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Nyanungo, Martha. "Tensions and conflicts between formal and traditional sex education in Africa-sub-Sahara." Doctoral thesis, Universidade de Évora, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10174/23609.
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Esta dissertação visa estudar a influência que a educação sócio-cultural e religiosa exercem na educação sexual formal em escolas no Zimbabwe. Para a investigação, foi levantada a seguinte questão: "A educação sexual formal ministrada em escolas está a ser sublevada pela educação sexual adquirida através de normas socioculturais, religiosas das famílias Africanas?” Entretanto, se a educação sexual não é Afro-centrada e culturalmente relevante a nível do conteúdo, ela não pode ser efetiva e as mulheres jovens continuarão expostas aos maiores desafios sexuais de hoje. Ao responder a esta e outras questões da pesquisa, achámos o método qualitativo o mais apropriado para a recolha de dados culturalmente específicos e contextualmente ricos, pois, é esse o objetivo deste estudo.
Através de entrevistas etnográficas, a intenção foi a de gravar vozes de jovens mulheres Shonas que, representam todo mosaico sócio-étnico do país. Isso permitiu-me obter informações consistentes e coerentes de como a sexualidade é definida e percebida entre os Shonas, e como a referida perceção se entrelaça com a instrução formal religiosa sobre a sexualidade. Outros instrumentos de recolha de informação para o nosso estudo incluíram análise minuciosa de livros escolares e de documentos do Ministério da Educação, Desporto e Cultura do Zimbabwe.
Entre vários resultados curiosos produzidos pela pesquisa, o de maior realce revela que a educação sexual formal ministrada nas escolas no Zimbabwe não incorpora conteúdos suficientemente relevantes para os adolescentes sexualmente ativos. A inadequação baseia-se na abordagem não realista e errônea da abstinência como o método e resolução insuperável para os dilemas da sexualidade. Como desvantagem, a cultura e a religião também são vistas como desafios para a educação sexual efetiva nas escolas. Com base nesses resultados, o nosso estudo conclui com recomendações que devem ser levadas em consideração ao se elaborar um currículo de educação integral mais eficaz e operacional sobre educação sexual; ABSTRACT:
Tensions and conflicts between formal and traditional sex education in Africa sub-Sahara
This dissertation aims to investigate the interplay between the socio-religio-cultural aspects and formal sex education in schools in Zimbabwe. Because young women fall victim to most of the traditional, religio-cultural sexuality adversities, the research focuses on young Shona women. The study interrogates whether the formal sex education being taught in schools faces setbacks from sex education being instructed through African family socio-cultural and religious norms. Qualitative methodology was found to be the most appropriate for the production of culturally specific and contextually rich data that the research is aimed at. Collection of data was achieved through document analysis participant observation and ethnographic interviews.
Of the many intriguing findings of this research, a major finding is that curricula is detached from overarching philosophical worldviews, cultural traditions, and the general actualities of sexually active teenagers. Its inadequacy is based on the unrealistic and erroneous approach to abstinence as the unsurpassable resolution to sexuality dilemmas. The study evidences that the deep-rootedness of some traditional practices, mythologies, and taboos associated with sexuality as well as the tenacity of some forms of traditional modes of sexuality education continue to exert a powerful influence on formal sexuality education in schools. The findings further reveals that the prescriptive and fear-based teaching methods do not foster enough critical thinking to empower students to face sexuality and reproductive health challenges.
This viewpoint continues to play a significant role in shaping attitudes, beliefs, and values in relation to sexuality even in contemporary times. Based on these findings, the study con-cludes with recommendations for designers of sexuality education curricula to consider the convergent and divergent aspects and draw from strengths of the co-existing heritages in order to build an integrated sexuality education pedagogy that is culturally relevant for the young women in Zimbabwe.
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Matenda, Job. "The cultural and religious significance of indigenous vegetables: A case study of the Chionekano-ward of the Zvishavane-district in Zimbabwe." University of the Western Cape, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/6934.
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Magister Artium - MAThis study is situated in the context of multidisciplinary discourse on the pervasive problem of food insecurity in the southern African context. More specifically, it is situated in the context of the Centre of Excellence in Food Security, located at the University of the Western Cape and its project on “Food Ethics and Values” (with Prof Ernst Conradie as principal investigator). It will contribute to discourse on food security from the perspective of the discipline of religious studies and more specifically African Traditional Religion (ATR) and the indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) associated with that. The consumption of food naturally plays a significant role in African Traditional Religion – as is evident from various taboos on food consumption, rituals with prescriptions on food, calendar-based festivities, but also from daily life in rural villages. In reflecting on food in such rural villages, the focus is often on the consumption of meat (chicken, goats, cattle, but also rodents and other wildlife) and of grains like maize. However, vegetables traditionally also formed part of a family’s daily diet. In pre-colonial times, such vegetables were not necessarily cultivated since some indigenous vegetables were harvested based on indigenous knowledge available amongst village elders and traditional healers. The Chionekano-ward includes some 42 villages with an estimated population of around 1020 persons. Through a process of snowball sampling, semi-structured interviews were conducted with village elders and traditional healers who have knowledge of such indigenous vegetables. Where appropriate interviews were followed up with focus groups discussions in particular villages. This study investigated the cultural and religious connotations attached to specified indigenous vegetable types in the Chionekano-ward of the Zvishavane-district in Zimbabwe. This study has identified fifteen edible indigenous vegetables. Only eleven indigenous vegetables were among the commonly used. These were classified into three groups. Firstly, there are indigenous vegetables found in the farming lands as weeds. These are Nyovhi/ Spider plant/ Cleome gynandra, Mbuya Mbuya/ Thorny pigweed/ Amaranthus spinosus, Derere/ Wild jute/ Corchorus tridens, Tsine/ Muhlabangubo/ Black jack/ Bidens spinosa, Muchacha/ Wild gherkin/ Cucumis anguria. Secondly there were Indigenous vegetables that use leaves as by-products namely, Muboora/Pumpkin squash/ Cucurbita maxima, Munyemba/ Cowpea leaves/ Vigna unguilata. Thirdly there were commonly used Wild indigenous vegetables found in riverbanks, forests and mountains namely Chirevereve, mubvunzandadya, Fat hen/ Chenopodium album and Nhuri. There were religious and cultural connotations attached to the use of these indigenous vegetables. The study found that there are common shared beliefs on the harvesting, cooking and consumption of these vegetables. These commonly shared beliefs and predominant perceptions on the consumption of indigenous vegetables were mainly shaped by the cultural and traditional religious beliefs systems shared by all the participants. Although the study was of a descriptive nature, it advocated for the preservation of such indigenous knowledge in order to promote avenues towards food security where commercial agriculture may be unable to ensure an equitable distribution of food.
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Matenga, Edward. "The Soapstone Birds of Great Zimbabwe : Archaeological Heritage, Religion and Politics in Postcolonial Zimbabwe and the Return of Cultural Property." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-160193.
