A series of scenes taken from Greek theatre were collaborated and chosen to form what became known as An Evening of Greek Theatre. Along with the normal challenges of creating a production, such as memorization, blocking, costuming, and others, came challenges that were unique to this particular one. The training we are most familiar with is in the confines of realism, and this particular production had little to do with realism. The stylization created an amalgamation of techniques, which became a functional process used to create An Evening of Greek Theatre. Along with these problems were other ones, such as dealing with the mythological significance of the characters and the stigmas that go with them. This, too, provided a breeding ground for creativity and experimentation. All this came together to form a successful and rewarding production.

The shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is located in the rural city of Sehwan in Sindh, Pakistan. Sehwan is a site of pilgrimage for thousands of devotees at the annual festival known as urs, spanning three days to commemorate the death anniversary of the saint. Men, women, and transgender participants engage in many rituals at the urs among which the prominent is devotional dancing called dhamaal. This thesis project relates sacredness of spaces and hyper-reality of the festival with the performances of rituals that involve diverse publics. At the urs and otherwise, the shrine space provides devotees, largely poor, a collective non-verbal expression in the form of dhamaal. Dhamaal gives expression to the body in a society that does not normally encourage such expressions in the public sphere. This thesis argues that the Sufi discourse in Sehwan makes the body of a devotee an expressive body.

Thesis advisor: John Sallis / This dissertation begins with a brief literature review of contemporary scholarship about sacrifice and the <italic>Phaedo.</italic> Chapter 1 provides a description of a Greek sacrificial ritual. Drawing on recent scholarship concerning Greek sacrificial practice, I conclude that the most significant feature of animal sacrifice was that it maintained a proportion between gods and men. In a sacrifice, a proportion between gods and men was enacted and set forth that would have been deeply interwoven with the day-to-day life of the <italic>polis,</italic> Chapter 2 argues that there are many similarities between the death scene and a Greek sacrificial ritual such that the entire <italic>mise-en-scène</italic> of the death scene has "the look" of a Greek sacrificial ritual. Since a Greek sacrificial ritual enacts a proportion between gods and men that is crucial for the maintenance of the city, we should expect that the death of Socrates in the <italic>Phaedo</italic> would enact a similar proportion by providing a logos of life and death. Nevertheless, there are elements in the death scene that also suggest a rupture of sacrificial economy. Chapter 3 offers a close reading of the "second sailing" passage in the Phaedo and argues that through it Socrates provides a way of doing philosophy that both acknowl-edges the limitations of mortals while seeking to set forth an account of life and death, of generation and destruction as a whole, that is proportionate. Although the death of Socrates in the <italic>Phaedo</italic> unfolds according to sacrificial themes it is not a tragedy, for its goal is to restore a version of the archaic ratio that is now appropriate for mortals who, after Socrates' self-sacrifice, are aware of their limitations. In witnessing the <italic>Phaedo</italic> one is offered a vision of an enactment of a proportion between gods and men such as one might have witnessed at a Greek sacrificial ritual. Chapter 4 explores the discussion of the soul and its relationship to the body in the Phaedo. An examination of the section in which Socrates calls death "nothing but a separation of the soul from the body" reveals that such a logos is really disproportionate and comic. In contrast to this view of the soul, I argue that Socrates presents a <italic>logos</italic> of the soul that can act "as if" it is other than itself. In this way, the soul is able to reconsti-tute itself as proportional. Finally, the epilogue points out the differences between my interpretation of the <italic>Phaedo</italic> and Nietzsche's. While Nietzsche sees the death of Socrates as enacting a pes-simistic view of embodiment, I contend that Socrates' death--seen as a sacrifice--may be linked to a Derridean notion of triage to reveal how the ethical situation of the Phaedo is really one of vigilance without reserve rather than salvation or escape. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

