Current Anthropology · 1979 · 13 citations · 0 references
Social SciencesAnthropologyMathematicsAnthropological TheoryCultural AnthropologyRitual StudiesAnthropology Of ReligionReligious RitualsRitual EthnographyRitual LifeRitual PracticeRitual TheoryCommunity Belief SystemsRitual RelationsRitual Structure
Levi-Strauss, amongst other anthropological theorists, has argued for the incorporation of mathematical formalization into anthropological theorizing. The integration of mathematical formalization with anthropological theory is examined in this article through the structural analysis of fandango (wedding) ritual as it is practiced among the Zapotec in a small village near Oaxaca, Mexico. The correspondence that is found between the details of the ritual and the structural and formal analyses argues for the inherently mathematical character of the logic underlying ritual and other aspects of belief systems.