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At least eight soapstone carvings of birds furnished a shrine, Great Zimbabwe, in the 19th century. This large stonewalled settlement, once a political and urban centre, had been much reduced for four centuries, although the shrine continued to operate as local traditions dictated. The Zimbabwe Birds were handed down from a past that has only been partially illuminated by archaeological inquiry and ethnography, as has the site as such. This thesis publishes the first detailed catalogue of the Birds and attempts to reconstruct their provenance at the site based on the earliest written accounts. A modern history of the Birds unfolds when the European settlers removed them from the site in dubious transactions, claiming them as rewards of imperial conquest. As the most treasured objects from Great Zimbabwe, the fate of the Birds has been intertwined with that of the site in a matrix of contested meanings and ownership. This thesis explores how the meanings of cultural objects have a tendency to shift and to be ephemeral, demonstrating the ability of those in power to appropriate and determine such meanings. In turn, this has a bearing on ownership claims, and gives rise to an “authorized heritage discourse” syndrome. The forced migrations of the Zimbabwe Birds within the African continent and to Europe and their subsequent return to their homeland decades later are characterised by melodramatic episodes of manoeuvring by traders, politicians and theologians, and of the return of stolen property cloaked as an amicable barter deal, or a return extolled as an act of generosity. International doctrines that urge the return of cultural property are influenced by Western hegemonic ideologies. Natural justice is perverted, as stolen property acquires a (superior) significance in its new context, which merits the extinction of the original provenance. This leaves “generosity” and goodwill as the promises of the future, holding the fate of one Zimbabwe Bird still kept in exile in South Africa.
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Matenda, Job. "The cultural and religious significance of indigenous vegetables: A case study of the Chionekano-ward of the Zvishavane-district in Zimbabwe." University of the Western Cape, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/6642.
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Magister Artium - MAThis study is situated in the context of multidisciplinary discourse on the pervasive problem of food insecurity in the southern African context. More specifically, it is situated in the context of the Centre of Excellence in Food Security, located at the University of the Western Cape and its project on “Food Ethics and Values” (with Prof Ernst Conradie as principal investigator). It will contribute to discourse on food security from the perspective of the discipline of religious studies and more specifically African Traditional Religion (ATR) and the indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) associated with that. The consumption of food naturally plays a significant role in African Traditional Religion – as is evident from various taboos on food consumption, rituals with prescriptions on food, calendar-based festivities, but also from daily life in rural villages. In reflecting on food in such rural villages, the focus is often on the consumption of meat (chicken, goats, cattle, but also rodents and other wildlife) and of grains like maize. However, vegetables traditionally also formed part of a family’s daily diet. In pre-colonial times, such vegetables were not necessarily cultivated since some indigenous vegetables were harvested based on indigenous knowledge available amongst village elders and traditional healers. The Chionekano-ward includes some 42 villages with an estimated population of around 1020 persons. Through a process of snowball sampling, semi-structured interviews were conducted with village elders and traditional healers who have knowledge of such indigenous vegetables. Where appropriate interviews were followed up with focus groups discussions in particular villages.
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Mukwende, Tawanda. "An archaeological study of the Zimbabwe culture capital of Khami, south-western Zimbabwe." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23409.
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This study sought to understand the archaeology of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami through synchronic and diachronic analyses of its material culture. The research employed a number of methodological approaches that included a review of historic documents, surveying and mapping, excavations, museum collection analysis, and artefact studies, in order to collect datasets from various sections of the site, including the walled and the nonwalled areas. The main indication is that there is a great deal of similarity in material culture distribution across the whole site. An analysis of objects by stratigraphic sequence exposes continuity and change in local and imported objects. Dry stone-wall architectural data suggests that the site was constructed over a long period, with construction motivated by a number of expansionary factors. The study confirms that Khami began as a fully developed cultural unit, with no developmental trajectory recorded at Mapungubwe or Great Zimbabwe, where earlier ceramic units influenced later ones. Consequently, this study cautiously suggests that Khami represents a continuity with the Woolandale chiefdoms that settled in the south-western parts of the country and in the adjacent areas of Botswana. On the basis of the chronological and material culture evidence, Khami is unlikely to have emerged out of Great Zimbabwe. However, more research is needed to confirm these emergent conclusions, and to better understand the chronological and spatial relationships between not just Woolandale and Khami sites but also Khami and the multiple Khami-type sites scattered across southern Zambezia.
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Nichols, Tommy B. "Religion in American culture." Thesis, Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/26212.
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Mawere, Tinashe. "Decentering nationalism: Representing and contesting Chimurenga in Zimbabwean popular culture." University of the Western Cape, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/5239.
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Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis study seeks to uncover the non-coercive, intricate and insidious ways which have generated both the 'willing' acceptance of and resistance to the rule of Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe. I consider how popular culture is a site that produces complex and persuasive meanings and enactments of citizenship and belonging in contemporary Zimbabwe and focus on 'agency,' 'subversion' and their interconnectedness or blurring. The study argues that understanding nationalism's impact in Zimbabwe necessitates an analysis of the complex ways in which dominant articulations of nationalism are both imbibed and contested, with its contestation often demonstrating the tremendous power of covert forms of resistance. The focus on the politics of popular culture in Zimbabwe called for eclectic and critical engagements with different social constructionist traditions, including postcolonial feminism, aspects of the work of Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault. My eclectic borrowing is aimed at enlisting theory to analyse ways in which co-optation, subversion and compromise often coexist in the meanings generated by various popular and public culture forms. These include revered national figures and symbols, sacrosanct dead bodies and retrievals, slogans and campaign material, sport, public speeches, the mass media and music. The study therefore explores political sites and responses that existing disciplinary studies, especially politics and history, tend to side-line. A central thesis of the study is that Zimbabwe, in dominant articulations of the nation, is often constituted in a discourse of anti-colonial war, and its present and future are imagined as a defence of what has already been gained from previous wars in the form of "chimurenga." I argue that formal sites of political contestation often reinforce forms of patriarchal, heterosexist, ethnic, neo-imperial and class authoritarianism often associated only with the ZANU PF as the overtly autocratic ruling party. In turning to diverse forms of popular culture and their reception, I identify and analyze sites and texts that, rather than constituting mere entertainment or reflecting organized and party political struggles, testify to the complexity and intensity of current forms of domination and resistance in the country. Contrary to the view that Zimbabwe has been witnessing a steady paralysis of popular protest, the study argues that slogans, satire, jokes, metaphor, music and general performance arts by the ordinary people are spaces on which "even the highly spectacular deployment of gender and sexuality to naturalize a nationalism informed by the 'efficacy' of a phallocentric power 'cult' is full of contestations and ruptures."
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Chateuka, Morgen. "The effects of culture on manufacturing organisation in Zimbabwe." Thesis, Loughborough University, 1997. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/33282.
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Less Industrialised Countries (LICs) are faced with globalisation of Manufacturing and business organisations, a reorganisation that requires use of new manufacturing systems and business organisation concepts like Agile corporation, Virtual organisation, Networks of Business Structures, Holonic and Bionic manufacturing organisation, just to name a few, all taking advantage of developments in electronic communication systems, computers and transportation networks which have reduced the distance between the customer, supplier and the manufacturer. LICs are likely to remain the candidates of further underdevelopment if manufacturing and business organisations ignore these necessary changes. It is therefore the aim and objective of this research to investigate the influence of culture on manufacturing and business organisation and propose ways and procedures where possible for the LICs to take advantage of these modem manufacturing systems and technologies, which seem to offer their advantages at lower capital costs as compared to what AMTs used to offer.
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Renner, Jasmine, and Arnold Nyarambi. ""Historical, Political, Cultural, Socio-Economic and Religious Forces Influencing Gender Equality Experiences in Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone"." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2013. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/8249.
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Masuku, Elisa. "The management of the culture of teaching and learning in selected secondary schools in Bulawayo." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/52548.
