7 Apr 2022
Invited lecture: Luke Glowacki – Rituals for war and peace
War and peace are both major aspects of human sociality, yet understanding each presents a unique challenge. War is a puzzle because it involves individuals risking their lives to harm others. Peace is a challenge because it involves restoring cooperative relationships after a significant breach. Rituals are an important but unexplored mechanism for promoting both war and peace. In war, rituals are commonly used to alter perceptions regarding the likelihood of harm and foster group solidarity. During peace, rituals commonly function to indicate cooperative intent and cement ties. I use ethnographic case studies from small-scale societies to explore the functions of rituals in both war and peace.