The “body of ritual” transformed: discourses and actions in the Daba rituals among the Na (Moso)

Abstract

Abstract Anthropologists have adopted different approaches in order to analyze discourses in ritual context. This paper, based on long-term field investigations, aims to discuss the Na’s Daba rituals from the angle of enunciation. By describing the system of ritual knowledge, namely the “body of ritual” to the Na, and by presenting the transformations of such a system in the ritual “mukrabu,” the author argues that the decomposition and the arrangement of ritual actions are essentially accomplished by the Daba’s performances of enunciation, which represents a crucial aspect of ritual processes. In this perspective, modes of various practices of discourse should constitute an important dimension of ritual studies.

Keywords

• The Na
• Daba
• Ritual action
• Ritual process
• Enunciation