La recherche se présente comme une enquête sur les pratiques religieuses et spatiales dans l’ancienne Méditerranée, à travers une analyse interdisciplinaire sur la catégorie d’espace rituel comme procès intégré des traits corporels, idéologiques et symboliques. Dans la première partie on discute les catégories anciennes et modernes aptes à définir l’espace rituel en tant que concept compréhensif de paysage religieux, lieux de culte et architecture sacrée, en utilisant perspectives différentes comme celles de l’histoire de religions, de l’anthropologie religieuse et de l’archéologie. La deuxième partie se concentre sur les catégories d’espace et de rituel dans ses relations avec les principes de la logique polythéiste et des pratiques spatiales ; au centre de la réflexion sont l’aspect de la monumentalisation des lieux de culte et de la présence des dieux dans l’espace rituel que leur consacrent les hommes, en particulier à Rome. La troisième partie est centrée sur le contexte de l’Afrique romaine et prend en examen des cas d’études dans le cadre du contact entre cultures, romaine et indigène. En utilisant des sources épigraphiques et archéologiques on réfléchit sur la transformation des espace rituels et cultuels après la ‘romanisation’, comme le sanctuaire de Thinissut et les lieux de culte de Thugga. / This research is a survey of religious and spatial practices in the ancient Mediterranean, that takes its start from an interdisciplinary analysis of the category of ritual space as an integrated process of bodily, ideological and symbolic traits. The first part discusses the categories that in ancient and modern times have been used to define the ritual space (religious landscape, places of worship, religious architecture) considering the perspectives of history of religions, religious anthropology and archeology. The second part focuses on the categories of space and of ritual in their relationship with the founding principles of polytheistic logic and religious practice. Both the concrete aspect of the monumentalization of the places of worship and the conceptual one of the presence of gods in ritual spaces (particularly in Rome) are investigated. In the third part the Roman Africa is explored, examining some significant case studies in the context of the contact between roman and indigenous cultures. Using epigraphic and archaeological sources, the transformation of the cultural spaces in the Roman period, and the expansion of Roman models in contact with indigenous models, are investigated, focusing on the cases of the Thinissut sanctuary and of the places of worship of the city of Thugga. / La ricerca si configura come un’indagine sulle pratiche religiose e spaziali nel Mediterraneo antico, a partire da analisi interdisciplinare sulla categoria di spazio rituale quale processo integrato di tratti corporei, ideologici e simbolici. Nella prima parte si discutono in modo teorico le categorie antiche e moderne atte a definire lo spazio rituale come categoria comprensiva di paesaggio religioso, luoghi di culto, architettura religiosa, nella molteplicità di prospettive aperte dalle discipline, della storia delle religioni, dell’antropologia religiosa e dell’archeologia. La seconda parte si concentra sulle categorie di spazio e di rituale e sulle relazioni tra i principi fondanti della logica e della pratica religiosa politeista e le loro ricadute sulle pratiche spaziali; vengono indagati sia l’aspetto più concreto della monumentalizzazione dei luoghi di culto, sia quello più concettuale della modalità di presenza degli dei negli spazi rituali, in particolar modo a Roma. Nella terza parte si indaga il contesto storico-religioso dell’Africa romana, prendendo in esame alcuni casi di studio significativi nell’ottica del contatto tra culture. Ricorrendo alle fonti epigrafiche e archeologiche si focalizza in particolare la trasformazione degli spazi cultuali nel periodo della ‘romanizzazione’, e l’espansione di modelli romani nel contatto con modelli indigeni, dal santuario di Thinissut ai luoghi di culto della città di Thugga.

Iludens! - a concept-opera comprises conceptual essay and music portfolio. The conceptual essay explores musical, dramatic, and ritualistic aspects that qualify play as a structuring factor in culture. It aims at producing a multi-layered amalgamation of Philosophical Anthropology and Art, focusing on the strategies for creating a new piece of music - in this case, a conceptual opera (or performative oratorio). The music portfolio features several pieces composed by me throughout the doctoral period. Some pieces have a more direct connection to my doctoral research. The largest and most important one is the concept-opera Iludens, through which I developed patterns of aesthetic creation inspired by philosophical conceptions related to the notion of play. Also, as agon1 is one of the crucial aspects I was able to identify in the history of play, I have explored some agonistic features in culture and provided an interpretation of elements of conflictive interaction using the tools of contemporary concert music. The conceptual essay and the main piece of the music portfolio are intimately related. I consider music according to the Greek classic notion of mousiké, namely an entity of multiple knowledge and applications, rather than a mere craft of physical sounds.

