Academic literature on the topic 'Religious bricolage'

This article provides an ethnographic exploration of a new religious movement in Nigeria that often goes by the name ‘Chrislam’. With a particular focus on the Ogbomoso Society of Chrislam, the article documents the group's origins and practices, as well as its public reception. Founded on a claimed vision from God in 2005, the group teaches that Christianity, Islam and African Indigenous Religions come from the same source and should be reunited into a single religious movement. Core to their understanding is what they call ‘a spirit of accommodation’, which provides a divine directive to exceed mere tolerance or coexistence and combine these religions under one roof. With their mission of pursuing unity and commonality while dispelling differences, the group manages to creatively embed multiple complex religious traditions into their belief structures, liturgical practices and ritual ceremonies, in what can be described as a religious bricolage. Despite the group's intention to promote peace and unity and act as a counterpoint to violent movements such as Boko Haram, the Ogbomoso Society of Chrislam finds itself at the centre of an ongoing debate about the politics of religious bricolage and the resulting cultural limits of acceptable forms of religious entanglements.

In this article, we trace the syncretic origins and development of the new religious movement centered on the Mexican folk saint of death, Santa Muerte. We explore how she was born of the syncretic association of the Spanish Catholic Grim Reapress and Pre-Columbian Indigenous thanatologies in the colonial era. Through further religious bricolage in the post-colony, we describe how as the new religious movement rapidly expanded it integrated elements of other religious traditions, namely Afro-Cuban Santeria and Palo Mayombe, New Age beliefs and practices, and even Wicca. In contrast to much of the Eurocentric scholarship on Santa Muerte, we posit that both the Skeleton Saint’s origins and contemporary devotional framework cannot be comprehended without considering the significant influence of Indigenous death deities who formed part of holistic ontologies that starkly contrasted with the dualistic absolutism of European Catholicism in which life and death were viewed as stark polarities. We also demonstrate how across time the liminal power of death as a supernatural female figure has proved especially appealing to marginalized socioeconomic groups.

AbstractThe Egyptian desert summoned for its early medieval progeny memories of a past age of superhuman askêsis that posed a challenge to Carolingian attempts at Benedictine hegemony. In response, the architects of ninth-century monastic reform labored to present their votaries with a carefully controlled memory of the Egyptian past, and they did so through a propagandistic aesthetic of literary, visual, and ritual "bricolage." Jaś Elsner defines this aesthetic of bricolage as an artistic form based on symbolic ownership of the past through the display of ancient spolia on contemporary monuments (e.g., the sculptured reliefs collected from past, imperial regimes and exhibited as spolia on the Arch of Constantine) or the layering of present-day texts with past literary forms (e.g., Christian typological exegesis of Hebrew Scripture). Similarly, for the Carolingians, who also ventured into the artistic realm of bricolage, collecting, embodying, and displaying were methods of exerting control over the past.

