Walking across hot coals.  Piercing your cheeks with sharp skewers. Pulling your skin with sharp hooks.  What would possess individuals to do such things?  And are they crazy?!  Dr. Eleanor (Elly) Power, a postdoctoral fellow at the Santa Fe Institute, explains what would motivate people to engage in such "odd rituals" and the fascinating and extensive ethnographic study she conducted for several years in two small villages in India.  Our conversation begins with explaining the concept of...

Keep on reading: Eleanor Power on Rituals, Community, and Signaling