Zugl.: Mainz, Univ., Diss., 2006

Freie Univ., Magisterarbeit--Teilw. zugl.: Berlin, 1999.

Thesis (Master).

Cette thèse a pour objet le palo monte, culte initiatique d’origine bantoue que l’on pratique aujourd’hui sur tout le territoire cubain. Ses adeptes, les paleros, se lient rituellement à certains esprits des morts, les nfumbis, afin de bénéficier de leurs pouvoirs extraordinaires. Religion peu prescriptive, le palo monte laisse à ses adeptes une grande latitude en matière d’innovation rituelle et d’improvisation. En l’absence de corpus mythologique, de textes sacrés, de liturgie fixe et de toute autorité institutionnalisée, chaque groupe initiatique définit sa méthodologie religieuse de façon autonome. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’expliciter comment des pratiques religieuses se créent, se légitiment et se transmettent dans un contexte de variabilité extrême. Je porte d’abord une attention particulière à la matérialité du culte et tout particulièrement aux interactions quotidiennes entre les paleros et leur nganga, chaudron qui condense la présence du mort : objet-sujet omniscient, la nganga médiatise un réseau relationnel complexe qui permet l’émergence en continu des pratiques du palo monte. Je m’intéresse ensuite aux rites paleros en tant que performances au cours desquelles les prêtres forgent leur réputation en créant une sorte de cosmologie personnalisée. Tout en proposant une analyse interactionnelle de ces rituels, je montre comment certains aspects de la personnalité des adeptes interviennent dans la définition de la forme rituelle de chaque groupe. Enfin, je montre comment les actes réflexifs des paleros, omniprésents sous la forme de critiques, de justifications, de confrontations, etc. sont constitutifs de la transmission et du renouvellement des pratiques. / This thesis is on palo monte, a Cuban initiatory religion of Bantu origin, widespread over all Cuban territory. Its worshippers, the paleros, establish ritual bonds with determined spirits of the dead, called nfumbis, in order to receive their supernatural powers. Imposing a small number of prescriptions, palo monte enables its devotees to operate a wide range of ritual innovations and improvisations. Indeed, the inexistence of a mythological corpus, a sacred text or a strict liturgy, and more generally of any kind of institutionalized authority, allows every initiatory group to define its religious methodology in an autonomous way. The aim of this research is to explain how these religious practises are created, legitimized and transmitted in a context which allows for extreme variability. In this perspective, the analysis focuses primarily on palo monte’s materiality and more specifically to the daily interactions between the paleros and their nganga, a cauldron condensing the presence of a dead man. I argue that the nganga, as an omniscient object-subject, mediates a complex relational network and enables a constant reinvention of palo monte’s ritual practises. I focus thus on palero rituals as performances through which priests make a name for themselves by creating a kind of customized cosmology. By putting forward an interactional analysis of these/their rituals, I show how determined aspects of the adepts’ personalities intercede in the definition of each groups’ ritual patterns. Finally, I point out how paleros’ reflexive acts – in the form of pervasive critique, vindication, debates, etc. – are constitutive of their practices’ transmission and renewal.

No description available.

Excavations at the site of Sajara-patac in the upper Huallaga basin offer an opportunity to understand the nature of use of ritual space during the Early Horizon. The new evidence from Sajara-patac revealed the integrated relationship among ritual activities, feasting, and renovation of ceremonial architectures. Though the way of using ritual space at Sajara-patac shows its affiliation to Chavín sphere of interaction, religious ideology of Chavín de Huántar was accepted through local re-interpretations. / Las excavaciones realizadas en el sitio de Sajara-patac, en la cuenca del alto Huallaga, ofrecen una oportunidad de entender la naturaleza del manejo del espacio ritual durante el Horizonte Temprano. Las nuevas evidencias han revelado la relación integral entre las actividades rituales, los festines y la renovación de arquitectura ceremonial. Aunque el manejo del espacio ritual en Sajara-patac muestra su filiación a la esfera de interacción chavín, la ideología religiosa de Chavín de Huántar fue aceptada mediante interpretaciones locales.

In this paper, I discuss early complexity in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin of the Bolivian Andes. I examine a regional landscape of multi-community formations that emerged during the Late Formative Period (100 BC-AD 500). I suggest that during the Late Formative in the southern Lake Titicaca basin, the establishment of Khonkho Wankane and other disembedded centers, played an important role in the social transformations that ultimately gave rise to centralized political systems. Political activity was undoubtedly an important element of social interaction, but it was enmeshed with ritual and other activities, such as mound construction, and formed an embedded part of more encompassing, large-scale ceremonial encounters. More than they were aggrandizers, those who resided at Khonkho were social and ideological mediators. This case suggests that non-state complexity may be far more variable than most current archaeological models propose. / En este artículo se discute la complejidad temprana en la cuenca sur del lago Titicaca, en los Andes bolivianos. Se estudia un paisaje regional con formaciones de carácter multicomunal que surgieron durante el Periodo Formativo Tardío (100 a.C.-500 d.C.). Se sugiere que, en esta etapa, el establecimiento de Khonkho Wankane, junto con el de los disembedded centers, es decir, centros con poca población residente, pero a los que llegaban gente en número nutrido para la realización de ceremonias, festines u otras prácticas rituales, tuvo un papel importante en la transformación social que dio origen, por último, a los sistemas políticos centralizados. Sin duda, la actividad política fue un elemento importante de interacción social, pero estuvo involucrada con rituales y otras actividades —tales como la construcción de montículos— que constituyeron una parte primordial de los más influyentes encuentros ceremoniales a gran escala. Más que un conjunto de individuos que deseaban diferenciarse o acumular más poder que los demás (aggrandizers), aquellos que residieron en Khonkho Wankane fueron mediadores sociales e ideológicos. Este caso sugiere que la complejidad no estatal pudo ser mucho más variable de lo que diversos modelos arqueológicos proponen en la actualidad.