Questa tesi tratta, a partire da una prospettiva antropologica, delle relazioni tra calcio e religione in Brasile. In particolare, si propone come obiettivo quello di comprendere una pratica dei calciatori brasiliani chiamata “fechamento”. Questo termine indica l’insieme di espressioni, corporali e verbali che i calciatori mettono in atto sistematicamente prima delle competizioni, e che si distingue da pratiche simili per la recitazione collettiva della preghiera del Padre Nostro. Da un punto di vista simbolico, l’ermeneutica del “fechamento” ci permette di raggiungere una comprensione che trascende l’oggetto in sé, rivelando una particolare visione del mondo (Geertz, 1989). A partire da una etnografia realizzata con i giocatori del settore giovanile dello Sport Club Internacional de Porto Alegre (RS, Brasile), integrata con il vissuto del ricercatore durante la sua lunga permanenza in Brasile, la tesi cerca di rivelare il significato profondo di questa pratica polimorfica che, per le sue caratteristiche intrinseche, si configura come un “bricolage religioso”, costituita da “pezzi” di vari elementi di credenze differenti, formando un mosaico (Bastide,1953-1970) di cui la matrice cattolico-cristiana costituisce il piano di fondo A partire da questa prospettiva, è possibile relativizzare l’impatto del neopentecostalismo nel calcio brasiliano (Rial, 2012; 2013), tenendo in considerazione la sua caratteristica “religiofaga” (Oro, 2015) o “antropofaga” (Almeida, 2003), ossia la propensione ad appropriarsi, risignificare e risimbolizzare elementi di credenze prese da altre religioni. Il caso del “fechamento”, tra i calciatori brasiliani, sembra essere emblematico di questo processo che, invece di rivelare la sua “faccia” neopentecostale, rafforza ancor di più il suo già alto grado di “bricolage religioso”. Dunque il “fechamento” come prodotto “sincretico” non sarebbe al servizio di una religione (neopentecostalismo) ma di tutte. Questo spiegherebbe il suo successo indipendentemente dalle appartenenze religiose dei giocatori.
Cette thèse traite, à partir d’une perspective anthropologique, des relations entre le football et la religion au Brésil. Plus précisément, celle-ci a pour objectif de comprendre une pratique des footballeurs brésiliens appelée “fechamento”. Ce terme désigne l’ensemble des expressions, corporelles et verbales, que les joueurs actionnent systématiquement avant les compétitions, et qui se distingue d’autres pratiques semblables par la récitation collective de la prière du Notre Père. D’un point de vue symbolique, l’herméneutique du « fechamento » permet d’atteindre une compréhension qui transcende l’objet en soi, révélant une particulière vision du monde (Geertz, 1989). A partir d’une ethnographie réalisée auprès des jeunes footballeurs du Sport Club Internacional de Porto Alegre (RS, Brésil) et complétée par le vécu de l’enquêteur pendant son long séjour au Brésil, la thèse essaie de comprendre le sens profond de cette pratique polymorphe, laquelle, par ses caractéristiques intrinsèques , se configure come un « bricolage religieux » , composé de morceaux de éléments variés provenant de croyances différentes, formant une mosaïque (Bastide, 1953-1970) dont la matrice catholico - chrétienne est la toile de fond A partir de cette perspective, nous pouvons relativiser l’impact du néopentecôtisme dans le football brésilien (Rial, 2012 ; 2013), tenant compte de sa caractéristique « religiophagique » (Oro, 2015) ou « anthropophagique » (Almeida, 2003), c’est-à-dire de sa propension à s’approprier, re-signifier et re-symboliser des éléments d’autres religions. Le cas du « fechamento », chez les footballeurs brésiliens, semble être emblématique de ce procès qui, au lieu de révéler sa « face » néopentecôtiste, renforce encore plus son degré déjà élevé de bricolage religieux. Donc le « fechamento » en tant que produit « syncrétique » ne serait au service d’une religion (néopentecôtisme) mais de toutes. Ceci expliquerait son succès indépendamment des appartenances religieuses des footballeurs.
Esta tese trata, a partir de uma perspectiva antropológica, das relações entre futebol e religião no Brasil. Mais especificamente, tem como objetivo compreender uma prática dos futebolistas brasileiros chamada “fechamento”. Este termo refere-se a um conjunto de expressões, corporais e verbais, que os futebolistas acionam sistematicamente antes as competições e que se distingue de práticas semelhantes pela recitação coletiva da reza do Pai Nosso. De um ponto de vista simbólico, a hermenêutica do “fechamento” permite alcançar uma compreensão que transcende o objeto em si, sendo reveladora de uma determinada visão de mundo (Geertz, 1989). A partir de uma etnografia realizada com os jogadores das categorias de base do Sport Club Internacional de Porto Alegre (RS, Brasil), complementada com o retrospecto do pesquisador durante a sua longa estada no Brasil, a tese procura revelar o significado profundo desta prática polimórfica que, pelas suas características intrínsecas, se configura como uma “bricolagem religiosa”, sendo constituída por pedaços de vários elementos de crenças diferentes, formando um mosaico (Bastide, 1953-70) onde a matriz católica-cristã constitui o pano de fundo A partir desta perspectiva é possível relativizar o impacto do neopentecostalismo no futebol brasileiro (Rial, 2012; 2013), tendo em consideração a sua característica “religiofágica” (Oro, 2015) ou “antropofágica” (Almeida, 2003), isto é, a propensão de se apropriar, ressignificar e ressimbolizar elementos de crenças tomadas de outras religiões. O caso do “fechamento”, entre os futebolistas brasileiros, parece ser emblemático deste processo que, em vez de revelar a sua “face” neopentecostal, reforça ainda mais o seu já alto grau de “bricolagem religiosa”. Portanto o “fechamento”, enquanto produto “sincrético”, não estaria ao serviço de apenas uma religião (neopentecostalismo), mas de todas. Isto explicaria o seu sucesso independentemente dos pertencimentos religiosos dos futebolistas
Starting from an anthropological perspective, this thesis deals with the relationship between football and religion in Brazil. In particular, it aims to understand a practice adopted by Brazilian footballers, which is called ‘fechamento’. This term refers to the set of verbal and bodily expressions that footballers systematically display before competitions, which differs from similar practices used for the collective recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. From a symbolic point of view, hermeneutics of ‘fechamento’ allows us to acquire an understanding that transcends the object per se, thus revealing a particular world view (Geertz, 1989). Starting from an ethnography carried out with the players of the youth team of Sport Club Internacional de Porto Alegre, Brazil and integrated with the experience gained by the researcher during his long stay in Brazil, this thesis aims to reveal the deep meaning of this polymorphic practice which, because of its intrinsic features, appears to be a ‘religious bricolage’, made up of ‘pieces’ of various elements of different beliefs, thus forming a ‘mosaic’ (Bastide, 1953-1970), for which the Catholic-Christian root represents the backdrop Starting from this perspective, it becomes possible to relativise the impact of Neo- Pentecostalism on Brazilian football (Rial, 2012; 2013), by taking into consideration its “religiophagous” (Oro, 2015) or “anthropophagous” (Almeida, 2003) feature, i.e. the tendency to incorporate, redefine and re-symbolise elements of beliefs taken from other religions. The case of ‘fechamento’, among Brazilian footballers, seems to be emblematic of this process which, instead of revealing its Neo-Pentecostal ‘face’, strengthens even more the already high degree of ‘religious bricolage’. Therefore ‘fechamento’ as a ‘syncretic’ product would no longer be based on one religion (Neo-Pentecostalism) but on all. This would explain its success regardless of the religious orientation of players.

