Pological writings on death often achieved its

pological writings on death often achieved its effects
simply by shifting from the position of those least
involved to that of the chief mourners.
Cultural depth does not always equal cultural
elaboration. Think simply of the speaker who is
filibustering. The language used can sound elaborate
as it heaps word on word, but surely it is not deep.
Renato Rosaldo
175

Depth should be separated from the presence or
absence of elaboration. By the same token, one-line
explanations can be vacuous or pithy. The concept of
force calls attention to an enduring intensity in
human conduct that can occur with or without the
dense elaboration conventionally associated with cul-
tural depth. Although relatively without elaboration
in speech, song, or ritual, the rage of older Ilongot
men who have suffered devastating losses proves
enormously consequential in that, foremost among
other things, it leads them to behead their fellow
humans. Thus, the notion of force involves both
affective intensity and significant consequences that
unfold over a long period of time.
Similarly, rituals do not always encapsulate deep
cultural wisdom. At times they instead contain the
wisdom of Polonius. Although certain rituals both
reflect and create ultimate values, others simply
bring people together and deliver a set of platitudes
that enable them to go on with their lives. Rituals
serve as vehicles for processes that occur both before
and after the period of their performance. Funeral
rituals, for example, do not ‘‘contain’’ all the com-
plex processes of bereavement. Ritual and bereave-
ment should not be collapsed into one another
because they neither fully encapsulate nor fully ex-
plain one another. Instead, rituals are often but
points along a number of longer processual trajec-
tories; hence, my image of ritual as a crossroads
where distinct life processes intersect.
25
The notion of ritual as a busy intersection
anticipates the critical assessment of the concept of
culture developed in the following chapters. In con-
trast with the classic view, which posits culture as a
self-contained whole made up of coherent patterns,
culture can arguably be conceived as a more porous
array of intersections where distinct processes criss-
cross from within and beyond its borders. Such
heterogeneous processes often derive from differ-
ences of age, gender, class, race, and sexual orienta-
tion.
This book argues that a sea change in cultural
studies has eroded once-dominant conceptions of
truth and objectivity. The truth of objectivism –
absolute, universal, and timeless – has lost its mon-
opoly status. It now competes, on more nearly equal
terms, with the truths of case studies that are em-
bedded in local contexts, shaped by local interests,
and colored by local perceptions. The agenda for
social analysis has shifted to include not only eternal
verities and lawlike generalizations but also political
processes, social changes, and human differences.