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Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2001.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study was conducted to investigate the culture of teaching and learning in selected Secondary Schools in Zimbabwe. It was addressing the numerous pleas within the Ministry of Education and by other stakeholders, to review the O-level curriculum, to monitor and improve the O-level results and to reduce dropouts at that level. Effective school programmes hold school culture and climate accountable, and as the most influential factors that could facilitate the process of change. This study is a situational analysis of the culture ofteaching and learning in two selected schools in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The headmasters of the two schools, selected teachers and students were interviewed regarding the culture ofteaching and learning in their respective schools. The culture was revisited from as far back as the dual system of education during the colonial period in Rhodesia through post-independence in Zimbabwe in the 1980s, to the present. It was also traced from the time the sample schools were established to date. The schools are anonymous and they are referred to as Schools A and B. The situation analysis revealed that a healthy culture of teaching and learning exists in School A, but leaves room for improvement. A breakdown of this culture in school B is evident and an immediate restoration is imperative. The primary cause supported by literature review is ineffective school leadership. Other responsible factors are demotivated teachers, poor parental involvement and demoralised students. There is still hope for the culture in School B to improve because of the recent move by the government to allow schools to collect their own fees. Of course, this still leaves the main problem of leadership and uncommitted staff unresolved. Students might have a full time counsellor to meet their social needs. The study initially, states the problem and presents research questions which are answered in the study. Then the historical background of the dual education system and how it affected and still contributes to the culture of teaching and learning, follows. The methodology used in the study, the review of literature interview responses, findings and guidelines for restoring the culture of teaching and learning simultaneously follow. Finally, the study presents suggested recommendations and topics for further study and the short comings of the research.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is onderneem im ondersoek in te stel na die leerkultuur in geselekteerde sekondrere skole in Zimbabwe. Dit inkorpereer die groot aantal versoeke va kie Minesterie van Onderwys en ander belanghebbendes om die O-vlak-kurrikulum te hersiem, te moniteer en te verbeter en om die aantal kandidate wat op daardie vlak uitsak te probeer verminder. Skole met effektiewe programme beskou die skoolkultuur en skoolklimaat as kie oorsake van hierdie probleme, maar is terselfdertyd daarvan oortuing dat juis hierdie faktore die veranderingsproses kan fasiliteer. Hierdies studie in 'n situasie-analise van die kultuur van onderrig en leer in twee geselekteerde skole in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Daar is ondrhounde gevoer met die skoolhoofde, geselekteerde onderyses en leerders van hierdie twee skole oor kie kultuur van onderrig en leer aan hulle skool. Die periode vanaf die dubbelmediumsisteem tydens Rhodesie se Koloniale Tydperk, die post-onafhandklikheidsperiode in die tagtigerjare in Zimbabwe tot en met die huidige tydperk is by die onderhound betrek. Dit het ook die betrokke skool se geskiedenis vanaf sy ontstaan tot en met die huidige tydperk ingesluit. Daar word na die skole verwys as skool A en skool B om hulle anonimiteit te waarborg. Uit die situasie-analise blyk dit dat daar in skool A 'n gesonde kultuur van onderrg en leer bestaan, alhoewel daar ruimte vir verberering is. In skool B bestaan dit nie en 'n onmiddellike herstel van hierdie kultuur is noodsaaklik. Uit die literatuur blyk dit dat die hoofoorsaak van so 'n insinking oneffektiewe skoolleierskap is. Ander bydraende faktore is gedemotiveerde onderwysers, swak ouerbetrokkenheid en gedemoraliseerde leerders. Dit is nog nie te laat im die kultuur in skool B te verbeter nie omdat die regering sedert redelik onlangs skole toelaat om hulle eie fondse in te samel. Dit laat egter die hoofprobleem van oneffektiewe leierskap en onbetrokke onderwysers onopgelos. 'n Voltydse berader kan help om in the leerders se sosiale behoeftes te voorsien. Hierdie studie begin met die problem wat gestel word en bied dan navorsingsvrae wat in die loop van die studie beantwoord word. Daarna volg 'n historiese agtergrond van die dubbelmediumsisteem en hoe dit kultuur van onderrig en leer beinvloed het en nog steeds beinvloed. Die metodologie wat in die bevindings en riglyne om die kultuur van onderrig en leer te herstel, volg daarna. Die studie word afgesluit met voorgestelde aanbevelings, moontlike temas vir verdere studie en die tekortkominge van die navorsing.
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Worby, Eric. "Remaking labour, reshaping identity : cotton, commoditization and the culture of modernity in northwestern Zimbabwe." Thesis, McGill University, 1992. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=39433.
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Until the 1960s, the Gokwe region of northwestern Zimbabwe was perceived as the wild, remote, and culturally backward domain of the "Shangwe" tribe. Since the introduction of small-holder cotton production in the 1960s, and the influx of immigrants from the south, it has been represented as a miracle of agrarian transformation, a frontier of commoditization, and more broadly, as an exemplar of the transition to modernity. In this thesis, I explore how alternative narratives of commoditization inform modes of state intervention, representations of ethnic difference, and forms of agrarian labour in Gokwe. Using my own ethnographic journey through Gokwe as a referent, I examine the different ways in which colonial maps, indigenous myths, and ritual exchanges variously locate relations of power, labour and identity in social space. Labour forms and commodity relations are continually remade as farmers, traders, ethnographers and administrators argue over the signs of modernity and its antitheses.
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Niemczewski, Wojciech. "La culture comme religion : l'interpretation postmoderne de la relation entre la culture et la religion." Phd thesis, Université de Strasbourg, 2013. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00924192.
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La postmodernité influence le rapport entre la religion et la culture. Elle y introduit des notions comme : l'affaiblissement des notions, la fluidité du monde et la discontinuité du discours. Les définitions modifiées de la culture et de la religion justifient la question centrale de la thèse : est-il possible que la culture absorbe la religion et crée une religion de la culture ? Ces définitions permettent de comprendre comment la postmodernité rejette l'idée de la transcendance et réduit le religieux au culturel. La postmodernité crée ainsi une situation favorable au rejet de la pensée classique et provoque l'émergence de la religion de la culture dont le Nouvel Age, le nouveau paganisme, la spiritualité athée et les nouveaux pop-cultes sont les manifestations. La religion de la culture se base sur l'anthropologie modifiée par le mobilisme, le relativisme et les recherches spirituelles en dehors des institutions. Cette religion est donc une religion sans Dieu, sans révélation surnaturelle, sans ligne historique et sans institution. Elle propose une mystique nouvelle et devient un défi pour les grandes religions historiques auxquelles elle s'oppose.
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Sterne, Christie Savidge. "Places of the Earth: A Cultural Center for Zimbabwe." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40530.
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This thesis began with research in the rural areas of Zimbabwe, in southern Africa. I began with a little background knowledge and a great desire to learn. I took my research to the rural areas to try to understand the roots of traditional architecture and the why's of building methods in Zimbabwe. My thesis project grew out of a desire to give something back to the people that had so generously opened up an opportunity for me to learn about their culture and traditions.
My cultural center was an attempt to take the essential elements of traditional building, use the structural language of the homesteads and create a place that would become part of the site and culture of today's Zimbabwe.Master of Architecture
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Maminimini, Helen Tendayi. "Maturity and its assessment for admission into religious life with particular reference to institutes in Zimbabwe." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/9402.
