Rewriting rites : a journalism illustrated feature.

• Main Authors: Ng, Caleb., Chuang, Bing Han., Siti Rozianti., Tan, Zi Jie.
• Other Authors: Duffy Andrew Michael
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/44982
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

At every transition in life, the stress and trauma that accompany it is enough to cripple and prevent the person from moving forward onto the next stage. So society has rituals to assure and guide those who are going through transitions. These rituals, meant to help people pass through periods of change, are rites of passage. Rites of passage may sound like they belong to tribal societies – exotic ones at that – and have no place in modern society. But the truth could not be further away from that. Even modern society have rites of passage, just in their local variations. Singapore, too, has them. These rites of passage have become so ingrained into our societies that people usually do not stop to think about them. They do not even notice they are there. But these rituals are important; they help people get through tough transitions by providing a set of steps, meant to guide and assure. As long as they stick to the steps, they will be safe. This generation of 20- and 30- something is usually taken up by a wave of individualism, sociologists say. They choose and pick what they want. They keep those they want, and reject the rest. Unlike the previous generations, they do not follow just because. Because of this, it is imperative that they understand what these rites of passage are and what they are for. Our project, bridging sociology theories and personal anecdotes, show and explains what these rituals, which are all around us, really signify.