Communitas

Communitas is inspired fellowship; a group's pleasure in sharing common experiences; being 'in the zone' - as in music, sport, and work; the sense felt by a group when their life together takes on full meaning. The experience of communitas, almost beyond strict definition and with almost endless variations, often appears unexpectedly.

Edith Turner is Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Virginia, USA, specializing in the study of ritual, religion, and consciousness. She has been researching the field of symbol/ritual for nearly 60 years - formerly in collaboration with her husband, renowned anthropologist Victor Turner - and has conducted fieldwork in Zambia, Northern Alaska, rural Ireland, Central and South America, Europe, and Asia. She was editor in chief of the journal, A+nthropology and Humanism , and is author of Heart of Lightness: The Life of an Anthropologist (2006), Among the Healers: Stories of Spiritual and Ritual Healing around the World (2005), and a contributor to Shamanism: A Reader (2003).