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Religious profession, by which certain Catholics publicly profess the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience according to ecclesial law, is a juridic act. Consequently, professed members assume certain obligations and rights in the Church. The serious nature of the obligations of religious profession, obliges superiors of religious institutes to be vigilant in admitting into their institutes only those candidates who meet certain requirements. Canon 642 specifies some of these requirements. These are, the required age, health, suitable disposition and sufficient maturity to embrace the proper life of an institute. While it recommends the use of experts in determining the presence of these qualities, if necessary, the canon, also cautions superiors to respect individual privacy (c. 220) in the process. Apart from age which is easy to ascertain, each of the other listed requirements is so abstract, broad and difficult to define that the deliberate choice was made to simply focus our study on "sufficient maturity." The thesis attempts to define religious life and maturity and also explores methods of assessing the maturity required for admission in the novitiate of an institute. Even then, although maturity is mentioned several times in the Code, it is nowhere defined in clear terms seemingly because the law lacks the language and the tools to elaborate on its complex nature. As a result, an analytical inter-dialogue between theology, spirituality, canon law and psychology is used to bridge the gap between the legal requirements and the psychological concepts. The first chapter of the thesis presents a brief description of the essential elements of religious life, based on magisterial documents since the Second Vatican Council. It also defines personal maturity in its several aspects primarily from a psychological point of view. In order to reveal the relationship between the obligations of religious life and the personal maturity that is required for the life in its ideal state, chapter two examines in detail the role maturity plays in living out the three vows, common life and prayer life. In chapter three, the thesis analyses the methods currently used to assess the maturity of candidates admitted into religious life. The two main methods of psychological assessment identified in this study are psychological testing and behavioural assessment. Necessary measures to guard against unlawful violation of individual privacy of candidates during assessment are also discussed. The content of chapter four is centred on the applicability or suitability of the conclusions of our study to religious life in Zimbabwe.
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Sonnenberg, Liesl. "A comparison of the commoner material culture to that of the elite material culture at Great Zimbabwe." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25526.
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This dissertation presents the results of a study done on the area situated outside of the Outer Perimeter Wall, believed to be the commoner area at Great Zimbabwe. The methodology used in this study combined archival with artefact studies and archaeological field work. The study aimed to acquire an understanding of the uses at the commoner area at Great Zimbabwe. Focus was aimed at material culture used by the underclass to understand how it compares with that of the upper class. The comparison between the elite and non-elite areas showed that there was not a large difference between the material cultures. The ceramic analysis showed an expansion of Great Zimbabwe over time. These results are important and offer a new perspective on the social stratigraphy of the Great Zimbabwe civilization. The differences found related to objects of power, such as stone walling and soapstone artefacts; these objects only being seen in the elite areas. This study offers a new perspective in the analysis of Great Zimbabwe, and the methodology could be used as a foundation for future studies of ancient civilizations world-wide.
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Yumul, Arusyak. "Religion, community and culture : the Turkish Armenians." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.334266.
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Magaya, Aldrin Tinashe. "Christianity, culture, and the African experiences in Bocha, Zimbabwe, c.1905 – 1960s." Diss., University of Iowa, 2018. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6189.
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This dissertation examines the history of VaBocha experiences with Christianity. Historians have long assumed that Christian conversion was a static product. I show that conversion was an ongoing fluid process that churchgoers negotiated, contested, and appropriated to suit the Bocha social fabric. I demonstrate how existing social facts and sites of socialization shaped VaBocha understanding of Christianity. In doing so, I focus on the daily social practices to reveal how VaBocha reconciled the idioms of Christianity with their indigenous lifeways.
VaBocha made use of existing sites of socialization to make Christianity useful to their everyday life. These sites were social spaces were VaBocha articulated familial and kinship relations and learned the values, behavior, and skills fitting to Bocha society. By probing the relations occurring at the familial and communal level, the dissertation illustrates that the domestication of Christianity started in familial domestic spaces.
In the dissertation, I discuss the nuanced relationships that occurred between churchgoers and family members who were not churchgoers. The fact that Christianity never established hegemony over existing social facts and the ways of socialization which reproduced them meant that VaBocha churchgoers had to devise ways to balance the demands of Christianity against familial and communal obligations. I show why churchgoers became eclectic Christians who participated in both church and indigenous activities and beliefs, despite the fact that the churches condemned most of these indigenous practices. The dissertation shows that the pre-Christian ethics of tolerance of diversity allowed for Christian and indigenous practices to co-exist harmoniously.
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Shreve, Adam Terrence. "Framing the sacred : an analysis of religious films in Zimbabwe." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/22006.
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This is a study of the production, content, distribution, and reception of different religious films in Zimbabwe, with an emphasis on the audience’s initial reception of the films. Informants’ self-identified religious beliefs and their reception of these selected films are analyzed primarily by using qualitative methods to understand better the interplay between film and religion in Zimbabwe. The films studied in this research are The Jesus Film (1979) created by Campus Crusade for Christ and indigenous, short Jesus films created locally in Zimbabwe in 2012. In order to answer the central research questions of this study, two main approaches are employed: the first is a holistic approach to the analysis of these films. The primary question within this approach is: in what ways do the production, content, and distribution of The Jesus Film and indigenous, short Jesus films affect the reception of the films among informants in Zimbabwe today? The second approach specifically addresses the interchange between the audience members’ self-identified religious beliefs and their reception of the films. There are two central research questions within this approach. First, in what ways may pre-existing perceptions of Jesus shape informants’ responses to and interpretations of Jesus as he is portrayed in The Jesus Film and in indigenous, short Jesus films in Zimbabwe today? Secondly, how might the viewing of these films affect those perceptions of Jesus? Based upon the careful analysis of the original data that emerges from the field work of this research, the conclusion provides a series of answers to these questions, revealing new insights into the interplay of film and religion in Zimbabwe.
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Zikhali, Whitehead. "Women in organisational management in Zimbabwe: theory and practice." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1001185.
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The study was premised on the truism that men have historically served in higher echelons of organizational management structures and women are under-represented. The principal objective was to explore the constraints faced by women in accessing higher leadership and senior management positions in public, private and non-governmental organisations in Zimbabwe. This study adopted the triangulation method, that is, qualitative and quantitative approaches. These mixed research methods, were upgraded by the feminist research methodologies, thereby making a contribution in the field of research. The study found out that the constraints that mostly hinder women from accessing leadership and senior management positions in public, private and NGOs were cultural practices, which represent levels of power and control that in turn hinder reforms; and women's socialisation into feminised roles. The study also found out that in most organisations, most females work under male leadership, and this traditional organisational culture, needs to be deconstructed and reversed in order to achieve gender equality. The study recommended for a human centric and integrated organizational management strategy for public, private and NGOs in Zimbabwe. The adoption of a human centric and integrated management approach should aim at gender equity and reduce women's under-representation. A human centred organizational culture has to be practiced, that would create organisational ethos that guide organizational management. An integrated organizational management approach should integrate all systems and processes into one complete framework, enabling people to work as a single unit, unified by organizational goals, shared vision and common values. The system should depend on a balanced mix of the masculine and feminine attributes. The approach should put its weight towards adoption of measures to attract, advance and empower women so as to benefit from their qualifications, experience and talent in a highly competitive environment.
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Mabika, Memory. "Assessing the impact of loal content policy on youth culture in Mbare Harae: the case of Youth.com." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1001275.
