Anthropology and qualitative methods in the sociology of religion

Anthropology and Qualitative Methods in the Sociology of Religion

This paper outlines selected theoretical and practical approaches of anthropology to the study of narrative, social memory and ritual practice, and offers an example from the Japanese context. Unlike sociology that uses quantitative methods, anthropology is based on field research in which participant observation and the collection and interpretation of narratives are central methodological concerns.  When one is dealing with the analysis of social memory and ritual practice, one is presented with the difficulty of interpreting others' interpretations of symbols in relation to the form and meaning of ritual acts. As ritual may change despite its conservative imagination as a respository of cultural knowledge practices, there is the danger of dehistoricizing the referential tools for a grounded understanding in society and culture---namely, ritual form and its range of meanings. Anthropological approaches suggest that a focus on narrative is key to any analysis of longtitudinal  change in the form and meaning of ritual acts, whose evolving interpretations, both within the community and beyond, are deeply implicated in the construction of social memory. This paper presents one case study from the Shinto community (Japan).