Image source: Barry Stephenson
research portal for the study of the kinetic dimensions of ritual
The Ritual in Motion Research Network at Charles University is the Czech Republic’s only Centre dedicated to the study of ritual, promoting international, cross disciplinary and collaborative study, bridging scholarship and practice. The network developed out of over a decade-long co-operation between scholars based at various institutions (Charles University [Czech Republic], Memorial University [Canada]) and the organizers of the Velvet Carnival - a masked satirical procession commemorating the Czechoslovakian Velvet Revolution of 1989.
The network’s focus is a significant genre of ritual action known as ‘rites of mobility,’ enactments that set ritual in motion. Examples of ritual in motion include pilgrimages, processions, parades, marches, circumambulations, walks, races, and quests, actions that exist across cultures and throughout history. Typically, such rites spill out from relatively contained institutional spaces into and through more public spaces, often incorporating places deemed special in the route traversed, and linking different cultural domains, such as sacred and civic or urban and rural. The network examines the dynamic dimensions of ritual action, focusing on ritual kinetics informed by invention, experimentation, and the creative arts.
The aims of The Ritual in Motion Research Network (RMRN) include:
- Conducting and promoting ritual in motion research and events
- Providing a collection of data and resources for researchers, teachers, students, and religious and civic organizations
- Promoting interactions and collaborations among academics, artists, practitioners, organizers, and the public sector
Additional Researchers outside the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Martin Pehal, Charles University