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The study sought to establish the impact of using the local content policy in reducing television cultural influences on Mbare youth in Zimbabwe. It is assumed that television has ideological and hegemonic functions which have come to dominate the life styles of the youths on issues of dress styles, musical tastes and language, thus threatening and weakening the long established local cultures. Hence the Zimbabwean government’s local content policy was established to reduce influences of alien cultures. This study, therefore, sought to establish if Mbare youth cultures confirm or reject the imitation of television cultures with regard to dress styles, music tastes and language. In addition, the investigation aimed at establishing the feasibility of using the local content policy to reduce foreign cultural intrusions vis-à-vis globalisation challenges. The three theories utilised in the discussion of the influence of television on Mbare youth culture in this study include the cultivation theory, the theory of hegemony and the uses and gratification theory. A qualitative study was adopted to gather data using focus group discussions, questionnaires and semiotic analysis. The sample of the study consisted of 87 participants and 4 Youth.com programmes. The study revealed that television has ideological and hegemonic functions. As such, it tends to be a dominant influence on the life styles and culture of Mbare youths. The study also established that Youth.com influences youth culture through music. In Zimbabwe music has become the most influential aspect of Youth.com despite not being specified in the local content policy on television broadcasting. Furthermore, the study shows that the implications of globalisation on local television content are undermining government efforts to preserve local cultures through the local content policy. The primary reason for this has to do with the fact that Youth.com programme does not contain a higher quota of local content as stipulated in the policy. However, although the local content policy was viewed as a political gimmick, the the study revealed that it was necessary in view of youths’ vulnerability to television’s ideological and hegemonic influences. Nevertheless, in view of the loopholes revealed by this study, the policy requires to be revised to cater for all the essential cultural elements, such as, music, which are allowing alien cultures to penetrate local ways of life. For instance, the urban groove music has major impacts on the culture of Mbare youths.
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Ofstein, Jennifer Beth. "Religion, Spirituality, and Popular Culture: Where College Students Learn About Religion and Spirituality." NCSU, 2007. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-05072007-163109/.
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This study aims to assess if students are learning about religion and spirituality from popular culture, and if it subsequently affects their understanding of their own religious or spiritual identity, or the religious and spiritual identities of others. Utilizing the theoretical frameworks of Perry?s (1970) scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development, Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule?s (1986) theory of Women?s Ways of Knowing, and Gerbner?s et al. (1978) Cultivation Theory, I assessed whether students are affected by participating in popular media and if they identify the media as an authority in their own understanding of religion and spirituality.
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Guivian, Abdollah. "Religion, television and culture in post-revolutionary Iran." Thesis, SOAS, University of London, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.423262.
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RODRIGUES, LEANDRO GARCIA. "ALCEU AMOROSO LIMA: CULTURE, RELIGION AND LITERARY LIFE." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2009. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=14031@1.
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PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIROCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
O objetivo principal desta tese é discutir a trajetória intelectual de Alceu Amoroso Lima, especialmente no que diz respeito à sua vida literária. Procurou-se compreender o contexto católico brasileiro do início do século XX, as relações Igreja-Estado, a imprensa religiosa e a missão exercida pelos intelectuais católicos em recristianizar o país. A análise crítica proposta e realizada por Alceu ganhou relevância neste trabalho, destacando os pressupostos, teorias e contribuição ao debate sobre o Modernismo brasileiro.
The main goal of this thesis is to discuss Alceu Amoroso Lima´s intellectual trajectory, specially in what concerns to his literary life. We have tried to understand the Brazilian catholic context from the beginning of the twenty-first century, the political relations between the Catholic Church and the State, the religious press and the mission practiced by the catholic intellectuals in rechristianize the country. The critical analysis done by Alceu had some relevance in this work, pointing out the presuppositions, theories and the contribution to the debate about the Brazilian Modernism.
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Wolfart, J. C. "Political culture and religion in Lindau, 1520-1628." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1993. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/272382.
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Alderson, David. "Religion, manliness and imperialism in 19th century culture." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.295953.
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Christian manliness emerges from a period of intense counter-revolution in English history, one in which protestantism and especially Anglicanism - plays an important ideological role in legitimating English national development. The form of manliness associated with Kingsley et al crystallises various aspects of the protestant ethic - conscience, independence and the redemptive value of work - into an ideology of English masculinity which becomes prescriptive and institutionalised in the public schools of the second half of the century. This sense of masculinity is established as an important part of English imperial hubris. For this reason, the thesis is very much concerned with England's relations with Ireland - a nation stigmatised as unfit for self-rule because predominantly Catholic. backward and effeminate. The thesis begins by outlining in broad terms elements of protestant Englishness, and moves on to look at the emergence of christian manliness as an extension of the counter-revolutionary concerns of the christian socialist Charles Kingsley. It is in this cultural context of manly protestantism that the 'effeminacy' of 1. H. Newman and other Catholicising elements in the Anglican Church are considered. After analysing dominant characteristics of English writers' conceptions of Ireland, the thesis looks at the contradictory ways in which Gerard Manley Hopkins's admiration for the male body is bound up with a patriotism at odds with his Catholicism, and argues that the specific elements of this patriotism determine the 'desolations' of his final years in Ireland Finally, Oscar Wilde's relations to English culture are considered - specifically. his understanding of his Celtishness as subversive of English puritanism; a subversiveness ultimately still indebted - because antithetical - to English manliness.
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Rebiger, Bill. "Judaistische Anmerkungen zu John Zorns Radical Jewish Culture." Universität Potsdam, 2014. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2014/7170/.
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Der Musiker, Komponist, Produzent und Labeleigner John Zorn ist eine der einflussreichsten Persönlichkeiten der New Yorker Downtown-Szene. Seit Anfang der 1990er Jahre verleiht er seiner jüdischen Identität mit dem von ihm initiierten Programm einer „Radical Jewish Culture“ einen künstlerisch und diskursiv wirkmächtigen Ausdruck. In diesem Artikel werden einige Gestaltungsmerkmale der produzierten CDs, die darin abgedruckten Zitate und liner notes sowie die Bandnamen und Titel der Stücke näher betrachtet und mit judaistischem Hintergrundwissen kommentiert. Zwei Quellen, die Zorn für die hebräischen Titelbezeichnungen herangezogen hat, konnten verifiziert werden: „Oedipus Judaicus“ von William Drummond und „Sefer Yetzirah“ von Aryeh Kaplan.The musician, composer, producer, and label owner John Zorn is one of the most influential figures in New York’s downtown scene. Since the early 1990s he embodies his Jewish identity with the help of his platform of the ‘Radical Jewish Culture’ in an artistically and discursively powerful way. In this article some design elements of the produced CDs, the quotations and liner notes therein as well as the names of the bands and the titles of the tracks will be considered and commented on with Judaic knowledge. Two sources used by Zorn in order to find Hebrew titles could be verified: ‘Oedipus Judaicus’ by William Drummond and ‘Sefer Yetzirah’ by Aryeh Kaplan.
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Mukangara, Martha. "Evangelism as a local church outreach ministry to women and children affected with HIV and AIDS at Chikanga UMC in Zimbabwe, Africa." DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 2011. http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/334.
