Disaster Ritual: Explorations of an Emerging Ritual Repertoire

People increasingly look to rituals after a disaster. A silent procession and a memorial service are carefully and observantly organised, preparations are begun for a lasting monument in memory of the victims, or people keep up the tradition of an annual commemoration. Remarkably enough, this ritual repertoire has received hardly any attention from researchers. This book analyses these rituals, which have emerged since the 1990s. From the case studies a strikingly coherent and well-organised repertoire comes to light, which has become established in a short time. The book, more particularly, looks at disaster ritual from the perspective of contemporary ritual dynamics. As such, it makes a contribution to gauging the ritual-liturgical milieu today. To this end, the central concepts of disaster and ritual are first defined. Next follows an assessment, first in general through a survey of disasters, then on the basis of five individual studies, each of which illuminates a particular theme in disaster ritual and then two international case studies (the Estonia ferryboat disaster and September 11, 2001). Then comes a more broadly conceived contextual and analytical chapter in which the general context of contemporary ritual developments is elaborated. The closing chapter has the nature of the familiar synthesis and perspective.