POSSESSION, DISPOSSESSION AND THE SOCIAL DISTRIBUTION OF KNOWLEDGE AMONG SRI-LANKAN RITUAL SPECIALISTS

This article examines changes in the transmission of ritual knowledge among ritual specialists of the Berava caste of southern Sri Lanka. Dr awing on the work of Barth and Hannerz concerning the social distribut ion of knowledge in complex societies, the article explores the way th at knowledge and skills which were formerly hereditary and predominant ly caste-linked are relocated during a period of rapid social change. Particular attention is drawn to the cultural and social frameworks wh ich formerly supported the system of apprenticeship and ritual perform ance among the Berava. Transformations in the transmission of ritual k nowledge are examined using Lave's notion of communities of practice. The loss of such communities is linked to changes in the status of per formers and to the shifting context and meaning of ritual performance in contemporary Sinhalese society.