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Of the many challenges that Zimbabwe is facing, the HIV and AIDS pandemic ranks most threatening. This project draws attention and focuses on set-ups probing into the nature of the approaches to combat the pandemic. Given the issues surrounding the spread of the virus, including, for example, stigmatization/discrimination, sexuality, models of transmission, cultural beliefs and practices, trauma, health-care services, aid organizations as well as governance issues. People raise questions that cut across the societal belief terrains on the one hand, and scientific/technological advancements on the other. This project explores how to empower women and children with HIV and AIDS and proposes eight healthy practices and a year- program outline for in- depth understanding and assimilation of caring awareness designed for children in Sunday school, youth in Bible Study, and adults in women’s/men’s fellowship groups. This project comprises of four chapters and uses library research, including reviews of published studies, books and articles written from the perspective of women affected with HIV and AIDS and caring for AIDS patients. The first chapter introduces and delineates the nature and scope of the project. The second chapter provides the overview of the history of Zimbabwe, describes the current state of women and children and causes of HIV and AIDS, and transformation through evangelism model in relationship with Atlanta Interfaith AIDS Network program (AlAN). The third chapter highlights the positive and negative role of religion in Zimbabwe, definition of HIV and AIDS in the African tradition, and negative role of Christians in Zimbabwe. The fourth chapter identifies theology of reconstruction and concept of “Jesus the only way to salvation.” The fifth chapter addresses the ministry title, which is Pastoral Leadership, Theology, Healthy Congregations and Community, and liberating people from different problems. The sixth chapter offers the outline of the project. It involves the primary settin~ secondary setting, and producing a complete dissertation of the total project. The seventh chapter sums up the necessity of healthy congregation in the 21S1 century, and needs of transformation in the nature of HIV and AIDS. The eighth chapters are the bibliographical References.
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Mthethwa, Majahamahle Nene. "A study of the relationship between built form and culture : the Bulawayo executive Mayor's residence and its environment." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5593.
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Shaw, Drew Campbell. ""X-rays" of self and society : Dambudzo Marechera's avant-gardism and its implications for debates concerning Zimbabwean literature and culture." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18469.
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This thesis discusses Dambudzo Marechera's avant-gardism and its significance in the context of Zimbabwean literature and culture. I use the term avant-garde to describe Marechera's defiance of hegemonies, traditions, and prescriptions for writing, as well as his innovations with form and style. In the context of Zimbabwe, Marechera's avant-gardism involves a rejection of cultural nationalism, and an eschewal of traditional realist criteria for writing. The thesis locates Marechera in a socio-historical context, and in the framework of black Zimbabwean literature (written in English). It discusses his rejection of the nationalist tradition set by his literary predecessors; and it compares him with his contemporaries, Stanley Nyamfukudza and Charles Mungoshi, who also reject the concept of a 'pure', homogeneous, national culture in their writings. Marechera's writing explores new (and often taboo) subject matter, and it thus illustrates the diverse, complex nature of the Zimbabwean experience. It also abandons the unified, linear narrative; and it has been sharply censured by nationalist critics -- largely on the grounds of its transgression of traditional narrative form. Nationalist critics have tended to privilege traditional realist criteria in their discussions of Zimbabwean literature, and Marechera, as an avant-gardist, has been marginalized and denigrated for his non-conformity. In this thesis, I challenge the privileged status of traditional realism, question the prescriptions of nationalist/realist critics, and attempt to demonstrate the value of Marechera's non-realist writing. While many nationalist critics allege that Marechera's writing is 'unAfrican', I argue that it is a fallacy to assume his work is 'Europeanized' while nationalist/realist writing is not. Moreover, I contend that Marechera's avant-gardism is in direct response to a set of extraordinary socio-historical, political and cultural conditions -- which are specific to Zimbabwe. In analyzing Marechera's alternatives to realism (such as expressionism, stream of consciousness, surrealism, grotesque realism, the carnival, magical realism, and Menippean satire), I maintain that his experiments are not without strategy, but that they address pertinent literary, social, political, and cultural issues. The thesis furthermore attempts to show how the 'individualism' -- for which Marechera has been roundly condemned -- is paradoxically transformed into sharp and poignant social commentary. This is particularly evident in two texts which I focus on: "House of Hunger" -- his irreverent pre-independence vivisection of Zimbabwean society; and Mindblast, his much neglected anti-realist post-independence compilation, which I discuss in some detail.
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Nartey, Victor Narteye. "Intervention and assistance to widows and orphans Impacted by HIV/AIDS: focusing on inheritance under the Customary processes, in the interfaith communities of Zimbabwe." DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 2007. http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/329.
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The purpose of this project was to present a wholistic approach that would serve to empower the widows and orphans in the interfaith communities in City United Methodist Church in Harare, the Uniting Presbyterian Churches of Mabvuko and Mbare, and the African Apostolic Church of Johane Maranke in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe, who have been impacted by HIV!AIDS. This project, denominated as “Resurrection Ministry” by the writer, focused on iaheritance as recognized under the customary processes in Zimbabwe, as one of the resources that can be utilized to empower the widows and orphans. Forty (40) women comprised Group A and twenty (20) youths, between the ages of twelve (12) and nineteen (19), represented Group B. Group A participated in a tn-dimensional strategy that consisted of questionnaires, group sessions/workshops and experiential activities. The group sessions/workshops operated on the principles of informed pedagogy whose aim is to convey information to the widows that will assist them in knowing how to acquire and manage the estates of their deceased spouses. Retired judiciaries educated the participants on easy-to-understand versions of the inheritance laws as well as the customary processes concerning beneficiaries of estates. The commonality that presented in these endeavors is how to take advantage of the existing customary and judicial resources that would accord the widows and orphans the opportunities to return and re-assert themselves as beloved and contributing members of the community. The youth group was divided into two groups: one group for girls and the other group for boys. Senior women from the interfaith communities trained adolescent girls in the following areas: responsible management of their individual lives, personal hygiene. child development, independence and continuing/completing educational endeavors. These areas of emphasis provided much needed information to adolescent girls who assume the mothering tasks of their younger siblings. In a similar manner, men of integrity in the various churches were appointed as mentors for the young boys. The men encouraged the boys in the Christian faith in weekly sessions. Each session integrated orthodoxy with orthopraxy. The mentors accompanied and transported the young men to sporting events and visitations to needy persons. These opportunities engendered a role-model system for the youth and foster male-to-male relationships of positivism between the senior men and the young men. The project proceeded from a fundamental hypothesis that surmised that the customary inheritance processes in the Zimbabwean culture can be dynamically employed to empower widows and orphans who have been adversely affected by HIV/AIDS in ways that allow them to experience dignity and worth in the community. All of the above-mentioned activities in the Resurrection Ministry project focused on instilling self-worth. confidence and a sense of’ belonging in the participants. The model of ministry documented in the project worked to provide the support. education, inlbrmation and assistance needed to assist widows and orphans in their navigation of their lives after the death of the principal breadwinners in the family.
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Delaney, Jennifer Adrienne. "Symbolic Terrorism: The Impact and Culture of Christian Confrontational Evangelism." The Ohio State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1389349697.
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McElmurry, Kevin L. Neitz Mary Jo. "Alone/together the production of religious culture in a church for the unchurched /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri--Columbia, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/7035.
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Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 26, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Professor Mary Jo Neitz. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.
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Gaudreault, Lucien-Raymond. "The relationship between faith and culture." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1988. http://www.tren.com.
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Javan, Jafari Bojnordi Abdolreza. "Religion, culture and punishment : rethinking the sociology of punishment." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.479134.
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Evensen, Anthony J. "Culture and psyche in the comparative study of religion." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1997. http://www.tren.com.
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Nytroe, Sarah K. "Religion and Memory in American Public Culture, 1890-1920." Thesis, Boston College, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/1967.
