King/Queen/Emperor) (see Andrews and Leopold, 2013: p. 36).

van Gennep's analysis identified certain characteristic patterns that occurred in the order of the ceremonies:

Separation/preliminal – the physical detachment of the participant from normal life. As Gunnell (2007) observes of Busar initiation traditions in Icelandic Gymnasia, new pupils are only allowed to walk along marked pathways which separate them from the spaces of movement used by the rest of the school's students and teachers.

Liminal/transitional – the most important period according to Victor Turner in which the participant is literally and symbolically marginalized. During this time, the participants in the ritual have a sense of Communitas. Communitas – a concept later developed by Turner (1969) – is a feeling of camaraderie between those who are the focus of the ritual. Gunnell's (2007) study again proves useful here as the new pupils are argued to feel a sense of bonding with each other as they share the same ordeals – wearing odd clothes and participating in rituals – before they become fully accepted into the life of the school.

Incorporation/postliminal – the participant is reincorporated into society/returned to society. In Gunnell's Icelandic example this occurs when, having completed their challenges, the new pupils are finally accepted into the life of the school, which is celebrated with a meal or dance (see Andrews and Leopold, 2013: p. 36).

Melford Weiss's 1967 article ‘Rebirth in the Airborne’ applies van Gennep's tripartite model of liminality to the training and initiation rituals involved in becoming an American paratrooper. As part of their training, trainees are separated from and discouraged from association with those in the outside world. The liminal phase is typically accompanied by the use of lucky charms and totems, and, in an inversion of normal social experience, initiates are subjected to continuous periods of anxiety and stress, which helps bind them together as a group and helps inform feelings of communitas. Lastly, reincorporation, which includes the playing of the national anthem and the reciting of scriptures, culminates in the ‘prop blast,’ a ceremonial rebirth in which initiates reenact their jump in front of the flight sergeant, and the ritual drinking of ‘blast juice,’ which is quaffed within the count of ‘1000, 2000, 3000,’ the time between an actual jump from a plane and the opening of the parachute. On successful completion, the initiate is ritually joined with his fellow paratroopers. Although paratrooper training is an essentially secular affair, “certain superstitious practices which are interwoven show that, in the broadest sense, it is also a religious rite” (Weiss, 1967: p. 24).

Building on ideas van Gennep outlined in Rites de passage, Turner argued that each rite of passage has these elements (separation – transition – reincorporation) within it, although some may be more developed than others depending on the purpose of the rite. In a funeral, for example, rites of separation, would be more pronounced than those typically associated with a wedding or graduation ceremony.

Adolescent Initiation

The timing of the most commonly employed rite of passage is dependent on the appearance of the first signs of puberty. Once the growth spurt, deepening of the voice, menses, breast buds, or pubic hair become visible, a rite of passage may follow. On the island of Vanatinai in Papua New Guinea, at approximately 14 years of age, the first signs of puberty become apparent. “For a girl that is when her breast buds are ‘the size of betel nuts,’ and for a boy when his voice begins to change” (Lepowsky, 1998: 128). Physiological change and emerging sexuality are often one of the foci of initiation. Among the Tamil of southern India, a girl at first menstruation must avoid ‘hot’ foods and mature men, for both would inflame her already heightened state of passion. The best cure for the state of heightened passion among nubile young Tamil women is “marriage and frequent sexual intercourse” (Reynolds, 1991: 40). Among the Dogon of north-central Africa, parents keep a watchful eye on the formation of their daughter's breasts and other signs of sexual maturity. They are concerned that, if the necessary puberty rite is not performed before her first menses, when she finally becomes pregnant, her first child may die (Calame-Griaule, 1986). Among the Muria of India, children are initiated (scarification on the chest and upper arms of the body) after the onset of heterosexual relations, to acknowledge this important phase in their transition into adulthood (Elwin, 1943).

Rites for girls emphasize fecundity, subservience to senior women, and obedience to one's future husband (Richards, 1956: 103); and those for boys, subservience to senior men and dominance over women (Tuzin, 1980: 26). The youth is forcibly weaned from the ‘bad influence’ of the peer group (Rao, 2006: 59). Didactic instruction in the ‘lore’ of the society is not evident. On the contrary, the initiation rite is an opportunity to impress upon young people their ignorance and powerlessness. “In Kpelle society secrecy … supports the elders' political and economic control of the youth” (Murphy, 1980: 193). Children entering puberty may need to prove to the larger community that they are ready for adulthood and so are tested. They may be sequestered, go without food, and be forced to withstand physically challenging or painful ordeals. Among the Mapuche, at first menses a girl is segregated in a corner of the toldo. For the next two days she is made to run long distances as fast as she can. On the third day she is told to go and gather three bundles of firewood, leaving them at three different locations. After she completes these tasks there is a celebration of the girl's newly achieved status (Cooper, 1946). In northwestern New Guinea sexual maturation or menses in Kwoma girls occurs without public recognition, but puberty in Kwoma boys must be induced by imitating menstruation. During their rite of passage, older men repeatedly scrape a boy's penis to induce bleeding. The boys are encouraged to continually bleed themselves after their rite of passage is complete, to ensure proper growth and to keep themselves fit (Williamson, 1983).