Based on an ethnography conducted between 2013-2015 within a religious community in Brazil, this thesis investigates the meanings of a growing worldwide religious movement fusing beliefs and identity claims deriving from Judaism and Charismatic Evangelicalism. Unlike Messianic Judaism, where Jewish-born people identified as believers in Jesus remain faithful to their Jewish traditions while observing Charismatic Evangelical practices or Christian Zionism, Evangelicals who emphasise the theological and eschatological importance of Jews living in Israel, this thesis addresses a different dimension of this trend. Focusing particularly on women's conversion narratives, this study investigates the reasons why Charismatic Evangelical Brazilians are actively embracing a version of Judaism that requires them to follow the strict dress codes and purity laws of Orthodox Jews while believing in Jesus as the Messiah. My analysis concluded that the emergence of these communities should be understood as a revival aiming to restore some Charismatic Evangelical practices. Pointing to the moral permissiveness, materialism, individualism, and petitionary rhetoric enforced in their former Charismatic Evangelical churches-influenced by Neo-Pentecostal tenets-they embrace an austere religious style characterised by self- cultivation centred in Jewish ritual and ethos. This pious revival also involves recovering a collective past. References to a hidden Jewish heritage and a 'return' to Judaism are mobilised for justifying the community's strict adherence to Jewish practices. Drawing upon a socio-cultural and gender-sensitive analysis, this study examines the historical, religious and subjective reasons behind this emerging 'Judaising' trend in Charismatic Evangelicalism. This thesis also engages with the literature of religious conversion, morality, cultural change and debates examining hybridisation processes.

