Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Rituals and practices of sociality'

This study focuses on highly-skilled migrants from other EU countries, who have settled in London. It aims to examine the intersection between transnational practices and cosmopolitan attitudes in their sociality patterns, and how multiple identities are negotiated in these patterns. Transnational scholars have mostly focused on single ethnicities and their respective social networks (Glick-Schiller, et al., 2011). London is frequently described as a cosmopolitan city. Still, to what extent people actually mix, across boundaries of ethnicity, remains an open question (Valentine, 2008). To address this, a combination of qualitative methods (semi-structured interviewing, visual interactive map, focus group) was utilised: 15 participants from different EU countries were interviewed individually, followed by a mapping exercise, prompting participants to provide identity referents for their significant others (e.g. nationality, gender, relationship status). Focus group discussion looked at attitudes towards London diversity. Using an empirical phenomenological approach, the study looks at both intended and unintended sociality patterns in participants' narrative and mapping responses. Themes derived from participants' narratives are discussed alongside the typology generated for the mapping exercise: findings are in support of a situated cosmopolitanism, with transnational practices embedded in mixed social networks. Cosmopolitan attitudes are further situated by a cultural/ regional proximity or life-status commonalities, (e.g. family status or sexuality) in their personal networks. Long-lasting transnational bonds, such as family and 'soul friendships' (Morasanu, 2013) also situate this openness to the Other. It follows that, some form of belonging is necessary before participants extend their network to culturally-dissimilar others. Identity negotiations bring London, nationality and profession to the fore, followed by life-status identities. The study illustrated how EU-skilled migrants seek to actively engage with people from different backgrounds in London, choosing to form close social ties beyond the boundaries of nationality and profession. At the same time, participants portray themselves as more open to diversity than what identity referents of significant others in their mapping exercise reveal. Combining narrative and visual methods, this study provides an in-depth investigation of internalised limits to a cosmopolitan sociality, as well as further insights as to what constitutes the transnational in close 1-1 relationships.

The principal aim of the thesis is to investigate the mortuary practices of the late Iron Age period in south-eastern Britain, focusing on identification of the wider sequence of activity. It is evident that the deposition of the calcined remains and associated objects are just one element in a more complicated pattern of behaviour. A number of contemporary inhumation burials and mortuary-related features drawn from an increasing number of sites illustrate the wider practices in operation. The identification of pyre-related features and debris lies at the core of this study providing an opportunity to advance understanding of pyre technology as well as the mortuary rituals. This study provides an opportunity to advance late Iron Age mortuary studies in relation to the cosmological, political and ideological structure (Fitzpatrick 1997; Pearce 1997a; 1997b; 1999; McKinley 2000).

It is generally considered that cairns and stone constructions of different shapes and sizes make up the grave monuments of the Late Bronze Age (1000–300 BC) in the province of Södermanland in Sweden. However, these “monuments” often contain only small amounts of burnt bone, and often no human remains at all. At the same time, human bones are found in settlement sites and other "non-grave" contexts. The materiality of human remains thus appears to be far more complex than a modern definition of "burial" or "grave" would allow.  This thesis investigates practices beyond the common terminology of burial archaeology, and focuses on the practices of collecting, enclosing and scattering stones, human remains, pottery and metal objects in stone constructions traditionally labeled "graves".  The study is conducted through a detailed micro-level analysis combining constructions, depositions of artefacts and human remains in a perspective of perception, formation processes and temporality. Based on the results from studies of two Late Bronze Age burial grounds in Eastern Sweden, it is argued that there is a need to differentiate the meaning content of cremated bone within in what we refer to as burial grounds. Results indicate that the passage rituals in connection with death and disposal of remains do not end when the cremated bone is deposited in the stone constructions. The constructions and deposits are subject to further attention and actions, altering the meaning of the cremated bones while the individual undergoes transformation to a fully transformed substance. The stone constructions themselves do not appear to have been built for eternity, but rather as functional nodes of transformation, constructed to facilitate the passage rituals.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Este trabalho visa descrever a experiência de uma pesquisa em psicologia social desde seus momentos iniciais onde o problema de pesquisa ainda se delineava, passando por todas as suas desconstruções a partir do encontro com o campo de pesquisa: a prática do parkour. As ferramentas metodológicas que foram utilizadas vão igualmente recebendo sua forma de acordo com as demandas dos encontros: seguir os atores, acompanhá-los em suas controvérsias, aprender com eles, levar a sério suas recalcitrâncias, compartilhar um campo de afetos, compartilhar uma experiência de cidade e explicitar os processos de tradução da pesquisa. Questões da materialidade, da alteridade, do corpo, da cidade emergem nesse processo, no entanto, busca-se efetivamente descrever um processo de pesquisa à medida que se coloca a questão de pesquisar como uma política ontológica capaz de inventar e re-inventar o pesquisador e as questões que levanta na própria relação com aquilo que o leva a pesquisa.
This paper aims to describe the experience of a research in social psychology since its early stages when the research problem was still emerging, through all its deconstructions by the time of the encounter with the research field: the practice of parkour. The methodological tools that were used would also be shaped according to the demands posed by this relation: to follow the actors, to follow them in their controversies , to learn from them, to take seriously their recalcitrances, to share a field of affections, to share an experience of the city and make explicit the translation processes of the research. Matters of materiality, of otherness, of body, of the city emerge in this process, and however, we seek to effectively describe a research process as it poses the question of researching as an ontological politic capable of inventing and re-inventing the researcher and the questions previously and continuosly raised in the relation to what leads to research.