Puberty rites may commence at the first signs of puberty or later, and they may be quite short in duration or last several years. Hence the completion of the rites may not automatically confer adult status. There may be further, subtler tests of an adolescent's preparedness for marriage and formation of family. Gusii parents may withhold approval and resources from the aspirant bride, demanding “evidence of okongainia … which means … being willing and able to do the work of an adult woman … and perform these duties without having to be ordered” (LeVine and Lloyd, 1966: 167). As we will discuss shortly, there are multiple, cross-cultural pathways, to full adult status. Consequently, marriage is often treated as only a very minor rite of passage.

The Value and Limitation of Qing

The Confucian perspective recognizes both the central importance of qing in human morality and its limitation. Morality cannot be found outside of qing, but neither can morality be expected to come directly or naturally from qing.

In the Confucian classics, renqing is referred to as a field in which morality is cultivated. According to this view, morality is developed not by suppressing or by conquering qing but, rather, by cultivating and enriching it. Of course, the fruit of morality cannot grow naturally and automatically from this field. It takes the sages to construct a system of morality. However, the sages do not construct a morality out of abstract reason or formal principles. The construction must be based on and is also responsive to human qing. The Confucian insight is that we have nowhere else to develop morality except to take the human qing as it is and work with it.

For example, in The Book of Rites, it is said,

When the sages would make rules (for men), they felt it necessary to adopt … the feelings of men as the field (to be cultivated).… Thus propriety and righteousness are the great elements for man’s character.… They supply the channels by which we can … act as the feelings of men require…. Therefore the sage kings cultivated and fashioned the lever of righteousness and the ordering of ceremonial usages, in order to regulate the feelings of men. Those feelings were the field (to be cultivated by) the sage kings. They fashioned the rules of ceremony to plough it. They set forth the principles of righteousness with which to plant it. They instituted lessons of the school to weed it. They made love the fundamental subject by which to gather all its fruits, and they employed the training in music to give repose (to the minds of the learners). (Liji, ‘Liyun’; as translated in Legge, 1885: Vol. 1, 383–389)

The use of the metaphor of ‘field’ for human qing implies that qing is something we have to accept and affirm. It is not perfect, but we do not have a better alternative. It is where we should start and seek improvement. The use of the metaphor of field also implies that there is a naturalistic as well as a constructivist dimension of morality. There is a naturalistic basis of morality, but such a basis by itself is not sufficient. There has to be further contribution on top of this basis. The following passage in ‘Xing zi ming chu’ of Guodian Bamboo Texts clearly points out both the value and the limitation of qing:

The Dao [Way] begins from qing. Qing begins from xing. The starting point is close to qing. The endpoint is close to yi [moral rightness]. (Li, 2007: 136)

Although qing is the starting point, and there is no way to build a truly moral and humane morality except on the basis of qing, qing by itself is only necessary but not sufficient for the construction of morality. The way of acting directly from qing without any moderation is described as the way of the uncivilized people. It is uncivilized not in the sense that it is necessarily evil but in the sense that it is not fully human and moral. The Book of Rites explains this as follows:

Youzi and Ziyou were standing together when they saw a mourner showing child’s way of missing his parent (leaping in mourning). Youzi said, “I have never understood this leaping in mourning, and have long wished to abolish it. The sincere feeling (of sorrow) which appears here is right, (and should be sufficient).” Ziyou replied, “In the rules of propriety, there are some intended to lessen the (display of) feeling, and there are others which purposely introduce things (to excite it). To give direct vent to the feeling and act it out as by a short cut is the way of the uncivilized people.” (Liji, ‘Tan-gong II’; as translated in Legge, 1885: Vol. 1, 176–177)

Ziyou does not disagree with Youzi that sincere feeling is valuable, but he disagrees that sincere feeling by itself is sufficient to constitute good human behavior. ‘To act directly from qing without any moderation’ is not evil, but it is uncivilized. It is a long way from a truly human and humane morality.

The Confucian view is that qing cannot be denied or negated. However, it does have to be regulated, moderated, and enriched. Nothing can replace qing, and moral mistakes can be avoided by moderating qing from being excessive:

To be excessive is a mistake. Human qing without exception can be excessive. Rectify the excessive (mistake), and then the mistake is gone. (Dadai Liji, ‘Shengde’)

Of course, moral mistakes can also result from deficiency as well as from insincerity of qing. They result from the lack of qing rather than from qing. In this section, we discuss only the value and the limitation of qing. We leave aside the question of how bad the lack of qing can be. We only consider the question of how bad qing can be. It is interesting to note that according to this view, evil is not something substantial. There is nothing bad in itself about qing; only an excessive and unmoderated expression of it is problematic. However, moderation to avoid excessive expression of qing is still not yet the attainment of morality or virtue.

What is an example of a rite of enhancement?

What is the term for an everyday Organisational practice that is repeated over and over?

What is a culture that facilitates change to meet the needs of stockholders customers and employees?

Which of the following is an example of a terminal value quizlet?