L’intégration aussi soudaine que réussie du bouddhisme en Occident au XXe siècle a entraîné dans son sillage l’apparition d’une nouvelle figure du croire à trait d’union : les « juifs bouddhistes ». Dans le contexte actuel de l’individualisation du croire et de la globalisation du religieux, cette constellation de postures individuelles se revendiquant à la fois du judaïsme et du bouddhisme témoigne des produits créatifs de l’émergence d’un bouddhisme occidental.Connu principalement aux États-Unis sous le label de « jubu », où selon les estimations, de 6 à 30% des pratiquants bouddhistes occidentaux seraient d’origine juive, le phénomène des juifs dans le bouddhisme est pourtant un phénomène global. Comment s’exprime-t-il en France et en Angleterre, deux autres pôles essentiels de la diaspora juive et du bouddhisme en Occident ? Comment comprendre le succès du bouddhisme en Israël aujourd’hui ? Pourquoi les juifs deviennent-ils bouddhistes, et comment articulent-ils ce choix croyant avec leur identité juive ?Le phénomène des juifs bouddhiste, souvent décrit comme un phénomène post-Shoah, est d’abord un produit de la modernité juive ashkénaze post-Lumières. Dans cette recherche, à partir d’une sociologie croisée de la réception du bouddhisme et de celle des trajectoires croyantes individuelles basée sur une enquête ethnographique longitudinale multisituée conduite entre 2008 et 2018 et composée d’entretiens et d’analyse de récits de vie de pratiquants et enseignants bouddhistes d’origine juive aux États-Unis, en Angleterre, en France et en Israël, je tenterai de dresser un panorama comparatif et diachronique du phénomène des juifs bouddhistes visant à mettre en lumière ses tendances globales, ses particularités locales, et son évolution depuis la contre-culture des années soixante. Parce qu’elle refuse le terme de conversion et s’exprime sous la forme de bricolages identitaires ou croyants, la posture de juif bouddhiste témoigne des liens entre l’individualisme religieux et le groupe, et demande de repenser le concept de syncrétisme dans le contexte de la globalisation religieuse contemporaine
In the wake of the introduction of Buddhism in the West in the XXth century, as sudden as successful, a new hyphenated religious posture has emerged: the “Jewish Buddhists”. In the current context of religious individualism and globalization, this constellation of individual stances claiming to be both Jewish and Buddhist is one of the creative outcomes of the emergence of a Western Buddhism. Mostly known in the states under the label “jubu”, where an estimate of 6 to 30% of the Western Buddhist practitioners would be of Jewish descent, the phenomenon of Jews in Buddhism is however a global phenomenon. How does it play in France and in England, two other essential loci of the Jewish diaspora and of Western Buddhism? How to account for the success of Buddhism in Israel today? Why do Jews become Buddhists, and how do they articulate this choice with their Jewish identity?The phenomenon of the Jewish Buddhists, mostly known as a post-Shoah phenomenon, is first and foremost a product of the post-Enlightenment Jewish Ashkenazi modernity. In this research, combining a sociology of the reception of Buddhism and of individual religious trajectories based on interviews and life-narrative analysis collected via a multisite longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2008 and 2018 between the United States, England, France and Israel, I will attempt to offer a comparative, diachronic panorama of the phenomenon of the Jewish Buddhists, aiming at shedding light on its global tendencies, its local specificities, and its evolution, from the Counter-Culture of the sixties till today.Because it rejects the term « conversion » and expresses itself under the shape of bricolages of identity and belief, the posture of Jewish Buddhist highlights the connections between religious individualism and the group, and calls for rethinking the concept of syncretism in the context of the contemporary religious globalization

