Victor Witter Turner (A short description about an athropologist and Religionswissenscaftler) Part 1.

Introduction

Victor Witter Turner is a British anthropologist, better he can be called as a Scottish born American anthropologist and a comparative religionist. He studied the rituals and culture on the basis of his field work among the Ndembu of Zambia. So later, he became famous as a very influential ethnologist. He is also known for developing the concept of ‘liminality’, first introduced by Arnold van Gennep. He is remembered for coining the term ‘communitas’. His works revealed about the social change, both from the point of view of the individual experience and the development of common beliefs that characterize the social group. The metaphor of ‘social drama’ tells us further about the process of social change, better to call it a ritual process.

In this humble attempt I try to explain or discuss further some notions especially, social drama, ritual, ‘liminality’ and ‘communitas’, the ritual process, symbolism and also the relation between religion and ritual. This cannot be called as a perfect scientific attempt but I am sure that this little attempt will result in getting the basic notions and ideas in Victor Turner’s theory.