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Thesis advisor: James M. O'TooleThis dissertation examines the ways in which Catholics, Mormons, Pentecostals, Lutherans, and Congregationalists repositioned themselves in American life and culture during the Progressive Era. Between 1890 and 1920, the place of these religious communities in American society became less secure as faith and religious practice became increasingly individualized. In response, churches reasserted their place in American society through deliberate reconstructions of the past to recreate their religious and historical identity. Through pageants, parades, poetry, and orations, they publicly displayed and celebrated their place in America and their contributions to the making of the nation. Specifically, they argued that religion and national progress went hand in hand. Progress needed religion. As such, the clerical and lay members of these communities constructed collective religious memories that strayed from historical reality in order to reinforce present needs and concerns. Perpetuating these often times misleading memories helped them to navigate the murky waters of modernity including theological change, societal prejudice, industrialization, and war by supplying them with the space to sustain the cultural legitimacy of their community. By examining religious experience via the lens of memory this dissertation illustrates how religious communities pursued an active role in America at a time when society increasingly disregarded the relevance of religion
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: History
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Davis, Taylor Thiel. "The evolution of religion and the evolution of culture." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/48519.
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The emerging science of religious evolution (the evolution of traits that distinguish religious individuals from non-religious ones) and the emerging science of cultural evolution have recently entered into a reciprocal relationship, each having something to offer the other. The theory of cultural evolution offers the field of religious evolution a powerful set of models and concepts for explaining important traits and facts that are not explained by genetic evolution. But theories of cultural evolution face their own important challenges, and theorists within the field do not agree about how cultural evolution itself should be explained, and focusing on religion makes some abstract and difficult questions in this domain more concrete and tractable. Thus, the field of religious evolution also offers the theory of cultural evolution a way of clarifying its commitments, and of demonstrating its ability to respond to important challenges. This dissertation addresses both sides of this reciprocal relationship, taking advantage of the opportunity to develop at the same time both a better understanding of the nature of religion and a better understanding of the nature of cultural phenomena in general. One goal, then, is to address philosophical, foundational questions about what religion is from within the scientific worldview. I address this general goal in two independent articles, which comprise Chapters 2 and 3. In the fourth chapter, however, I pursue a different goal, extracting from the study of religion a methodological lesson that applies for the study of cultural phenomena in general. Twenty years ago adaptationist theories in psychology appealed almost exclusively to genetic selection at the individual level, but developments since then have caused a growing number of scientists to suspect that this is too narrow a view of human evolution. I argue that the study of religion confirms these suspicions. Thus, by examining religion from the evolutionary perspective, we learn not just about the nature of religion, but also about the nature of the evolutionary perspective itself.Arts, Faculty of
Philosophy, Department of
Graduate
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Pimentel, Alexandra. "Culture and stigma in religion: the Westboro Baptist Church." Thesis, Kansas State University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/32611.
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Master of ArtsDepartment of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work
Lisa Melander
This study examines the lived experiences of the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a small church based in Topeka, KS and known for engaging in extensive protesting, from the perspective of stigmatization and the subcultural identity theory of religious persistence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of the congregation, exploring issues of how they perceive themselves to exist in relation to broader American society. A qualitative analysis of the interviews revealed three main themes: religion as a guiding framework, members’ relationships with others, and stigma and stigma management. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church see the world through a core Biblical framework of understanding that influences both how they relate to and disengage from interactions with others and the ways in which they negotiate stigma in these interactions. This research contributes to the body of research on stigma and stigma management as well as adds theoretically to the subcultural identity theory of religion.
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Dean, Brandon O'Neal. ""Look up in the sky:" Superman as lived religion in contemporary American culture." Diss., University of Iowa, 2016. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/2065.
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This dissertation will argue that, rather than simply reflecting the religious worldviews of his creators and readers, the presentations of Superman that span more than 75 years in a variety of mass media, have produced a mythology, iconography, ethical code, and set of practices that reflects a dynamic relationship with the complex religious systems in the United States. Obviously, the presentation of Superman by his creators and the reception of Superman by his readers are heavily influenced by Christianity, Judaism, and American civil religion (he does, after all, represent “truth, justice, and the American way”) along with many other religious worldviews. It explores the dynamic and complex interactions between Superman and his fans and show that the figure of Superman is utilized by his fans to understand theological and ethical issues, while, at the same time, their understanding of Superman shapes those theological and ethical opinions and ideas. American religious traditions influence the popular images and representations of Superman, but Superman also influences the understanding religious traditions across a breadth of historical and cultural contexts.
Superman’s state of multiple expressions of permanent liminality allows the character and his stories to be useful sites for people to perform the religious work of constructing, strengthening, and/or negotiating boundaries between categories, such as the human and the divine or the secular and the religious. It is through these boundaries that people define and interpret their religious worldviews.
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Stewart, Francis Elizabeth. ""Punk rock is my religion" : an exploration of straight edge punk as a surrogate of religion." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/3441.
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Using a distinctly and deliberately interdisciplinary approach to the subject of religion and spirituality as it presents itself within modern Western Societies today, this thesis argues that Straight Edge hardcore punk is a surrogate for religion. The term surrogate is used to denote the notion of a successor and a protector and provider of nourishment. It has been re-interpreted from Theodore Ziolkowski’s work on the same term in ‘Modes of Faith’, in which he examines surrogates for religion which emerged during the early part of the 20th century. An in-depth study, both theoretical and ethnographic in nature and presentation, of Straight Edge hardcore punk is provided to demonstrate that traditionally held categories of religion, secular, sacred and profane are being dismantled and re-built around ideas of authenticity, community, integrity, d.i.y and spirituality. Through the syncretic practices of the Straight Edge adherents they are de-essentialising religion and thus enabling us to re-consider the question of what religion is or could be. This thesis relies on theoretical ideas, interview quotes, informant quotes, researcher taken photographs, and interviewee created or utilised images, tattoos, graffiti and flyers. All of these are interspersed with song lyrics from various bands relevant to the time period under discussion and the themes being drawn out. Much like the adherents themselves, this thesis exists very much within the space of the ‘in-between’, which creates and reacts to necessary tensions throughout.
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Duffy, Lynne. "HIV/AIDS in context: The culture of health promotion among Ndau women in rural Zimbabwe." ScholarWorks, 2002. http://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/hodgkinson/9.
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This ethnographic study explored factors that facilitate or hinder women's participation in health promotion and HIV prevention in the Mt. Selinda area of rural Zimbabwe. Rates of HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe are among the highest in the world and increasing most quickly among young females. A purposeful convenience sample of 11 Ndau women (key participants) was interviewed twice. Seventeen key informants and four focus groups offered further perspectives. The resulting narrative presents a picture of Ndau women's existence that is difficult and oppressive. Females are socialized early to be workers and mothers within a context of limited voice, subservience, violence, and economic powerlessness. Application of a health promotion framework reinforced the reality that these women are generally unable to use measures for HIV prevention. Socio-cultural and economic factors of gender inequality were analyzed through an ecological approach, showing that cultural beliefs and practices, along with national and international forces, support and sustain gender inequality. If there is to be change in the AIDS crisis, the study's findings suggest that HIV prevention strategies should be integrated within a participatory community development model that includes opportunities for both men and women to carry out gender analysis. While health professionals must understand and be sensitive to culture and context, existing unjust and inequitable structures at all levels of society must be examined and challenged.
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Pina, Christine. "Univers religieux et politiques des Charismatiques francais : le cas de quatre communautes francaises." Grenoble 2, 1997. http://www.theses.fr/1997GRE21040.