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The search for Brazilians religious identity upon Darcy Ribeiros view embodies the challenge in which we engage in this work. It is about the awareness of the meaning of being human in the world time and space from the perspective of religion and obscurantism in Darcys narratives. Even though such an investigation may be carried out through sciences multiple paths, we decided to take the one of Sciences of Religion. Based on Darcys writings, we provide new pieces of information in the religious scope, as it happened and still does in Brazil. Notwithstanding his public position as an atheist, the anthropologist provides us with some new intuitions that broaden our views in the domain of Science of Religion. Having not found a framework about religious language in Darcys thought, we established a rapprochement with Paul Ricoeurs hermeneutics philosophy. The notion of narrative identity in Ricoeur was the fundamental methodological element which helped us out with the hermeneutics articulation of intuitions in the religious element in Darcy. Such narrative identity finds in the work of memory and symbol polysemy other ways of interlocution and enrichment of the discussion. Such heuristic articulation, born from our intuition, will enable us to reveal Brazilians religious identity from the hermeneutic aspect. Our task is underlain by Darcys confessions, in the religious historical scenario permeated by the crossings among the various matrixes and the particularly complex present environment in Brazil. For us, Darcy Ribeiros coherent work accounts for the expansion of studies in Science of Religion and suggests Brazilians religious identity as a work in progress. Darcy Ribeiro departs from anthropology but does not limit himself to sheer structuralism; rather, he develops a certain dialectical anthropology in interlocution with philosophy. This study aims to pinpoint Brazilians religious identity in spite of the blindness in the religious weaving marked by radicalism, fundamentalism and conservadorism. To enhance such an identity, we tackled into two metaphors: sixth-spear and bricolage, both aligned with Darcys view. His unusual interpretation and search for Brazilians identity was only possible through Paul Ric urs hermeneutic lenses. Underlain by Paul Ric urs notion of religious identity, we were faced with the foundations which helped us analyze such identity in its limitations and possibilities, matches and dismatches, building process and lack of closure.
A busca pela identidade religiosa dos brasileiros a partir do olhar de Darcy Ribeiro constitui o desafio que empreendemos neste trabalho. Trata-se de perceber o sentido de ser humano no mundo tempo e espaço do ponto de vista do religioso e do obscuro, mediante as narrativas de Darcy. Embora uma investigação como essa pudesse ocorrer pelos múltiplos caminhos das ciências e seus fundamentos, decidimos pela via das Ciências da Religião. A partir dos escritos de Darcy, vamos oferecer informações novas quanto à perspectiva religiosa no Brasil conforme se deu e ainda ocorre. Paradoxalmente, este antropólogo que sempre se afirmou ateu nos oferece algumas novas intuições que ampliam nossas conceituações no domínio das Ciências da Religião. Por não encontrarmos uma sistematização sobre a linguagem religiosa no pensamento de Darcy, buscamos estabelecer uma aproximação com a filosofia hermenêutica de Paul Ric ur. A noção de identidade narrativa, segundo Ricoeur, foi o elemento metodológico fundamental na articulação hermenêutica das intuições sobre o religioso em Darcy. Esta identidade narrativa encontra no trabalho da memória e na polissemia do símbolo outras formas de diálogo e enriquecimento da discussão. A articulação heurística, fruto de nossa intuição, nos permitirá revelar a identidade religiosa dos brasileiros pelo viés hermenêutico. A presente tarefa é efetuada com o olhar nas confissões de Darcy, no panorama histórico-religioso eivado de entrecruzamentos espirituais das diversas matrizes e do ambiente atual, particularmente complexo, existente no Brasil. Para nós, a obra de Darcy Ribeiro contribui de maneira coerente à expansão dos estudos em Ciências da Religião e sugere, de igual modo, a identidade religiosa dos brasileiros em fazimento. Darcy Ribeiro parte da antropologia, mas não se restringe à perspectiva do puro estruturalismo, desenvolvendo uma espécie de antropologia dialética em discussão com a filosofia. Esta pesquisa procura situar também a identidade religiosa dos brasileiros, apesar da cegueira que afeta o tecido religioso, marcado pelo radicalismo, pelo fundamentalismo e o conservadorismo. Para evidenciar melhor essa identidade, utilizamos duas metáforas: sexta lança e bricolagem, ambas alinhadas com o olhar de Darcy. A inusitada interpretação e busca da identidade religiosa dos brasileiros segundo Darcy Ribeiro somente foi possível pelas lentes hermenêuticas oferecidas por Paul Ric ur. Na perspectiva da noção de identidade narrativa, segundo Paul Ric ur, nos deparamos com as bases que nos ajudam a considerar esta identidade religiosa, seus limites e possibilidades, seus encontros e desencontros, seu fazimento e inacabamento.

This project considers the ways in which Wiccan marriage and American marriage law interact with each other. The thesis examines certain aspects of the history of 20th-century American marriage law, the concurrent development of contemporary marriage ritual in Wicca, developing problems in this area, and possible solutions. In particular, the project focuses on the recognition of religious groups and their officials as they are authorized by state and federal law to perform marriages and how this process has affected Wiccan ritual.

En se fondant sur un corpus de cérémonies rituelles d’ombwiri collecté dans deux provinces du Gabon, cette thèse discute la pertinence des concepts anthropologiques couramment appliqués aux religions africaines dans leur évolution contemporaine, en particulier ceux dérivant de théories «syncrétistes». Partant d’une méthodologie confrontant les données de terrain aux interprétations qui en ont été tirées par les chercheurs qui ont étudié les rituels religieux du Gabon, l’auteur en arrive à contester la qualité des productions scientifiques consacrées au sujet, considérant que les perspectives développées jusque-là privilégient la seule dimension diachronique des emprunts culturels, font la part belle aux intégrations minoritaires d’éléments occidentaux dans l’invention rituelle traditionnelle, et escamotent finalement le ressort créatif permanent qui rend la production des rituels possible, y compris dans leur intégration d’éléments nouveaux, dussent-ils provenir de l’étranger. Pour cela, il propose le concept alternatif de «correspondances interreligieuses» pour rendre compte de la libre possibilité d’intégrer, à tout moment, et dans des proportions cognitivement encadrées, des éléments de tradition exogène. Il évite ainsi de retomber dans les pièges du colonialisme scientifique qui ne peut s’empêcher d’aliéner la culture colonisée en lui imposant le carcan théorique d’une culture colonisatrice
Based on an intensive field work related to ombwiri rituals performed in two provinces of Gabon, this dissertation discusses the relevance of common theorisation of African contemporary religions as expressions of syncretism. The author considers that syncretism cannot be applied unilaterally to African rituals, as it might only emphasize the diachronic level in cultural and linguistic borrowing, without outlying the synchronic one which makes the borrowing even possible. More consequently, syncretist theorisation neglects fundamental aspects of ritual creativity and specific empowerment to integrate what it likes or not, including outdoor elements resulting from historical and particularly cross-cultural conjunctions. Therefore, the author suggests to start up with a new conceptual framework of “interreligious correspondences”, so as to prevent scientific productions from colonial recurrent ideologies, and give evidence of cognitive mechanisms which habilitate African minds as others, to go on integrating new with old, extraordinary with ordinary, and all kinds of resources, in a permanent creative dynamism including the indefinite limit that one likes to give to oneself