African Christianity has attracted, and continues to attract, the attention of many theologians, anthropologists and church historians the world over. The interrelation between colonialism and the missionary movement has contributed very much to the formation of Christianity in Africa. However, missionary Christianity and colonialism have lost, and are continuing to lose, their dominance over Christianity in Africa. What have emerged, and still continue to emerge, are the African Independent Churches which are now a major aspect of Christianity in Africa. Many people in Africa are frustrated because of the impact of Western civilisation on their traditional cultures, customs and practices. Religion, which permeates all aspects of the African's life, is being challenged by modernization and scientific culture. Christianity, as a Western religion, has failed to address these problems and in many cases has identified itself with them. The African Independent Churches, however, have tried, and are still trying, to make life meaningful through retaining, adapting and transforming some traditional rituals and practices in order to give meaning to the life of the African. Bishop Toitoi Smart Mthembu of the Head Mountain of God Apostolic Church in Zion, founder and one of the prominent leaders of the African Independent Churches, started a church which is trying, through its beliefs and practices, to give meaning to the lives of the Batswana, the Southern African peoples and Africa generally. This study is a monographic account of the contribution of the Head Mountain of God Apostolic Church in Zion to the indigenization of African Christianity.

This study focuses on the burial practices in the Bronze Age Xiaohe-Gumugou cemeteries, north-west China, in order to understand how people constructed their social identities and delivered the social cognitions through generations. The Xiaohe-Gumugou cemeteries, as the main sites of the Xiaohe cultural horizon, have central roles for the understanding of the formation of the Bronze Age cultural groups and the cultural interactions between the west and the east in the Tarim Basin. However, current research is lacking in-depth examinations of the material culture of the cemeteries, and the contexts of the surrounding archaeological cultures in a timespan from Bronze Age to Iron Age. Through detailed comparisons of the construction of coffins and monuments, the dress of the dead, and the burial goods assemblages, this study provides an overview of the social structural development, from the Gumugou group’s heterogenous condition to the Xiaohe group’s homogeneous and mature state. Also, through relating to the results of biological and osteological analyses, and applying geographical analyses to the material, this study suggests that the early settlers in the Tarim Basin, the Xiaohe-Gumugou people have created their own social identities. Although the Xiaohe-Gumugou people might have migrated from southern Siberia or Central Asia, the archaeological material shows indications of their own typical features. When newcomers joined the society, the local burial customs were accepted and applied in a new cultural setting.
Denna studie fokuserar på gravskick på gravfälten Xiaohe och Gumugou i nordvästra Kina, för att förstå hur människor konstruerade social identitet och överförde kulturella föreställningar mellan generationer. Xiaohe-Gumugou-gravfälten, som de viktigaste platserna i Xiaohe-kulturhorisonten, är centrala för förståelsen av bildandet av bronsålderns kulturgrupper och de kulturella växelverkningarna mellan väst och öst i Tarimbäckenet. Tidigare forskning saknar fördjupade undersökningar av gravfältens materiella kultur samt den historiska kontexten med de omgivande arkeologiska kulturerna under tidsperioden från bronsålder till järnålder. Genom detaljerade jämförelser av konstruktionen av kistor och monument samt de dödas klädsel och gravgåvor, ger denna studie en översikt över utvecklingen av sociala strukturer, från Gumugou-gruppens heterogena situation till Xiaohe-gruppens homogena och mogna tillstånd. Genom att relatera till resultaten från biologiska och osteologiska analyser och tillämpa geografiska analyser på materialet, tyder den här studien på att de tidiga bosättarna i Tarimbäckenet, Xiaohe-Gumugou-folket, har utvecklat egna sociala identiteter. Trots att Xiaohe-Gumugou-folket kan ha migrerat från södra Sibirien eller Centralasien visar det arkeologiska materialet indikationer på egna typiska egenskaper. När nykomlingar anslöt till samhället accepterades de lokala begravningssederna och tillämpades i ett nytt kulturellt sammanhang.

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Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
This research aims to explore the anthropological debate on sportive practices through the description and analysis of dispute modes in different contexts. In the literature of sportive practices anthropology, football has frequently been used as a framework for research into indigenous societies; expanding on these theoretical models developed for football allows for greater understanding into the rituals within the society to which they belong, and to highlight the relationship between football and other practices. The ethnographic study proposes the Upper Xingu from researches conducted with the Kalapalo peoples of Tanguro village, hence the emphasis on wrestling in Alto Xingu (kal. ikindene). Anthropological themes highlighted on the peoples of the region, such as the construction of the body, chieftaincy, complex inter-ethnic rituals and mythology are directly linked to the wrestling. The objectives also include a more positive assessment for what was termed as "sportive practices" within indigenous societies, ethnographically in the Upper Xingu. This is not only to realize the "sportive" nature of these activities, but above all to understand the symbolic space for each mode, whether in the village, or in rituals disputes that renegotiate the dynamics of alliances and rivalries in this regional complex.
Essa pesquisa pretende ampliar o debate antropológico sobre práticas esportivas através da descrição e análise de modalidades disputadas em diferentes contextos. Na literatura de antropologia das práticas esportivas o que se tem de mais consolidado são trabalhos que tomam o futebol como referência, mesmo quando de pesquisas em sociedades indígenas. Nesse caminho, a expansão dos modelos teóricos elaborados para o futebol possibilita entender seus significados no interior da sociedade em que está inserido, além de trazer à tona relações entre o futebol e outras práticas. O recorte etnográfico proposto é o Alto Xingu, em pesquisas realizadas entre os Kalapalo da aldeia Tanguro, donde o destaque para a luta alto-xinguana (kal. ikindene). Temas antropológicos destacados sobre os povos da região, como a fabricação do corpo, chefia, complexo ritual interétnico e mitologia, estão diretamente atrelados à luta. Os objetivos compreendem ainda uma visão mais positiva para aquilo que foi denominado como "esportividade ameríndia", etnograficamente no Alto Xingu. Não se trata apenas de perceber o caráter "esportificado" de algumas atividades, mas acima de tudo compreender o espaço simbólico destinado a cada modalidade, seja no plano da aldeia, seja nas disputas rituais que atualizam a dinâmica de alianças e rivalidades nesse complexo regional.

This thesis deals mainly with the Middle Neolithic period (ca. 3200-2300 BC) on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The aim is to deepen the understanding of how the islanders related to their surroundings, to the landscape, to places, to objects, to animals and to humans, both living and dead. The archaeological material is studied downwards and up with a focus on practices, especially the handling and deposition of materials and objects in graves, within sites and in the landscape. The study is comparative and the Middle Neolithic is described in relation to the Early Neolithic and the Mesolithic period on the island. From a long term perspective the island is presented as a region where strong continuity can be identified, regarding both way of life and economy. In contrast, substantial changes did occur through time regarding the islander’s conceptions of the world and of social relations. This in turn affected the way they looked upon the landscape, different sites and animals, as well as other human beings. During the Mesolithic, the islanders first saw it as possible to create their world, their micro-cosmos, wherever they were, and they saw themselves as living in symbiosis with seals. With time, though, they started to relate, to connect and to identify themselves with the island, its landscape and its material, with axe sites and a growing group identity as results. The growing group identity culminated during the Early Neolithic with a dualistic conception of the world and with ritualised depositions in border zones. The Middle Neolithic is presented as a period when earlier boundaries were dissolved. This concerned, for example, boundaries towards the world around the islanders and they were no longer keeping themselves to their own sphere. At the same time individuals became socially important. It became accepted and also vital to give expression to personal identity, which was done through objects, materials and animals. Despite this, group identity continued to be an important part in their lives. This is most evident through the specific Pitted Ware sites, where the dead were also treated and buried. These places were sites for ritual and social practices, situated in visible, central and easy accessible locations, like gates in and out of the islands’ different areas. The dead were very important for the islanders. In the beginning of MN B they started to adopt aspects from the Battle Axe culture, but they never embraced Battle Axe grave customs. Instead they held on to the Pitted Ware way of dealing with the dead and buried, and to the Pitted Ware sites, through the whole period, with large burial grounds as a result.

This thesis deals with issues relating to the cosmological dimensions of landscapes, the cultural construction of age and the long-term changes in passage rituals and mortuary practices in the Bronze Age societies of Södermanland in East Central Sweden. A gender perspective forms the underlying theoretical framework, while the study as a whole is particularly interested in power relations between generations as an impetus for societal change. Burials from cairns and cemeteries, as well as heaps of fire-cracked stones, rock-carvings and ritual hoards from two Bronze Age Landscapes in Södermanland are used as examples and to illustrate the interpretations presented in this study. It is proposed that perceptions of landscapes and cosmology were created by placing cairns and stone settings at liminal places or boundaries in the landscape, while heaps of fire-cracked stones were situated at focal points. Places where rock-carvings are found, nearby rapids or on islands along river courses, are interpreted as birth-places, and stem from origin myths about the birth of the first humans at these sites. It is proposed that birth, life and death as cosmological principles may be perceived in the landscape and are related to different kinds of waters. In addition, it is suggested that the cultural construction of age is expressed in spatial terms where adults - both men and women - with special abilities and esoteric knowledge related to passage rituals, were buried in cairns. Infants, whose relationship with these adults was special, were instead buried in the heaps of fire-cracked stones. It is also considered that, among other things, the absence of swords in burials implies that the societies of East Central Sweden probably had a social organization that was distinct from the societies of southern Scandinavia. Regarding long-term changes in ritual practices it is suggested that ritual tools used in mortuary practices change from flint daggers in the Late Neolithic, to razors and tweezers during the Bronze Age. Further changes occurred in the Late Bronze Age, when pins were introduced into the ritual practices. Regarding age and gender, osteological estimates show that both adult men and women participated in passage rituals. With the transition to pins we also see changes in who dealt with passage rituals and it is rather young women who were responsible for this sphere in the later period. As children also become visible - both in burials and at rock-carving sites – during the Late Bronze Age, this is interpreted as signalling shifts in power relations between genders and generations in favour of women and younger people.

This is an ethnographic study that focuses on Zahmanê Êzîdîa Li Dalarna, the Yezidi cemetery, in Borlänge. The Swedish town of Borlänge has one of the largest Yezidi diaspora communities in Western Europe; a majority emigrated from the Northern Iraqi region of Sheikhan during the 1990s and early 2000s. The overall aim of this project is to investigate how the Yezidi community in Borlänge puts Zahmanê Êzîdîa Li Dalarna into use, the meanings ascribed to the site by individual interviewees, and how these relate to ritual places and practices in Sheikhan. The empirical material stems from observations and interviews among members of three extended Yezidi families in Borlänge and in Sheikhan, and archival material from the Church of Sweden. Fieldwork in Sheikhan focused on the valley of Lalish and the cemetery sites in the Yezidi villages in Sheikhan. The empirical material is presented, analysed and discussed through a theoretical framework of place, creation and maintenance of social memory through ritual practice, and the concept of transfer of ritual. The empirical material reveals that salient ritual actions and elements from ceremonies in Lalish and the Yezidi villages in Sheikhan are transferred to Borlänge, and there put into use for ritual practices and for creating and maintaining a collective identity outside of Iraq.

The fieldwork on which this dissertation is based was done in Sri Lanka from 1984 to 1986 when the critique of the of the anthropologist as 'Knower of the Other' was surfacing in the literature (Fabian, 1983, Clifford and Marcus, 1986, Marcus and Fisher 1986). When I returned from the field most works of this genre were generally unknown in Adelaide. However, I began by writing with the insights of Bakhtin who himself had inspired central dimensions of the burgeoning critique of anthropological practice. Like Bakhtin's work, the debates about ethnographic authority continue to invite us to reflect upon the methods employed in the production of any text which claims to define the world of others. It therefore seems appropriate for me to preface this dissertation by highlighting relevant features of the processes which have culminated in this work, Cosmic Horizons and Social Voices. The nature of my fieldwork was distinctive. I did not work in a spatially constrained community. Rather my work was anchored by the work of specialist ritual practitioners, both deity priests and performers. Because the practitioners themselves not only live in dispersed locations but are also highly mobile in relation to the work that they do, my work entailed extensive travel in and between urban centres and rural areas across several provincial divisions. In the course of eighteen months of this kind of fieldwork, I attended in excess of fifty rituals of different types and scale. Over time, I developed personalized networks with more than fifty ritual practitioners privileging me to a broad span of rituals. I worked regularly, and often intimately, with a core of five priests and ten performers to give depth to my understandings. Many of these practitioners appropriated me to themselves at rituals where they publicly announced the purpose of my presence to ritual audiences as being to document Sinhala culture. I was claimed by them as 'our madam' ('ape noona') and as a university lecturer, which they knew very well I was not. This public acknowledgement legitimated my documentation of performances which were, after all, paid for by others. It also had the effect that the sponsors largely treated me as a member of the performing troupe. My growing familiarity with ritual practitioners had the further ramification that some of them insisted that I discuss the meanings of the rituals I documented with those people whom they considered specialists in their field. Soon, therefore, in addition to attending rituals, I spent a great deal of my time entertaining, and being entertained by, ritual specialists with whom I discussed deeper levels of their knowledge and work. In this way, and through my own unique constellation of relationships, I accumulated ritual knowledge, albeit at the theoretical, not practical, level. Some people shared esoteric and valued information with me that they would not disseminate to others with whom they were in competition. This field exercise provided a singular vantage point from which I have interpreted Sinhalese Buddhist ritual practices. While the final selection of rituals interpreted in the dissertation is mine, and represents only aspects of the larger body of knowledge carried collectively by Sri Lanka's ritual practitioners, the interpretations are based not simply on my observations, but on this body of knowledge which was shared with me even as it was constantly discussed, disputed, disseminated and transformed by ritual practitioners. My understandings of the meanings of ritual were consolidated in both quasi-formal and informal social settings, at my home and theirs, with people renowned as ritual experts by their peers. I collected ritual knowledge like ritual practitioners, in bits and pieces from different people. And, like practitioners who publicly acknowledge only one gurunnanse, I acknowledge mine formally, in the public arena of my own world, in the Introduction. There is another dimension of my field experience that I want to mention before discussing how it was metamorphosed by writing. My three children, Grant, Vanessa and Mark accompanied me to Sri Lanka at the ages of 9, 11 and 12 respectively. Their beautiful, inquisitive and effervescent youth attracted many people to us as a family which meant that they became wonderful sources of new friends and colloquial information. Both of the boys were fascinated with the unique rhythms of Sri Lanka's ritual music and dance and before long, they were keen to learn these for themselves. Grant was deeply disappointed that he could not because, like Vanessa, he was committed to his schooling and, even at 12, he was taller than many of the ritual practitioners. Mark was younger and, in any case, of a much smaller build so he became a pupil of Elaris Weerasingha, a ritual practitioner with international fame, who became my husband. Mark left school to work with Elaris and his sons, often at rituals other than those I attended. With Elaris as his gurunnanse, Mark made his ritual debut just as novice Sinhala performers do. The Sri Lankan press discovered this unique cross-cultural relationship in late December 1986 just as we were preparing to return to Australia. Memorable photographs appeared in both English language and Sinhala papers accompanied by full-page stories praising Elaris for his teaching and acclaiming Mark for proficiency in dance and fluency in Sinhala language and verse. We were delighted. Mark and Elaris continued to perform together in Adelaide at the Festival of Arts, on television and at multicultural art shows before Elaris returned to Sri Lanka to live for family reasons early in 1988. I remember Elaris for both the joy of our union and the pain of our parting. I want to thank him here for sharing his culture with us and especially for the way he supported me to believe in my understandings of the rituals he knew so well. I transcribed my field experience with the help of Bakhtinian insights. The rituals I studied are analysed for their performative value under the heading Cosmic Horizons with faithful reference to what their producers, including Elaris, consider to be one of their most important dimensions if they are to be efficacious; where and when they should occur. I call these facets of ritual their time-space co-ordinates and I employ Bakhtin's conception of the chronotype, in conjunction with practitioner's naming practices, to give them the analytical emphasis they deserve. Using elaborations of ritual meanings articulated to me by ritual specialists and colloquial understandings of words rather than their linguistic etymologies, I variously explore the chronotopic dimensions of the names of supernatural. beings, myths, ritual boundaries and segments to render explicit those unifying symbolic dimensions of a ritual corpus which would otherwise remain implicit to all except ritual practitioners. In particular, the Bakhtinian conceptions I use to analyse ritual serve to reveal and crystallize an integral relationship between the time-space co-ordinates inherent in ritual performance and the oscillations of the sun, moon and earth. Part 1 is my synthesis but it is based on the time-space co-ordinates of ritual; it is deliberately constructionist but it elaborates what I learned from ritual practitioners in the ways I have described. Part 2 is deconstructionist, it is an attempt to represent rituals as events with complex and indirect discursive reference to the elegant symbolic dimensions of the ritual performances themselves. As its title, Social Voices, suggests, Part 2 of the thesis privileges discourse about ritual - by ritual practitioners, ritual sponsors, Buddhist monks, the media and scholars - above the structural symmetry or chronotopic logic of the ritual corpus. It is in this domain, just to offer one example, that religion (agama) is distinguished from culture (sanskruthaiya) and exploited to make value judgements about people's participation in orthodox or unorthodox ritual practices, a judgement which is a possibility of the comic horizons constituted in ritual but which is not, as I argue, determined by them. This dissertation is ultimately an attempt to represent, in written form, fragments of an-Other world through a prosaic Bakhtinian focus on the way particular people named and talked about that world to me. Although I chose not to identify individuals in the text for personal reasons, my methodology is purposeful, giving value to Sinhalese performative ritual as the product of specialist knowledge. And, in keeping with the new imperatives for writing ethnography, this preface describing my field experience is intended to make explicit the way the dissertation explores its foundation in relationships between Self and Other, Observer and Observed, without abrogating the responsibility of authorship. Not pretending to be the voice of the Other, Cosmic Horizons and Social Voices is my voice, echoing the voice of Sri Lanka as it spoke to me.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Social Sciences, 1990.

Le phénomène du retour des immigrants dans leur pays d’origine est relativement peu étudié. Le plus souvent, les causes de ce phénomène sont ramenées à des facteurs économiques. Dans cette perspective, les immi- grants qui éprouvent le plus de difficultés à se trouver un emploi ou qui occupent un emploi de mauvaise qualité seraient les plus enclins à retourner dans leur pays d’origine. Cette explication ne semble toutefois pas s’appliquer au cas des immigrants français installés au Québec. Ces derniers dis- posent d’une bonne qualité de vie et sont généralement très bien intégrés au marché de l’emploi local. Étrangement, ils sont aussi parmi les immigrants les plus nombreux à quitter cette province canadienne. On peut déduire des témoignages laissés sur les médias sociaux que ces immigrants quitteraient la Belle Province des suites d’un sentiment de frustration et d’un profond mécontentement à l’égard de la culture locale. Pourtant, les immigrants français toujours présents au Québec disent en apprécier la culture d’ouverture et de liberté. Cet apparent paradoxe s’expliquerait selon moi par des variations dans les pratiques et les rituels de socialité entre les deux sociétés. La démarcation entre le public et le privé serait plus floue au Québec. On n’y trouverait pas de système aussi bien organisé et compartimenté qu’en France et, que ce soit en public ou en privé, les mêmes formes de socialité seraient indistinctement utilisées. Mes données laissent entendre que cette socialité indifférenciée et floue poserait de nombreuses difficultés sur le plan personnel aux immigrants français. La plus importante de ces difficultés concerne la rapidité avec laquelle certains comportements considérés comme privés et marqueurs d’intimité en France sont exhibés au Québec. Sans être foncièrement incompatible avec le système français, cette variation viendrait donner l’impression aux immigrants français qu’ils ont quitté un mode de socialité où les liens interpersonnels sont établis graduellement et en respectant des façons de faire bien déterminées pour intégrer un système extrêmement ouvert où l’intimité apparait se nouer dès les premiers moments de la relation. Bien qu’en apparence mineure, cette différence serait lourde de conséquences. Mes résultats ont montré que cette « familiarité » laisserait de nombreux immigrants français incertains quant à la consistance de leurs relations avec des Québécois. Plus précisément, cette familiarité les amènerait à présumer d’une certaine « solidité » dans leurs rap- ports avec leur contrepartie québécoise. Seule l’expérience leur permettrait de constater la « liquidité » de ces liens. Cette prise de conscience se ferait souvent dans la douleur, engendrant une forme de malaise qui pourrait déboucher sur un profond ressentiment à l’égard des Québécois, de la culture québécoise et du Québec en général. C’est ce malaise et non des facteurs économiques qui — selon moi — initierait chez ces immigrants le désir de quitter le Québec et de retourner en France.
The phenomenon of the return of immigrants to their country of origin has been little studied. Most often, the causes of this phenomenon are reduced to economic factors. In this perspective, unemployed immigrants or immi-grants who occupy poor quality jobs are the most likely to return to their country of origin. This explanation does not appear to apply in the case of French immigrants settled in Quebec. These immigrants have a good quality of life and are generally well integrated into the local employment market. Strangely, they figure also amongst the first groups of immigrants to leave the province. The testimonies left on social media suggest that these immi-grants leave the Belle Province due to frustration and a deep dissatisfaction with the local culture. Yet the French immigrants still present in Quebec say that they appreciate its culture of openness and freedom. This apparent paradox could be explained by variations in the practices and rituals of so-ciality of those two societies. The line between public and private would be blurrier in Quebec. It would not have a system as well organized and, whether in public or private, the same forms of sociality would be use indis-criminately. My data suggest that this undifferentiated sociality poses many difficulties on a personal level to those immigrants. The most important of these challenges concerns how quickly conducts that are considered to be markers of privacy and intimacy in France are exhibited in Quebec. Without being fundamentally incompatible with the French system, this variation would give the impression to French immigrants that they left a form of so-ciality where interpersonal relationships are established through time and incorporated an extremely open system where privacy appears to be estab-lish through the first moments of the encounter. Although seemingly minor, that difference would have serious consequences. My results have shown that this "intimacy" would leave many French immigrants incertain of the consistency of their relations with Quebecers. Specifically, this familiarity would lead them to assume a certain "solidity" in their relations with their Quebec’s counterpart. Only experience will enable them to see the "liquidity" of those links. This recognition would often occur in pain, causing discomfort that could lead to a deep resentment against Quebecers, Quebec’s culture and Quebec in general. It is this discomfort rather than economic factors — in my opinion — that would initiate among these immigrants the desire to leave Quebec and return to France.

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Community Psychology in the Department of Psychology, University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012.
The ‘after tears’ party seems to be a popular occurrence in South African’s urban townships. This study is an exploratory investigation of the urban township communities’ experiences and the meaning of the ‘after tears’ party using a phenomenological approach. The available literature outlined the rituals and practices of various ethnic groups in South Africa and Africa performed in the event of the death of a loved one such as the slaughtering of the beast, the mourning dress, mourning period and the cleansing ceremonies. While some of the death rituals and practices are still adhered to in urban townships of South Africa, others are adapted and new practices have emerged. One such is the practice of the ‘after tears’ party. Within an African context, the dead are regarded as ancestors and they are treated with great respect as they are believed to have a special relationship with the living. Proper rites and ceremonies performed following the death of a loved one reflect this belief. Any deviation from the above could be perceived as a sign of disrespect for the ancestors and bad luck could befall anyone who does not adhere to the stipulated practices. The respondents in this study are South African township dwellers who do not practice strict traditional mourning rituals anymore. Individual respondents and focus groups were interviewed on their experiences and the meaning they attach to the practice of the ‘after tears’ party. Data was analyzed using thematic content analysis. Insights generated from the findings of the current study highlighted the significant perceptions, meanings and feelings about the ‘after tears’ parties. While it is perceived as a celebration, the important functions of this party were indicated as comforting and supporting the bereaved and helping them to cope with the impact of loss of a loved one. On the other hand others condemned the practice as totally disrespectful and that it is insensitive of the people to hold a party while other people are still in mourning. It hurts the bereaved and delays the chances of recovery from grief. The ‘after tears’ party can be an effective coping strategy if it was conducted in a more respectful manner. The respondents’ experiences of the ‘after tears’ party and the meaning attached to it could serve as guidelines to explore the psychological needs of the bereaved in urban societies.

碩士
國立臺北藝術大學
博物館研究所
107
Waves of indigenous movements around the globe are calling for the return of indigenous heritage managing authority back to the natives. The Kwakwaka’wakw people of the northwest coast of Canada has been operating a cultural center, U’mista cultural centre, since 1980’s when indigenous peoples’ right were coming on the scene and became extensively recognized in Canada. U’mista cultural centre is a precursor in claiming the authority of cultural interpretation, which is dedicated to preserving repatriated potlatch regalias, Kwakwa’la, and skills for performing the ceremony. The starting point of this study is the exploration of the dynamics between museums and the First Nations. By studying the Kwakwaka’wakw’s experience of retrieving its native title rights through the establishment of the U’mista cultural centre, we can see how the curation of an indigenous-run cultural institution showcases Kwakwaka’wakw people’s traditional sense of ownership. For them, exhibition is a proclamation of the legitimate ownership. Even though the social regime under the potlatch was once outlawed by the Canadian Government, it remains a significant social organization created among the Kwakwaka’wakw people. This research was conducted based on literature review, interviews, work reports from a field research, analyses on exhibitions, as well as observation during summer programs provided at the U’mista cultural centre. This cultural centre not only helps create convergence of identities of the indigenous people, but also facilitates the broad audience’s understanding of Kwakwaka’wakw people’s perspective towards their own culture and the society. This case study could bring a new light to the contemporary issue of empowering the indigenous people.

黃敬安.
"2004年6月".
論文(哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 2004.
參考文獻 (leaves 105-111).
附中英文摘要.
"2004 nian 6 yue".
Huang Jing'an.
Lun wen (zhe xue shuo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2004.
Can kao wen xian (leaves 105-111).
Fu Zhong Ying wen zhai yao.
Chapter 第一章 --- 緖論 --- p.1
Chapter 第一節 --- 早期天師道《黃書》硏究史 --- p.1
Chapter 第二節 --- 過往硏究的問題與不足 --- p.6
Chapter 第三節 --- 早期天師道儀式硏究 --- p.9
Chapter 第四節 --- 硏究對象與範圍 --- p.11
Chapter 第二章 --- 佛道論《黃書》 --- p.13
Chapter 第一節 --- 分析佛教對《黃書》的批評 --- p.13
Chapter 第二節 --- 上淸派貶抑《黃書》 --- p.22
Chapter 第三節 --- 天師道內部的回應 --- p.25
Chapter 第三章 --- 《上淸黃書過度儀》的結構分析 --- p.31
Chapter 第一節 --- 《上淸黃書過度儀》釋題 --- p.31
Chapter 第二節 --- 《上淸黃書過度儀》經文結構 --- p.35
Chapter 第四章 --- 《黃書》別稱 --- p.39
Chapter 第一節 --- 《黃書》考證 --- p.45
Chapter 第五章 --- 《上淸黃書過度儀》分析一：入靖與上章 --- p.53
Chapter 第一節 --- 入靖儀式 --- p.54
Chapter 第二節 --- 上章儀式 --- p.62
Chapter 第三節 --- 言功 --- p.73
Chapter 第六章 --- 《上淸黃書過度儀》分析二：九宮與躡紀 --- p.77
Chapter 第一節 --- 九宮 --- p.77
Chapter 第二節 --- 躡紀 --- p.90
Chapter 第二節 --- 還神 --- p.96
Chapter 第七章 --- 結語 --- p.98
Chapter 第一節 --- 非佛僧筆下的「淫行」 --- p.98
Chapter 第二節 --- 不僅是房中術 --- p.100
Chapter 第三節 --- 早期天師道傳統 --- p.103
參考書目 --- p.105

祝逸雯.
"2013年9月".
"2013 nian 9 yue".
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-205).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstract in Chinese and English.
Zhu Yiwen.

Atkins performed an archaeological relocation of a nineteenth century cemetery on behalf of Luminant Mining Company, within the Kosse Mine in Robertson County, Texas between the years of 2011 and 2012. The Head Cemetery offers unique opportunities to examine views of death and burial in rural, central Texas during the period of the early statehood until around 1900. The Head family and other members of the settlement were part of a pioneer community exhibiting clear expressions of family and community affiliations through spatiality and the material culture of burials. An analysis of coffin hardware and burial practices provides suggestions for dating and identifying unknown interments and exploring changing sentiments towards death by Anglo American settlers within the broader sociohistorical context of the nineteenth century.
text

This dissertation explores ritual healing and the issue of efficacy in early medieval Japanese Buddhism through a study of The Ritual of Shōmen Kongō for Expelling Demons and Māras. Designed by monks of the Jimon branch of the Tendai school in the 1170’s and transmitted over the thirteenth century, this ritual stood out in the field of esoteric ritual healing at the time for two significant reasons. First, its therapeutic program was centered on moxibustion (kyū), a Chinese medical modality in which the healer burns dried mugwort on multiple locations on the patient’s body. Second, it was the earliest esoteric rite created in Japan to target a single, named affliction. That affliction was “corpse-vector disease” (denshibyō), a contagious wasting disorder known to Japan through transmitted classical Chinese medical texts as well as Buddhist scriptures. Until this time, esoteric ritual healing in Japan had never before featured direct engagement with the patient’s body so prominently. What was it about corpse-vector disease, an affliction that only became known in the late twelfth century, that spurred monks to reorient esoteric ritual healing around a technology for burning the body of the sick? Why, moreover, had Jimon monks made the unprecedented move of looking beyond the tried-and-true techniques of the esoteric ritual repertoire to instead adopt a non-Buddhist medical modality? Through an examination of the extant textual sources for the rite as well as medical texts, courtier diaries, tale literature, and other ritual sources, this dissertation investigates these questions in order to reconsider the issue of efficacy in the context of Buddhist ritual healing. Challenging the longstanding notion that esoteric ritual efficacy was the object of unquestioning belief throughout the early medieval period, I define efficacy as a site of uncertainty for both healers and patients, a nexus for the convergence of vexing questions and anxieties pertaining to disease, technology, and the body. Responding to new problems posed by the emergence of corpse-vector disease, Jimon monks—the most prominent therapeutic exorcists at court in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries—offered an unheard of solution that would thereafter transform healing culture in Japan for centuries. I examine how Jimon monks drew upon liturgical, doctrinal, and medical texts to reimagine the disease as well as moxibustion and the patient’s body, and consider the transformations the enactment of the rite’s prescriptions would have brought to performances of ritual healing. In so doing, I argue that efficacy cannot be understood solely through universal ascriptions of ritual power, common as those ascriptions may be throughout esoteric liturgical literature. Rather, the Jimon ritual demonstrates above all that esoteric healers had to negotiate efficacy through a specific constellation of images and material practices that engaged issues of affliction, technology, and body in compelling ways.

MAAS
Centre for African Studies
Healing practices and health related rituals play a vital role in most religious groups including African Traditional Religion, Christianity, Islamic and Hinduism. This phenomenon of healing has been a challenge to religious institutions as well as African based churches. This study examined and analysed the healing practices within mega-churches in relation to the health related aspects. It appears that healing practices performed in those churches make them popular and enhance their growth in membership numerically. The study focuses on the philosophy and theological understanding of both mega-churches and mainstream churches. It is ostensible that healing, as a phenomenon, cannot be separated from core African culture, values and practices. Current church healing practices seems to be a more practical and accessible alternative way to deal with sickness as medical facilities has become inexorably costly especially to poor community who have no access to efficient medical amenities. Underprivileged members of society are drawn to religious healing practices because healers such as prophets, pastors and apostles dangle the capacity to heal people from all kind of ailments. Poor communities become a target because they are victims of government and the department of health malfunctions which are depicted by the poor and below standard medical services in those underprivileged communities. Most people in those communities believe that the above-mentioned emerging prophets and apostles from mega-churches are anointed and possess special power to heal them as well as to redeem them from life’s harsh realities. In the context of current healing practices, the researcher discovered that there is a need to probe and analyse the aforesaid practices particularly whereby healing seekers seems to have not receive what they anticipated from those mega-churches. The study exposes inappropriate healing dynamics conceived in the selected mega-churches within African tradition context. This study followed a qualitative approach, in which participants from both mega-churches and mainline churches were interviewed. The study further points out some perceived challenges affecting current healing practices in the selected mega-churches of Vhembe district of Limpopo Province. The study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis strategy to analyse the data for the study.
NRF

Tese de Doutoramento em Psicologia na especialidade de Psicologia Intercultural apresentada à Universidade Aberta
Ao longo dos anos tem ocorrido, em Timor-Leste, um processo de intensificação dos contactos interculturais, quer entre timorenses pertencentes a diferentes grupos etnolinguísticos, quer entre timorenses e outros povos, alguns dos quais exercendo autoridade. Apesar das transformações operadas na sociedade a diversos níveis, subsistem algumas das suas instituições e valores tradicionais. O presente estudo, de cariz etnográfico, tem como objectivos de investigação descrever e comparar crenças, atitudes e práticas de saúde reprodutiva de timorenses pertencentes a diferentes grupos etnolinguísticos de Timor-Leste; e identificar modificações no comportamento de saúde reprodutiva dos timorenses, resultantes do contacto entre culturas. Trata-se de um estudo exploratório, descritivo e comparativo, que tem por base uma metodologia qualitativa. O trabalho de campo foi efectuado em dez dos treze distritos de Timor-Leste, em meio rural e urbano, e abrangeu onze grupos etnolinguísticos. Mediante um processo de amostragem em cadeia, tipo “bola de neve”, foram recolhidos dados provenientes de informadores privilegiados, profissionais de saúde prestadores de cuidados de saúde reprodutiva, parteiras tradicionais, mulheres e casais com filhos. A recolha de dados foi efectuada com recurso a entrevistas exploratórias e semi-estruturadas, à observação directa e participante e à observação fotográfica e fílmica. Na análise dos dados foi utilizada a técnica da análise de conteúdo. Concluímos que a cultura exerce uma forte influência sobre o comportamento das mulheres e famílias desde a concepção até ao período pós-parto. Existe uma grande diversidade etnolinguística/cultural em Timor-Leste, e muitas das crenças e práticas relativas à saúde reprodutiva não são generalizáveis a todo o país. A fecundidade é elevada e há uma preferência generalizada por famílias numerosas, com curtos intervalos entre nascimentos e baixo recurso à contracepção. Apesar da implementação dos programas de planeamento familiar, primeiro pela Indonésia, e mais recentemente pelo Governo timorense, muitas mulheres têm falta de acesso a informação e a métodos contraceptivos. Factores de ordem sociocultural exercem, por sua vez, grande influência a este nível. Há determinadas recomendações, tabus e restrições que rodeiam a mulher grávida, que visam proteger a mãe e o feto de danos físicos. A maior parte das mulheres recorre à consulta pré-natal dos estabelecimentos de saúde, mas também há muitas que consultam a parteira tradicional quando têm problemas durante a gravidez, para que ela verifique se o bebé está em boa posição, corrigindo-a se considerar necessário, ou para determinar o seu sexo. Há uma preferência generalizada pelo parto em casa, sendo geralmente assistido por familiares ou pela parteira tradicional. O período pós-parto envolve uma série de procedimentos baseados na permanência da mãe com o recém-nascido em casa, seguindo determinadas prescrições e restrições alimentares, e na aplicação de calor sob diversas formas. Actualmente, mantém-se a prática de diversos rituais tradicionais associados ao nascimento, apresentando variações regionais.
Over the years, a process of development of intercultural contacts has occurred in East Timor, both between Timorese belonging to different ethnic and language groups and between Timorese and other people, some of them being in a position of authority. Despite the changes occurred in society at various levels, some of its institutions and traditional values still remain. The investigation purpose of this study, which is of an ethnographic nature, is to describe and compare beliefs, attitudes and practices relating to reproductive health in respect of Timorese people belonging to different ethnic and language groups in East Timor, as well as to identify changes in the reproductive health behaviour of Timorese resulting from the contact between cultures. This study has an exploratory, descriptive and comparative character and the methodology used was of a qualitative nature. The field study was carried out in ten of the thirteen districts of East Timor, in rural and urban environments, and covered eleven ethnic and language groups. Data was collected from key informants, health professionals providing reproductive healthcare, traditional midwives and women and couples with children, through a snowball chain sampling procedure. The gathering of data was carried out by means of exploratory semi-structured interviews, direct and participant observation, and photographic and cinematographic observation. Content analysis was the procedure used for the analysis of the collected data. We concluded that culture has a strong influence on the behaviour of women and families from conception to the period after childbirth. There is a great ethnic and language / cultural diversity in East Timor and many beliefs and practices relating to reproductive health are not present in the whole country. The fertility rate is high and large families are generally preferred, with short intervals between births and little use of contraceptive methods. Despite the implementation of family planning programmes firstly by Indonesia and more recently by the Timorese government, many women do not have access to information and contraceptive methods. In turn, some factors of a social and cultural nature also have a great influence at this level. There are certain advices, taboos and restrictions relating to pregnant women, which aim at protecting the mother and the foetus from physical damage. The majority of women go to prenatal care appointments at healthcare institutions, but there are also many others who seek a traditional midwife when they have problems during pregnancy, so that she will verify whether the baby is in a good position and correct it if deemed necessary, or determine its gender. Home birth is generally preferred, the woman being usually assisted by relatives or by a traditional midwife. The postnatal period involves a series of procedures based on the home confinement of both mother and newborn, following certain recommendations and food restrictions, and the application of heat in various manners. Several traditional rituals associated with birth are still performed nowadays, with regional variations.

This dissertation explores the traditional Ba Venda concept of the after-life vis-a-vis the Ba Venda Christian understanding of eternal life. In this dissertation a historical background of the traditional Ba Venda and how there were reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ will be given. A comparative study of the traditional Ba Venda and Christian Ba Venda beliefs and practices is given. It will be noted that the Ba Venda Christians of BeitBridge district revert to traditional beliefs and practices concerning the dead. These rituals carried out by the Ba Venda Christians show the syncretistic elements practiced. A central question therefore is "Are the Ba Venda Christians operating on the basis of Christian concept of death and hereafter?" It is argued in this dissertation that the Ba Venda Christian concept of death and after life is the blending of Ba Venda Christian and Ba Venda traditional beliefs and practices, particularly when it comes to death and burial practices.
Religious studies
M.A.(Religious)