Fingarette thinks what is sacred in Confucianism is the element of human civilization modeled upon holy rite. Eno claims the holiness of Confucian ritual consist in its coherence with cosmic reality, Heaven. But both of them didn't think metaphysics is one intellectual focus for early Confucianism. Nevertheless, we think only in reference to a Confucian metaphysics which provides a sufficient exposition of the most generic features of cosmic reality, what is sacred in Confucianism can be fully clarified. Due to his unflinchingly sociological methodology, Berger's concept of religion as sacred canopy is partial and limited. His concept of "chaos" can't encompass all the cases in world religions, and his understanding of the holy as "the wholly other" deviates from its original expression in Rudolf Otto. Contributing to the innovation of Berger's idea of sacred canopy, Neville thinks religion is human engagement with ultimacy, and one of the most important functions of sacred canopy is cognitive, to know ultimate reality. Keeping to Neville's understanding of sacred canopy, we will analyze two key texts of classical Confucian metaphysics, Yijing and its "Great Treatise"(系辞), to try to illustrate what a Confucian sacred canopy is. Traditionally, shengsheng (生生) is understood as ceaseless creative advance into novelty, a most generic description of cosmic reality in Confucian metaphysics, but this understanding can't include the ultimate ontological creation of the world from nothing by ultimate polarity, which is also enunciated by Great Treatise. In relation to the Decision of Hexagram Qian, we can furthermore parse out four possible ways to understand shengsheng: to create creatures, to create this and to create that, this creates and that creates, and creatures create. They correspond to the four characters in the decision: initiation (元), permeation (亨), harmonization (利) and integration (贞), and indicate early Confucians' reflections about the ontological traits of ultimate reality: Heaven is the initiative, permeative, harmonious and integral creation. Heaven creates being from non-being, initiates the world as a ceaseless creative process; it creates everything, imparts creativity and form into every creature; and then every formed creature itself strives for being and creation in a dynamical relationship with each other. Based upon such a "cosmontology", a Confucian sacred canopy will be finally outlined and the importance of ritual in reference to that canopy will also be illuminated.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-01T23:30:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_11645_Dissertação de mestrado 2017 capa dura.pdf: 6882262 bytes, checksum: 01631eabd23458170908e8797aaff2c9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-20 / O Reis de Boi é uma prática cultural encontrada no Norte do estado do Espírito Santo, nas cidades de São Mateus e Conceição da Barra. É uma prática cultural ligada ao ciclo natalino e tem por devoção Santos Reis. Seu período de apresentação acontece do dia 06 de janeiro (dia de Santos Reis) até 03 de fevereiro (dia de São Brás). O Reis de Boi apresenta em seu ritual, além do momento das louvações, um momento mais lúdico e festivo chamado Brincadeira de Boi. Essa característica enquadra essa prática cultural na classificação de Reisado. Possui um ritual complexo, onde tudo é pensado nos mínimos detalhes e cada objeto, cada Marcha, cada movimentação é cuidadosamente preparada. Conta entre seus integrantes com maioria de negros, entretanto é ligada constantemente à uma origem ibérica, por causa da devoção aos Santos Reis. Buscando um discurso menos excludente que visa dar voz aos seus integrantes, que associam sua origem aos antepassados vindos da África, esse trabalho buscou mostrar - através da análise do ritual sob à luz dos Estudos da Performance que o Reis de Boi conserva elementos simbólicos e artísticos, expressos principalmente através das performances corporais de seus integrantes, que evidenciam a contribuição do negro em seu ritual. Palavras-chave: Reis de Boi. Reisado. Performance cultural. Ritual.

This thesis uses the secular coming-of-age ritual, Jugendweihe (‘youth consecration’), as a locus for exploring the ways kinship and politics in Germany are complexly intertwined. Although Jugendweihe emerged in the mid-19th century as a substitute for ecclesiastical coming-of-age rituals, and was adopted by various movements, it is closely associated with the former GDR (German Democratic Republic/East Germany). Under the GDR, young people aged thirteen to fourteen prepared for their Jugendweihe ceremony in ten ‘youth lessons’, which aimed to craft ‘socialist personalities’. Between 1955 and 1989 more than seven million adolescents pledged allegiance to the GDR state during the public ceremony, which was followed by a family celebration. With the demise of state socialism in 1989-90, western observers and the Churches assumed the ritual would vanish, but Jugendweihe continues to be celebrated in contemporary eastern Germany – without a pledge of allegiance. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between November 2012 and January 2014 in Thuringia, this thesis investigates the changed social relations between individuals, families, and the state in eastern Germany after the political caesura of 1989-90. It explores the ritual’s abiding relevance within a different socio-political context, and considers how the ritual’s metamorphosis is mediated both through the local Jugendweihe Association and the grandparental and parental generations. The research examines what values grandparents and parents, who were socialised under the GDR, seek to transmit to their offspring born after the GDR state’s demise. It demonstrates the continued (and changing) salience of connections between kinship, ritual, and politics in contemporary Germany.

Thesis (M.A.)(African Languages) --University of Limpopo, 2009. / Most people feel not comfortable in taking part in ritual ceremonies thinking that they are barbaric, old fashioned and valueless. The aim of this study is to make this people change their perspective by bringing out their significance through thorough investigation on the symbolism which is used in their performances which hides their practical meaning and value. Qualitative method was used to gather the information and data used in this research in which interviews were conducted. Thirty people, both males and females were visited at their homes from villages around Malamulele Township, although only few were quoted.Their responses made it clear that a lot of symbolism is used in Xitsonga ritual ceremonies which made it not clearly understood by the youth which led to their downfall. It is recommended that in the performance and practice of these rituals, a sort of explanation should be given which will clear inquisitive minds. It is also recommended that the society at large be educated about their value and significance for them to practice them with pride and dignity.

The impetus for this thesis came from experience in the worlds of medicine, urgent and disturbing aspects of heath and people meeting to find ways through complex problems about them. The author facilitated policy making and dialogue between people from very different backgrounds for a number of years. The thesis is an engagement with ambiguous and contradictory human reactions to stress while being-in-the-middle of threat and differences of many kinds. These trigger both scapegoating and an urge to mate. The phenomenon is embodied in the symbol and ritual of the pharmakos. The aim of the thesis is to engage with the phenomenon of the pharmakos, in order to bring back its symbolism and practice to conscious attention in dealing with many demanding situations today. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)