Le Santo Daime, culte brésilien amazonien, s’est implanté dans la Belle Province depuis une vingtaine d’années. Issue d’un syncrétisme qui mêle traditions indigènes, afro-brésiliennes, catholiques, ésotériques et spirites européennes, cette religion est intrinsèquement liée à la culture brésilienne et plus particulièrement à l’Amazonie dans son usage de l’ayahuasca, une substance hallucinogène. Les fardados (membres) entrent en contact avec le divin grâce à cet enthéogène, appelé Daime. Ce mémoire parcourt l’implantation du Santo Daime dans la province du Québec, à travers l’histoire d’un groupe que l’on nommera l’Église daimiste québécoise. À partir d’une ethnographie du groupe daimiste, nous proposons d’explorer les mécanismes mis en oeuvre par les membres pour donner du sens à ce culte si distant culturellement. S’inspirant d’une approche expérientielle et phénoménologique, la présente recherche vise à saisir l’expérience du religieux chez les daimistes du Québec dans laquelle ils nouent des relations privilégiées avec les êtres de l’astral, jardin de l’au-delà. En ce sens, les expériences mystiques et la clairvoyance sont deux phénomènes que nous abordons comme les catalyseurs de ces relations. À travers l’examen du processus d’insertion du culte dans la réalité québécoise des membres, nous verrons qu’apprendre la religion constitue une première étape essentielle passant par la compréhension de la langue et des symboles du Santo Daime. Face à cet apprentissage, l’assemblage d’éléments religieux avec les croyances antérieures peut s’opérer afin de formuler un nouvel ensemble sensé, intelligible et s’intégrant à leur quotidien. Nous verrons que dès lors un engagement du membre envers les êtres de l’astral est possible et que se développe une véritable relation de disciples (les membres) et de maitre (les esprits).
The Santo Daime, an Amazonian Brazilian religion, expanded into the Belle Province almost twenty years ago. This syncretic religion, stemming from indigenous traditions, Afro-Brazilian religions, Catholicism, European esoteric currents and Spiritism, is intrinsically connected to Brazilian culture and more specifically to the Amazon rainforest through the use of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic substance. The fardados (uniformed members) make contact with the divine thanks to this entheogen called Daime. This thesis examines the expansion of Santo Daime in the province of Quebec through the history of a group we call the Église daimiste québécoise. An ethnography of the Daimista group will help us to explore the mechanisms that are implemented by members to make sense of this culturally distant religion. Inspired by both experiential and phenomenological approaches, this research aims to understand the religious experience amongst Quebec’s Daimistas, in which they build special relationships with the beings of the Astral, the beyond. In that sense, mystical experiences and clairvoyance are two phenomena that we will address as a catalyst of these relationships. By examining how Santo Daime enters into members’ everyday life, we will see that the process of learning the religion establishes an understanding of the language and the symbols of Santo Daime. Along with this apprenticeship, and connecting elements of Santo Daime with the other faiths they have experienced forms an intelligible ensemble that can be integrated into their everyday life. We will see that from this point on, a commitment of the members to the beings of the Astral is possible and that a real disciple (the members) / master (the spirits) relationship can develop.

