The Politics of Ritual

Professor Farneth’s research and teaching focus on American and European religious thought (19th century to the present), with particular attention to religion and politics, ethics, rituals, and feminist and gender studies in religion. She is interested in the relationship between religious diversity and democracy, and the ways that members of diverse communities confront ethical conflicts and forge solidarity across religious and other differences. Prof. Farneth is the author of Hegel’s Social Ethics: Religion, Conflict, and Rituals of Reconciliation (2017) and The Politics of Rituals (2023).

In December 2014, a group of progressive Jewish activists gathered on a New York City street to recite Mourner’s Kaddish for Eric Garner. What was happening in this protest? Why would people recite this prayer — traditionally reserved for the death of one’s closest relatives — for someone who was neither Jewish nor kin?  In The Politics of Ritual, Farneth explores how rituals such as the Mourner’s Kaddish do political work. She shows how rituals can distribute social goods, including power and authority, and how they can enact ways of structuring communities that are not yet widely shared, helping to bring them into being. Connecting philosophical and theoretical reflection on the pragmatics of rituals with a wide range of examples from recent and contemporary protests and social movements, Farneth shows how and why people engage rituals to embody and enact justice.