Call for Book Chapters: "Ritual Interventions: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Modern Rites of Passage"

Please note: This is an expedited timeline. We are seeking contributors who have substantially completed work on their chapters and can meet the April 1 deadline with minimal revisions.

Vernon Press invites book chapter proposals for the edited volume, “Ritual Interventions: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Modern Rites of Passage” (editors, Rachel Bomalaski and Aglaia Maretta Venters).

The purpose of this volume is to examine the three-part Rite of Passage model from a plurality of perspectives and with a variety of applications. Scholars in disciplines as diverse as anthropology, psychology, critical studies, musicology, theater, dance, ritual and performance studies, consciousness, decolonization studies, semiology, narrative, mythology, women's and LGBTQ+ studies, and beyond, are invited to submit chapters of 6000-8000 words each on the subject of Rites of Passage and their relevance today.

Rites of Passage are ritual performances that help an individual through a time of change or into a new social role. The three-part model of the Rite of Passage was formulated by Van Gennep and has been emulated by multiple authors. As narrative construction has been put forth as a tool of identity integration, the Rite of Passage, broadly applied, may serve a similar purpose. The implications of an uninitiated, unritualized populace may be individuals who are 1) unprepared to fulfill mature social roles, 2) prone to antisocial behaviors or "counter-ritualizations," or 3) unable and/or unlikely to criticize or dismantle oppressive structures. The completion of the three-part model is necessary for a complete Rite of Passage and an integrated identity, as it is for a complete narrative. While the three-part model suggests a structuralist approach, the purpose of its application, more broadly, in a wide variety of disciplines, is to dismantle dominant oppressive structures.

The following essential questions are meant to inspire thinkers toward contributing to this volume, but they do not represent the full scope of possible inquiry:

• What is the relevance of the Rite of Passage at various life stages?
• How can music, dance, theater, and performance art inform the Rite of Passage?
• What is the role of physical space (performance space, ritual space, liminal space) in facilitating a Rite of Passage?
• What is the implication of a self-created or self-chosen Rite of Passage versus one that has been group-created or inherited?
• What is the role of intersectionality in an individual's experience of a Rite of Passage?
• What is the role of the family unit in the Rite of Passage? What about chosen families beyond the natal group?
• What is the position of the Rite of Passage against the status quo?
• What is the political potential of the Rite of Passage? How can it impart the knowledge, strength, or motivation to dismantle oppressive structures, whether physical, cognitive, or social?
• How can the Rite of Passage avoid capitalist co-optation?

Deadlines

• February 1, 2026: Abstracts due (250-300 words)
• April 1, 2026: Complete chapters due (6000-8000 words)

Please send submissions to:

Rachel Bomalaski: rachel.bomalaski@gmail.com

Aglaia Maretta Venters: aglaia.venters@gmail.com