Cette thèse a pour objectif de mettre en lumière divers aspects de la « culture des contraires » - une culture traduisant une propension pour la juxtaposition d'éléments à première vue fort différents. Dans le premier chapitre, nous offrons au thème de la culture des contraires un point d'ancrage qui a été assez peu exploité dans la recherche : les réflexions des néoplatoniciens sur les symboles. Ces réflexions développent une conception selon laquelle la monstruosité et la laideur sont le reflet nécessaire - et non la pure antinomie - du beau. Le monstrueux ou « contre nature » est alors digne d'être considéré puisqu'il peut évoquer son contraire. Nous concluons ce chapitre par une illustration de la singularité et de la fécondité de cette perspective, avec l'étude d'un film, Night of the Demon (1957), dans lequel luttent deux tendances opposées par rapport au monstrueux : l'évocation et la monstration. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous retenons trois notions importantes pour bien comprendre la culture des contraires: l'éclectisme, le syncrétisme et le bricolage. L'éclectisme se traduit par une ouverture aux différences; par la volonté d'accueillir les idées les plus diverses sans les considérer exclusives. Le syncrétisme, pour sa part, implique davantage : la synthèse d'éléments divers débouche ultimement sur la fusion de doctrines qui semblent avoir peu de choses en commun. Autrement dit, le libre choix n'est pas effectué pour lui-même, mais pour faire système. La notion de bricolage, quant à elle, a souvent été utilisée dans les sciences sociales, au XXe siècle. Nous nous attardons d'abord aux réflexions de Lévi-Strauss sur le bricolage, puisque ces réflexions ont durablement influencé des penseurs (Genette, Derrida, Deleuze et Guattari, de Certeau, Lyotard) dont nous rappelons les principales intuitions. Une fois le sens de l'éclectisme, du syncrétisme et du bricolage bien établi, nous nous efforçons, dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, d'étudier les contraires en tant qu'ils s'inscrivent dans des pratiques et des productions culturelles. Nous nous intéressons d'abord aux conduites extrêmes. Moins encadrées par les institutions, les formes contemporaines du rite de passage sont souvent étonnantes, voire choquantes. Les jeunes sont amenés à expérimenter d'une manière souvent forcenée: ils doivent inventer de nouvelles formes rituelles pour mieux négocier les passages les plus cruciaux de leur existence. Dans un premier temps, nous nous penchons sur l'engouement des jeunes pour les jeux vidéo - plus précisément, pour les jeux de combat. Nous poursuivons avec l'analyse de deux phénomènes unissant l'expression artistique et le rite : celui des tags et des graffiti et celui des arts du corps. Nous mesurons jusqu'à quel point ces phénomènes permettent au jeune de se façonner une identité, selon une esthétique bricoleuse qui allie le bagage personnel du participant et de nombreux emprunts. Par rapport aux notions d'éclectisme et de syncrétisme, le bricolage comporte de très fortes résonances artistiques. Les deux derniers chapitres exploitent donc cette dimension du bricolage. Le quatrième chapitre est principalement traversé par un mouvement artistique qui accorde une place prépondérante aux synthèses inattendues : le surréalisme, qui tend à réunir ce qu'on avait tendance à dissocier. Cet effort visant à réunir les contraires se répercute sur tous les aspects du mouvement. Dans le cinquième et dernier chapitre, nous poursuivons notre étude des inscriptions culturelles du jeu entre les contraires. Mais tandis que nous nous étions intéressés à la création artistique dans le quatrième chapitre, il s'agit, cette fois, d'adopter le point de vue du récepteur; dans l'économie de cette réception, nous nous intéressons au rapport entre le culte et la culture, par le truchement du phénomène des œuvres et des figures cultes. L'usage du terme « culte » suggère un certain rapport au religieux. Nous scrutons également l'émergence et l'évolution d'un discours qui prétend opérer un renversement radical par rapport aux critères esthétiques modernes : non plus préoccupés par l'élection de chefs-d’œuvre, les membres de cette sous-culture jettent volontairement leur dévolu sur des films médiocres. Cette esthétique paraît opérer une sorte de désublimation du beau classique dans un geste qui rappelle, à bien des égards, l'attaque contre le « bon goût » orchestrée par la mouvance néodadaïste de l'art contemporain. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Religion, culture, éclectisme, syncrétisme, bricolage, contraires, symbole, surréalisme

Driven by her anxiety to create an alternative world view to that offered her by the male-dominated world of nineteenth-century England, enabled by the decline of biblical authority encouraged by the expansion of scientific discovery and the rise of the Higher Criticism, and guided by the Bible's own internal reinterpretative tradition, Charlotte Bronte appropriates the authoritative voice of scripture in order to redirect its energies into new avenues so that she can script a life for herself which transcends the possibilities available to her in the external world. However, if she wishes to redress issues of exclusion and oppression which have their roots in the traditional, male-dominated interpretation of the Bible, then one of her most effective weapons is the Bible's own challenging word, which, though often suppressed by her culture, she reclaims and uses. What Harold Bloom calls "the anxiety of influence" is certainly involved in her apparently willful misreading of the precedent tradition of biblical interpretation in order to clear out a space within which her voice can be heard. The influence of such a powerful and sacrosanct source as the Bible would undoubtedly produce in Bronte the anxiety of which Bloom speaks. However, rather than abandoning or completely rejecting it, she saw her work as a necessary renewing of the biblical tradition because the conventional methods of viewing it no longer fit the situation of women in the nineteenth century, including her own. From the dominant society's point of view, she commits what can be perceived as acts of "violence" on the Bible and a substantial body of its interpretation. Breaking its stories down into their component parts of character, plot, and setting, she then reassembles them in startling and exciting ways using the process of bricolage. This study traces Charlotte Bronte's reinscription of the Bible through her four novels, paying special attention to her use of three strategies: (1) gender reversal, (2) undermining of God's role in controlling human history, and (3) recasting "otherworldly" locales in this worldly settings.

