LEVYNA conducted field research in Mauritius
As is our good tradition, LEVYNA members conducted a research trip to Mauritius in May 2025.
This year’s Mauritian expedition combined research with rich cultural immersion.
Why do people perform rituals?
While researchers often try to answer the question of ritual participation from an outside (etic) point of view, the inside (emic) perspective is no less important. Dimitris Xygalatas together with Peter Maňo investigated the local understanding of various rituals performed by Mauritian Hindus.
Though the results lend support to an old anthropological observation that rituals are performed because "it has always been done that way", it seems that more demanding rituals trigger a wider spectrum of emic explanations. These explanations often relate to pressing and specific concerns and needs of performers.
You can find the paper here:
