From the eighth to the fourteenth century, places of wonder and dread appear in a wide variety of genres in Old and Middle English: epics, lays, romances, saints’ lives, travel narratives, marvel collections, visions of the afterlife. These places appear in narratives of the other world, a term which in Old and Middle English texts refers to the Christian afterlife: Hell, Purgatory, even Paradise can be fraught with wonder, danger, and the possibility of harm. But in addition to the other world, there are places that are not theologically separate from the human world, but that are nevertheless both marvellous and horrifying: the monster-mere in Beowulf, the Faerie kingdom of Sir Orfeo, the demon-ridden Vale Perilous in Mandeville’s Travels, or the fearful landscape of the Green Chapel in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Fraught with horror or the possibility of harm, these places are profoundly different from the presented or implied home world of the text. My dissertation investigates how Old and Middle English narratives create places of wonder and dread; how they situate these places metaphysically between the world of living mortals and the world of the afterlife; how they furnish these places with dangerous topography and monstrous inhabitants, as well as with motifs, with tropes, and with thematic concerns that signal their marvellous and fearful nature. I argue that the heart of this poetics of marvellous spaces is displacement. Their wonder and dread comes from boundaries that these places blur and cross, from the resistance of these places to being known or mapped, and from the deliberate distancing between these places and the home of their texts. This overarching concern with displacement encourages the migration of iconographic motifs, tropes, and themes across genre boundaries and theological categories.

This research examines Native Performance Culture (NPC), a unique practice in Native theatre that returns Aboriginal people to the sources of Aboriginal knowledge, and interrupts the colonial fragmenting processes. By looking at the experiences of six collaborators involved in a specific art project, the artist-researcher shares her journey of healing through the arts, while interweaving the voices of artistic collaborators Monique Mojica, Floyd Favel, and Erika Iserhoff. This study takes a decolonizing framework, and places NPC as a form of Indigenous research while illuminating the methodological discourses of NPC, which are rooted in an inter-dialogue between self-in-relation to family, community, land, and embodied legacies. Finally, this research looks at the ways that artists work with Aboriginal communities and with Aboriginal knowledge, and makes recommendations to improve collaborative approaches.

Proefschrift (Doctor)--Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [257]-277) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard University, 1974. / Includes bibliographical references.

Proefschrift (Doctor)--Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [257]-277) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard University, 1974. / Includes bibliographical references.

La Corne de l’Afrique comme le reste du continent noir possède une littérature orale traditionnelle riche et variée, qui va de la mythologie pastorale à la poésie en passant par la légende et le conte. Avec les bouleversements sociaux intervenus avec l’arrivée des colons européens et l’introduction de l’écriture, la chaîne de transmission de la tradition orale est menacée. De nombreux Européens ont cherché à décrire les us et coutumes de ces populations. D’autre part, les écrivains de la Corne de l’Afrique s’inspirent souvent de l’oralité en lui octroyant ainsi une nouvelle virginité. Le présent travail de recherche s’efforce de rendre compte des formes traditionnelles de l’oralité et de leur impact sur la littérature moderne. / The Horn of Africa has a traditional oral literature which is rich and varied as the rest of the continent, starting from pastoral mythology to poetry, legend and storytelling. But with the social upheaval which occurred with the arrival of European settlers and the introduction of writing, the chain of transmission of the oral tradition is threatened. Many Europeans have sought to describe the habits and customs of these people. Whereas on the other hand, the writers from the Horn of Africa are often inspired by giving it (orality) and a new way of doing it. The following research work strives to reflect traditional forms of orality and their impact on modern literature.

Nesta dissertação, estudo questões relacionadas a oralidade, cultura escrita e suas inter-relações. Através de um estudo semântico e histórico de termos e funções sociais, foco minha pesquisa no conceito de memória. Faço-o trabalhando com fontes epigráficas, constituídas em inscrições em pedra e bronze, datadas do primeiro quarto do século V a.C. A performance legal que transparece nas leis presentes nessas inscrições é o instrumento mais favorável para se perceber as relações entre oralidade e escrita no período, e mais ainda para entender os papéis da memória como constituinte da Tradição Oral entre os helenos. O cargo, a figura, o personagem que permeia todas as inscrições que analisei é o de mnemon, literalmente lembrador. Através de suas funções e relações com outros magistrados e formas de atuação, desdobro minha pesquisa, dedicando-me à análise das influências e funções da memória em uma sociedade que principiava a transição de uma cultura marcada pela oralidade para outra que passava, gradativamente, a se escorar sobre a escrita e o letramento. / In my research I study issues relating to orality, literacy and their interrelationships. Through a semantic and historical study of concepts and social functions I focus my research on the concepts of memory. I do it working with epigraphic sources, bronze and stone inscriptions dating from the first quarter of the fifth century BC. The legal performance that transpires in the present laws, in these inscriptions, are the most conducive instrument to understanding the relationship between orality and literacy in the period, and even more to understand the roles of memory, a constituent of the Oral Tradition among the Hellenes. The job, the figure, the character, which pervades all the entries I examined, is the mnemon, literally Remembrancer. Through their roles and connections with judges and other forms of performance, my research unfolds. I devoted myself to the analysis of the influences and functions of memory in a society that was beginning a transition from a culture marked by orality, to another, gradually supported by writing and literacy.

Text in Afrikaans / Die eerste hoofstuk omskryf die begrip ngano, daarna volg 'n uiteensetting hoe die Venda mondelinge tradisie in die verlede gefunksioneer het en word die huidige aard en posisie van die verskynsel in die lewe van die gemeenskap gedefinieer. Veranderende sosio-ekonomiese en politieke kragte het die tradisionele lewenswyse van die Venda-mense in so 'n mate versteur dat die mondelinge tradisie en die stem van die storieverteller nie meer hoog waardeer word deur die moderne geslag nie. Die teoretiese uitgangspunt van hierdie tesis aanvaar dat religie 'n radikaal integrerend funksie het wat chaos in sinvolle patrone inkorporeer. Dialekties verbind aan die eerste beginsel van religie is die inherente drang van die mens se gees om alle gegewe limiete te transendeer. Vanuit hierdie fokus kan ngano as religieuse artikulasies interpreteer word wat chaos in sinvolle patrone uitdruk, en waarin oak opstand teen bestaande orde en tradisionele aannames uitgespreek word. In bree trekke skets die tweede hoofstuk die historiese agtergrond van die Venda-mense vanaf 800 nC tot en met die resente politieke veranderinge van 1994 in die Noordelike Provinsie. Die tweede deel van die hoofstuk bied 'n uiteensetting van hul religio-filosofiese agtergrond en tesame met die geskiedkundige gebeure dien dit as interpretatiewe konteks vir hierdie oeroue verhale wat van die een geslag na die ander oorgelewer is. In die volgende nege hoofstukke verskyn vyftig volksverhale wat in agt verskillende areas in Venda gedokumenteer is. Elke verhaal is vooraf voorsien van 'n opsomming van die inhoud van die verhaal asook 'n interpretasie van die verhaal deur die verteller self of verduidelikings van haar helpers. Die oorspronklike Venda-teks word gegee in die presiese woorde van die verteller met daarby die Afrikaanse vertaling. 'n Terna wat hehaaldelik voorkom is die opstand van die magteloses (die kind, die vrou of niksseggende persoon) teen magtiges (die koning, die man, dominerende familielede of tradisionele strukture). Ander gewilde temas is die ellende van hongersnood, die aanwending en voorkoms van toorkragte en bonatuurlike transformasies. Ten slotte is daar drie Sankambe-verhale waarin die fantastiese avonture van hasie, die aartbedrieer, wat op grand van blote vernuf oorleef, humoristies vertel word. Ofskoon daar duidelike artikulasies van verset en kritiek teen die tradisionele orde en teen magtiges is, waag ngano dit selde buite die tradisioneel religieus-filosofiese grense. / The first chapter outlines the concept ngano, thereafter the function of the Venda oral tradition in the past is described and the present nature and position of the phenomenon in community living is defined. Changing socio-economic and political forces disturbed traditional Venda life-style to such an extent that the oral tradition and the voice of the storyteller are not highly regarded by the modern generation. The theoretical point of departure of this thesis accepts the radical integrative function of religion ordering chaos into meaningful patterns. Dialectically tied to this first principle of religion is the inherent urgency of the human spirit to transcend all given limits. Viewed thus, ngano can be interpreted as religious utterances in which chaos is expressed in meaningful patterns and where resistance is articulated against existing order and traditional assumptions. Chapter two sketches the historical background of the Venda people from 800 AD up to recent political changes of 1994 in the Northern Province. The second part of this chapter presents an exposition of their religio-philosophic background which, together with the historical events provide an interpretative context for these ancient stories handed down from one generation to the next. Fifty folk tales (ngano) appear in the following nine chapters documented in eight different areas in Venda. Every narrative is introduced by a summary of the content of the story together with an interpretation by narrator and assistants. The Venda text is given first adhering as closely as possible to the original words of the narrator. Every line is followed by an Afrikaans translation. A recurring theme in ngano is the powerless (child, wife or insignificant person) resisting the powerful (king, husband/man, dominating family members or unyielding traditional structures). Other popular themes are the misery of famine, application and occurrence of witchcraft and supernatural transformations. Lastly three Sankambe-stories are documented in which the fantastic antics of the hare, the trickster in Venda folk tales who survives by sheer cunning, are humorously narrated. Although there are distinct expressions of resistance and criticism against the existing order and dominating powers, ngano seldom ventures beyond traditional religious and philosophic boundaries. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt et Phil. (Religious Studies)

Nesta dissertação, estudo questões relacionadas a oralidade, cultura escrita e suas inter-relações. Através de um estudo semântico e histórico de termos e funções sociais, foco minha pesquisa no conceito de memória. Faço-o trabalhando com fontes epigráficas, constituídas em inscrições em pedra e bronze, datadas do primeiro quarto do século V a.C. A performance legal que transparece nas leis presentes nessas inscrições é o instrumento mais favorável para se perceber as relações entre oralidade e escrita no período, e mais ainda para entender os papéis da memória como constituinte da Tradição Oral entre os helenos. O cargo, a figura, o personagem que permeia todas as inscrições que analisei é o de mnemon, literalmente lembrador. Através de suas funções e relações com outros magistrados e formas de atuação, desdobro minha pesquisa, dedicando-me à análise das influências e funções da memória em uma sociedade que principiava a transição de uma cultura marcada pela oralidade para outra que passava, gradativamente, a se escorar sobre a escrita e o letramento. / In my research I study issues relating to orality, literacy and their interrelationships. Through a semantic and historical study of concepts and social functions I focus my research on the concepts of memory. I do it working with epigraphic sources, bronze and stone inscriptions dating from the first quarter of the fifth century BC. The legal performance that transpires in the present laws, in these inscriptions, are the most conducive instrument to understanding the relationship between orality and literacy in the period, and even more to understand the roles of memory, a constituent of the Oral Tradition among the Hellenes. The job, the figure, the character, which pervades all the entries I examined, is the mnemon, literally Remembrancer. Through their roles and connections with judges and other forms of performance, my research unfolds. I devoted myself to the analysis of the influences and functions of memory in a society that was beginning a transition from a culture marked by orality, to another, gradually supported by writing and literacy.