In the sixteenth century, a period of proliferating transatlantic travel and exploration, and, latterly, religious civil wars in France, the ship is freighted with political and religious, as well as poetic, significance; symbolism that reaches its height when ships – both real and symbolic – are threatened with disaster. The Direful Spectacle argues that, in the French Renaissance, shipwreck functions not only as an emblem or motif within writing, but as a part, or the whole, of a narrative, in which the dynamics of spectatorship and of co-operation are of constant concern. The possibility of ethical distance from shipwreck – imagined through the Lucretian suave mari magno commonplace – is constantly undermined, not least through a sustained focus on the corporeal. This book examines the ways in which the ship and the body are made analogous in Renaissance shipwreck writing; bodies are described and allegorized in nautical terms, and, conversely, ships themselves become animalized and humanized. Secondly, many texts anticipate that the descriptionof shipwreck will have an affect not only on its victims, but on those too of spectators, listeners, and readers. This insistence on the physicality of shipwreck is also reflected in the dynamic of bricolage that informs the production of shipwreck texts in the Renaissance. The dramatic potential of both the disaster and the process of rebuilding is exploited throughout the century, culminating in a shipwreck tragedy. By the late Renaissance, shipwreck is not only the end, but often forms the beginning of a story.

Real understanding of past societies is not possible without including children, and yet they have been strangely invisible in the archaeological record. In this volume, experts from around the world investigate childhood in the past, showing why it is important to understand childhood, why different cultures construct different ideas of how to rear children, what part children play in the community, and when and why childhood ends. The contributors also question why childhood has so often been missing from archaeological interpretation. Their answers are astonishing and thought provoking, challenging archaeologists to reconsider common assumptions about ways of looking at material culture in the past, and to reconsider the place of children in creating the archaeological record itself. However marginal the traces of children’s bodies and bricolage may seem compared to those of adults, archaeological evidence of children and childhood can be found in the most astonishing places and spaces, as well as in the most mundane. The archaeology of childhood is one of the most exciting and challenging areas for new discovery about past societies. Children are part of every human society, but childhood is a cultural construct. Each society develops its own idea about what a childhood should be, what children can or should do, and how they should be trained to take their place in the world. The archaeological record for children and childhood is regionally and chronologically diverse. Children are also increasingly being recognised as having played a part in creating the archaeological record itself. In this volume, the contributors ask questions about childhood—thresholds of age and growth, childhood in the material culture, the death of children, and the intersection of the childhood and the social, economic, religious, and political worlds of societies in the past. The volume spans the periods from earliest prehistory to the present day to provide a rich and nuanced perspective on childhood, revealing the commonalities and the very great differences in childhood experiences the world over.

This chapter surveys clinicians’ integrating religion approaches to Buddhist traditions. Here psychotherapists seek to incorporate Buddhist and psychotherapeutic elements in such a way that both remain recognizable. Some believe that common elements or shared ultimate aims make Buddhist and psychotherapeutic “compatible.” Others design methods to overcome what they otherwise portray as fundamental incommensurables (e.g., dissonances between Buddhist and therapeutic conceptions of the self). At times, therapists explain their integrative efforts to be what they call “hybrids” consistent with those of previous locations of Buddhist transmission (e.g., medieval China). The chapter considers whether scholarly concepts such as hybridity or religious repertories used to describe historical religious mixing could be useful in describing these contemporary activities. Or, alternatively, whether the combinativeness here is unique and without historical precedent: the bricolage of the religious and the not-religious, scientific or biomedical. To some therapists, integrating Buddhist and psychotherapeutic frames necessitates asking questions of definition (whether Buddhist traditions are properly classified as religious; psychotherapy as not-religious, etc.). Some take up cultural rhetoric surrounding the term “spirituality” in this context to argue that their activities are neither religious or not-religious.