Ritual is fundamental to who we are, Dovey says.

Question: Do people need ritual

Dovey: Absolutely, yeah. And it’s . . . It’s fundamental to who we are. It’s one of the things that sets us apart as a species – you know our ability to, you know, have a symbolic life. And it’s a major source of meaning and purpose, I think, for all human . . . human beings. And if you look, you know, what anthropology can give us is a sort of . . . both a universal perspective; and it’s always ___________ the sort of father of American anthropology always emphasized what he called the “psychic unity” of mankind. So it’s the sort of, you know, acknowledgment and, you know, reassurance that we are all human; and that we are all the same; which unfortunately at certain times in human history, you know that hasn’t always been taken for granted. But it also gives us the kind of specificity of life in this incredible diversity and variety of the ways that humans think; or about finding meaning and purpose in their lives sort of on the ground. And there’s a tension, I think, between that. I’m not sure how you ever really resolve that tension. Because the moment you start to universalize, you start to generalize. And it doesn’t really do justice to us as a species and the diversity on the ground. But the moment you start to hone in too closely on any particular ritual, you risk sort of exoticizing that behavior and not having it be a standard for kind of general human need. Recorded on: 12/6/07