Ritual Control and Transformation in Middle-Range Societies: An Example from the American Southwest

Ritual practices play an important role in the constitution and reproduction of social structures in middle-range societies. Oftentimes individuals and groups transform rituals during periods of social disruption in order to restructure the social landscape. This article develops a practice-based approach to ritual change that delineates contexts conducive to the transformation of extant ritual systems by individuals and groups looking to improve their social standing. This framework is then employed to discuss the shifts in ritual architecture that accompanied episodes of migration and environmental change during the Pueblo I period (A.D. 750–900) in the northern San Juan region of the American Southwest. These architectural shifts were linked to changes in the control of communal ritual and the negotiation of social power in relatively large, short-lived villages.