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Dans un contexte général de modernité et de sécularisation, l'apparition du renouveau charismatique catholique en France au tournant des années soixante-dix peut surprendre : d'une part, parce qu'il démontre la vigueur du sentiment religieux; d'autre part, parce qu'issu du protestantisme, il a su se développer avec force dans le catholicisme, au risque d'oublier son œcuménisme d'origine. Trois éléments d'insatisfaction quant à la manière d'aborder aujourd'hui le renouveau charismatique catholique ont motivé notre travail : en premier lieu, la littérature scientifique existante semble avoir privilégié l'étude des structures communautaires aux dépens des individus qui composent aujourd'hui le renouveau. En second lieu, il est d'usage de parler d'un renouveau charismatique: n'est-il pas plus fécond, dans une situation de diversification interne au catholicisme, de rechercher des charismatismes de France ? Enfin, les études menées jusqu'à présent ne permettent pas de cerner les relations qu'établissent les membres du renouveau charismatique entre religion et politique. Trente-deux entretiens non-directifs, menés dans quatre grandes communautés françaises (Béatitudes, Chemin neuf, Pain de vie, Fondations du monde nouveau) auprès des engagés et des permanents, accompagnés d'observation participante et de dépouillement des revues publiées par les instances communautaires constituent le cœur de notre démarche méthodologique. Nous avons ainsi tenté de faire émerger les cultures charismatiques en présence, qu'il s'agisse des rapports à l'église, à l'économie ou au politique. Trois grands univers symboliques sont alors apparus, mêlant l'expérience religieuse décrite, la place accordée à la communauté, l'image de la société et enfin, les représentations politiques. Cette typologie a alors permis une comparaison avec les familles intégristes catholiques mises en évidence par J. -Marie DoneganiIn a general context of modernity and secularization, the emergence of catholic charismatism in France during the 70's is surprising: on one hand, because it shows all the strength of a religious consciousness; on the other hand, despite its protestant roots, it manages to develop with vigour in catholicism, forgetting its original ecumenism. Today's way of studying catholic charismatism offers three elements of dissatisfaction : first, scientific literature seems to privilege the analysis of community structures, forgetting the people who are part of today's charismatic renewal. Secondly, we used to mention “the” catholic charismatism : therefore, in a context of internal diversification in catholicism, could we find several charismatisms in France ? Finally studies that have been done up until now in France don't let us understand what kind of relationships the charismatic renewal members have established between religion and politics. Our methodology is built around thirty-two non-directive interviews, conducted in four large French communities (beatitudes, chemin neuf, pain de vie, fondations du monde nouveau) with volunteers and officials. We also used participating observation and analysed the magazines published by the communities. Then, we tried to understand which charismatic cultures were present in France, analysing their relationships with the Catholic Church, the economy or the politics. Three + symbolic universes ;, appeared which mixed the religious experience, the importance of the community, the representation of society and the image of politics. This typology allowed us to compare these subdivisions with the catholic + integralist ; families described by J. -Marie Donegani
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Watson, Timothy D. "The Lyon city council c. 1525-1575 : politics, culture, religion." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.322782.
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Platt, Verity J. "Epiphany and representation in Graeco-Roman culture : art, literature, religion." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.422525.
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Hen, Yitzhak. "Culture and religion in Merovingian Gaul A. D. 481-751 /." Leiden ; New York ; Köln : E. J. Brill, 1995. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb37669104f.
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Mantala-Bozos, Kalli I. "The role of religion, culture and rituals on grief adjustment." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.269875.
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Samson, Alain. "Culture, religion and cognition : Buddhism and holistic versus analytic thought." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2007. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2931/.
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Some cross-cultural psychologists have shown differences in cognition between Eastern and Western cultures, described as holistic versus analytic (H-A) systems of thought. It is widely assumed that Buddhism has contributed to holistic cognition. This thesis explores holistic thought among Western Buddhists by integrating methods and theories mainly from cross-cultural and social psychology, but also the cognitive anthropology of religion. H-A reasoning among Buddhists, Anglicans and Secular-Humanists in the UK is investigated in a main experiment, providing good backing for hypothesised H-A group differences. Moreover, it supports a hypothesis about the effect of meditation on the categorisation of visual stimuli and strength of holistic beliefs. However, only explicit H-A measures are subject to religious context effects, as evident in their association with religiosity, the religious self-concept and religious integration. Inducing a Buddhist context through religious priming does not result in a holism shift. A follow-up study (2) uses pictorial primes and shows an interaction effect between priming condition and strength of Buddhist self-concepts on holistic beliefs. Study 3 clarifies religious versus secular differences that were found for the grouping measure used in Study 1 in a correlational design with measures of independence- interdependence, religious identification as well as attraction to Buddhist and Secular- Humanist ideas. It indicates that both self-selection and learning effects may account for secular vs religious H-A differences. The last experiment (Study 4) further develops so-called 'tolerance of contradictions' (TC) as an aspect of H-A cognition and introduces the cognitive anthropological concept of counterintuitive (Cl) beliefs. As expected, results show that religious groups have a higher tolerance of Cl. Furthermore, compared to normal or bizarre concepts. Cl content reduces TC only among secular individuals, and to some degree Anglicans, but has no such effect on Buddhists. Implications for cross-cultural psychology, the psychology of religion as well as the interdisciplinary field of 'cognition and culture' are discussed.
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Mitchell, Michelle. "Surviving and Thriving in a Hostile Religious Culture." FIU Digital Commons, 2014. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1639.
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The present study explored a minority oppositional religious culture, which continued practicing despite overt hostilities to their practices. The qualitative research project utilized interviews and observations of the Gardnerian Wiccans in Broward County, Florida. The narrative data were transcribed, coded, and categorized into three themes related to the following research questions: Why would individuals create a secretive religion? Given they had to practice in secret, what about this religion had people seeking out information and joining Covens? What would keep this group together despite opposition from dominant culture? As a microcosm for religious conflict in society, the study showed differences in the culture’s religious paradigm structure as a major factor for religious conflict.
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Srinivasan, Vasanthi. "Culture, religion and transition: The experience of Hindu women in Canada." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/9840.
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Pattison, David. "From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe via Oxford and London : a study of the career of Dambudzo Marechera." Thesis, University of Hull, 1998. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:3859.
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[From the introduction] : In my first chapter I will offer a review of Marechera's reputation and the critical reception given to his work, both during his life and since his death. In Chapter Two I Will outline the major theoretical issues raised by Marechera's work: Art versus psychological catharsis; the artist-as-communal-spokesman versus the artist-as-Romantic-individualist; nationalism versus literary universalism. Chapters Three, Four, Five and Six will then consider in sequence, the work produced in Oxford, in London and in Harare, tracing the writer's physical and psychological deterioration through his evolving prose style. Each of these chapters will also focus on a major relevant critical issue. Thus Chapter Three will examine The House of Hunger, written following Marechera's arrival in Oxford, in the context of 'culture clash', 'the African heritage' and Postcolonialism which so preoccupied its original reviewers. Chapter Four will examine Black Sunlight and The Black Insider, written while the author was destitute in London, in terms of Jung's 'neurosis or art' debate. Chapter Five will examine Mindblast and Chapter Six will examine Scrapiron Blues, both containing material written after Marecheras' return to Harare, making reference to the historical and socio-political context of post-colonial Zimbabwe and to the writer's unsuccessful attempts to establish a role with the nation builders. I will conclude in Chapter Seven by discussing Marechera's place within the Zimbabwean literary canon, the current relevance and influence of his work and the implications this holds for the future of Zimbabwean writing.