(no subject)

[pozorvlak]

An anthropologist friend once remarked to me that university meets precisely the anthropological definition of a coming-of-age ritual.

• There is some form of ceremony to mark the start of the ritual.
• For the duration of the ritual, the initiates are separated from the mass of the people, and allowed an unusual degree of license to do foolish and/or antisocial things.
• Periodically, the initiates are given tests of strength, stamina, cunning, ability to solve differential equations, or some other desirable quality.
• At the end of the ritual, there is another ceremony, to mark the initiates' re-integration with society at large as adults.

This kind of thing, she went on to elaborate, is what she really likes about anthropology; the tension between the similarity and diversity of all people. Coming-of-age rituals the world over exhibit the same general patterns, but their expressions vary enormously. Similarly, almost every society has some notion of kinship, but the precise details vary greatly from society to society.

This particular example prompts a few questions, though:

1. 18 seems rather late, and 3-4 years seems rather long, for a coming-of-age ritual. What's the distribution of age and length on these things? Is there any correlation between the technological level of a society and the length or time of its coming-of-age ritual?
2. Off the top of my head, the proportion of people attending university in the UK is a little under half: I'm guessing it's similar in most other industrialised countries. So what's the analogous ritual for the non-university-attending classes? School? How does this play out in families where the children attended university but not the parents? And can increasing university attendance (now, and historically) tell us anything more general about the spread and evolution of rituals?
3. Do other societies have the equivalent of postgrads or mature students?

Comments

[sebastienne.livejournal.com]

my my, that does put my stubborn refusal to graduate into an interesting light...

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

To finish your studies, or to stand around in the Sheldonian for an hour chanting the occasional bit of Latin? My own plan for the latter is to graduate in Glasgow first, and then go to a graduation ceremony in Oxford wearing a Glasgow doctoral gown...

[sebastienne.livejournal.com]

the latter. I'm waiting for me free MA!

[necaris.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, yeah, me too -- free MAs for the win!

@pozorvlak: Heh, wearing a Glasgow doctoral gown -- that sounds *awesome*

[half-of-monty.livejournal.com]

Oh, have you not graduated either?

Would you like to try to book one with me and Duncan, if / when we can ever be arsed?

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

Oh, I thought it was just me. Or is this your doctoral graduation you're talking about? Anyway, I think that would be an excellent idea.

[half-of-monty.livejournal.com]

I haven't graduated in any way.

Advantage: I don't need to bother getting a new gown for formal hall (Nuffield does bother with gowns for that, unfortunately) as undergraduate scholar is still the right one!

[bdunbar.livejournal.com]

# Do other societies have the equivalent of postgrad students?

I found it interesting that the four points your friend remarked can also apply to boot camp

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

Even number 2? Are well-intentioned fuckups by boots treated more leniently than fuckups by professionals? I was thinking more of deliberate transgressions. But yeah, good suggestion. Military society's an interesting one, in that people don't join it at birth, but it definitely has its own cultural norms and rituals.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I spent most of my childhood around military types: my parents and two of my grandparents were RAF officers, and I grew up on a succession of RAF bases. With my parents' blessing, I eventually decided that the personal qualities that the military required were not ones I possessed, and the ones I possessed were not ones that they required, but there's always been a lingering sense of failure. We all have our crosses to bear, I suppose.

[bdunbar.livejournal.com]

Are well-intentioned fuckups by boots treated more leniently than fuckups by professionals?

As long as the recruit is trying hard and is otherwise capable .. in my experience, yes.

but there's always been a lingering sense of failure. We all have our crosses to bear, I suppose.

We all have them: what I've achieved in life (so far) would have been a lot easier if I'd gone to college instead of joining the service.

[johnckirk.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit dubious about the "separated from the mass of the people" bit. If you "live out" (i.e. rent a room in a shared house rather than living in a hall of residence), and you do your shopping at the local supermarket, travel on public transport, etc., is it really that different from having an office job?

Perhaps boarding school would be a better fit?

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

If you "live out" (i.e. rent a room in a shared house rather than living in a hall of residence), and you do your shopping at the local supermarket, travel on public transport, etc., is it really that different from having an office job?

I think so, yes. Students make up a minority of the population, and they tend to share houses with each other and socialise together, as well as often keeping different hours to everyone else. The separation doesn't have to be physical.

Perhaps boarding school would be a better fit?

Hmmm, interesting idea: it's more of a separation, and for much of the last century it was an experience shared by a large slice of the population. I think you're on to something there.

[jackalopemonger.livejournal.com]

By that definition, having a job meets the anthropological definition of a ritual:

ceremony at the start of the ritual = job application and interview
separation from the masses and license to do foolish things = life in the cubicles
periodic tests of strength, cunning, etc. = quarterly reviews of performance
another ceremony to mark re-integration = going-away party

The given definition of a ritual seems a little too ambiguous...

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

Quite possibly it could be considered as some sort of ritual, but we're specifically talking about coming-of-age rituals. I don't think anyone would consider that leaving a job is a mark of adulthood. And does cubicle life give you license to do foolish things? I'd have thought quite the opposite. The kind of thing I'm thinking of is "while my client admits to knocking off the policeman's helmet, m'lud, he wishes it to be taken into account that it was on the night before the Oxford versus Cambridge Boat Race"*.

* I've been reading a lot of PG Wodehouse lately. I very much doubt you'd get away with that nowadays.

[jackalopemonger.livejournal.com]

And does cubicle life give you license to do foolish things? I'd have thought quite the opposite.
I was thinking of:



I guess you'd be hard-pressed to consider leaving a job a coming-of-age ritual, although I'd say that finishing one's first job is definitely a milestone of sorts. On the other hand, I've never really felt my undergraduate experience to be a coming-of-age experience, either.

And where does one draw the line of the end of the ritual? Many people I know go straight from undergraduate studies into graduate school, into a postdoctoral research position. Each stage is a commitment building directly off the previous accomplishments.

Also, great icon above. Hooray sceince!