To Ellen Dissanayake, the arts are biologically evolved propensities of human nature: their fundamental features helped early humans adapt to their environment and reproduce themselves successfully over generations. In Art and Intimacy she argues for the joint evolutionary origin of art and intimacy, what we commonly call love.
It all begins with the human trait of birthing immature and helpless infants. To ensure that mothers find their demanding babies worth caring for, humans evolved to be lovable and to attune themselves to others from the moment of birth. The ways in...
To Ellen Dissanayake, the arts are biologically evolved propensities of human nature: their fundamental features helped early humans adapt to their...
Jeltje Gordon-Lennox Ellen Dissanayake Matthieu Smyth
The growing absence of meaningful ritual in contemporary Western societies that has led to cohesive research of the history of ritualizing behaviour and traditional events in different cultures. The relatively new field of ritology which includes neuroscience, anthropology, cultural psychology, psychotherapy, and even art and performance, raises questions about the significance and practice of ritual today. While there is widespread literature on religious rites and practice, this book is the first of its kind to discuss the importance of secular rituals for cultural and personal...
The growing absence of meaningful ritual in contemporary Western societies that has led to cohesive research of the history of ritualizing behaviour a...