Objets très communs dans l’aire de culture tibétaine, les tsha tsha, fabriqués à l’aide de moules, sont des images en argile figurant des stūpa, des divinités bouddhiques, des personnages historiques, ainsi que des inscriptions. Leur fabrication est avant tout considérée comme une pratique religieuse visant à générer des mérites mais aussi à purifier les actions négatives. Réalisés en masse, ils constituent des témoignages fidèles et mésestimés des développements iconographiques et stylistiques qui ont marqués l’art bouddhique tibétain au fil des siècles. En l’absence d’études antérieures, un travail de recensement systématique des matériaux relatifs aux tsha tsha a fait apparaître une richesse documentaire insoupçonnée susceptible d’éclairer non seulement l’histoire de l’art tibétain, mais également certains aspects relevant de l’anthropologie religieuse, de la philologie, ou encore de la paléographie. Dans le cadre de notre thèse, nous avons privilégié une démarche globalisante prenant en considération l’ensemble des données disponibles en procédant conjointement à l’étude d’un très large corpus de pièces sélectionnées, à celle de la littérature afférente, et aux observations de terrain. Dans cette perspective, nous avons envisagé l’étude des tsha tsha sous divers angles: l’origine et l’histoire de la diffusion de cette pratique au Tibet, la terminologie relative à ces objets, les techniques de fabrication, les usages, l’iconographie, les styles et enfin les inscriptions présentes à leur surface ou introduites. Cette approche nous a permis de révéler finement l’ampleur et les développements que cette pratique bouddhique d’origine indienne a connu dans le monde tibétain. / Very commonplace in the Tibetan world, tsha tshas are clay impressions produced from a mould depicting, either in relief or moulded in the round, stūpas, Buddhist deities, historical figures and inscriptions. Making them is essentially considered to be a religious practice intended to generate and accumulate merit but also to purify negative deeds and obscurations. Produced in mass and generally preserved inside sealed edifices, tsha tshas are true yet underrated evidence of the iconographic and stylistic developments that have marked Tibetan Buddhist art over the centuries. In the absence of any previous studies, the task of establishing a systematic inventory of sources related to tsha tshas revealed an unsuspected wealth of material for elucidating not only the history of Tibetan art, but also some aspects of religious anthropology, philology, or paleography. In this doctoral research, we favored a globalizing approach that takes into account all the available data by studying a very large corpus of selected pieces, of the literature related to the tsha tshas, as well as field observations. In this context, we considered the study of tsha tshas from different angles: the origin and history of how this practice spread through Tibet, the terminology for these objects, the techniques for making them, their uses, iconography, styles and finally the inscriptions that are found on their surface or inside them. This approach has allowed us to explain more accurately the true extent of this Buddhist practice of Indian origin and the developments it has undergone in the Tibetan world since its introduction in about the 8th-9th centuries to the present day.

A conformação de comunidades dentro do processo de difusão dos sistemas religiosos afro-brasileiros para o Uruguai e a Argentina propicia o surgimento de famílias-de-santo transnacionais, trans-étnicas e trans-territoriais. É o que ocorre na “Casa Africana Reino de Ogum Malé”, com sede em Santana do Livramento (Brasil), um ponto de partida tradicional para a transnacionalização afro-religiosa na fronteira do Brasil com o Uruguai. Suas filiais encontram-se em Montevidéu (Uruguai) e Posadas (Argentina), havendo ainda ramificações em São Miguel de Tucumã (Argentina). Organizados por mãe Chola, membros desse coletivo percorrem, durante o calendário litúrgico, os vários pontos desse território, visitando-se mutuamente, construindo sua religiosidade e reforçando o pertencimento à rede. Busca-se aqui, através do método etnográfico, recompor a ambiência experimentada durante os rituais e, ao mesmo tempo, identificar os momentos em que os atores envolvidos performatizam tensões identitárias, na medida que, ao se relacionar através de uma estrutura ritual compartilhada, acabam por a experienciar a partir de significantes e práticas culturais informadas por outros pertencimentos, sejam étnicos, lingüísticos ou nacionais. / The diffusion of African-Brazilian religions into Uruguay and Argentina leads to the formation of families-in-saint which can be at once transnational, transethnical and transterritorial. Such is the case of the “Casa Africana Reino de Ogum Malé” (“The African House of the Kingdom of Ogum Malé”), whose headquarters lies is Santana do Livramento (Brazil), a traditional departure point for the transnationalization of African-Brazilian religion, on the Brazilian-Uruguayan border. Its has branches in Montevideo (Uruguay) and Posadas (Argentina), and also links in San Miguel de Tucumán (Argentina). Leaded by mother Chola, the members of this collectivity cross the many point of this territory during the liturgical calendar, paying each other visits, building their faith and reinforcing their attachment to this network. This dissertation leans on the ethnographic method to recreate the ritual experience. At the same time it tries to identify moments in which the actors perform their identitary tensions. Although sharing the same ritual structure each actor experiences it from significants and cultural pratiques informed by different attachments, be they ethnical, linguistic or national.

This thesis deals with the view of death in current society in ČR. The first part of the thesis defines the concept of death which touches our lives. It examines death from the point of view of sociology, psychology and theology. The second part is dedicated to meeting children with death in their life and is focused on possibilities to meet with the topic of death in school education. The third part follows up with rituals which help us to go through certain situations together. The final fourth part shows us results of quantitative research in the understanding of death in children of younger school age.