[pt] Nesta análise comparativa, revelam-se comportamentos, sentimentos, celebrações e o como se expressam os falantes nativos no que se refere ao ritual de passagem morte, no Brasil, Canadá e Noruega, considerando-se o uso da linguagem humana, verbal e não verbal, como veículo de expressão de valores culturais e hábitos comportamentais, e de exteriorização de sentimentos pessoais. O corpus foi coletado de duas séries de entrevista online realizadas com informantes nascidos nesses países, testemunhas desses ritos. A fundamentação teórica básica deste trabalho concentra-se na área do Interculturalismo, aliada à área da Linguística. Os principais autores que nortearam a investigação foram Lewis (2006), DaMatta (2004; 1997; 1993; 1987; 1984), Tagnin (2013; 1989) e Perini (2010; 2003; 1999). Nossos resultados revelam, entre outros achados, que os rituais observados corroboram a classificação de Lewis (2006) quanto aos países multiculturais, enquanto aqueles classificados como de cultura ativo-linear sofrem algumas variações regionais, aproximando-se por vezes da categoria de cultura multiativa. / [en] This comparative analysis, reveals behaviors, feelings, celebrations and how they are expressed in relation to the rite of death passage in Brazil, Canada and Norway, considering the use of human language, verbal and non-verbal, as a vehicle for expressing cultural values, behavioral habits as well as personal feelings externalization. The corpus has been collected from two online interview series conducted with native speakers of these countries who have already witnessed such rites. The basic theoretical foundation of this research focuses on the area of Interculturalism along with the area of Linguistics. The main authors who have guided this research are Lewis (2006), Da Matta (2004; 1997; 1993; 1987; 1984), Tagnin (2013; 1989) and Perini (2010; 2003; 1999). Our results reveal, among other findings, that the multicultural countries under analysis, categorized by Lewis as linear-active culture places, suffer some regional variations, approaching the multi-active culture category.

This thesis explores various dilemmas in making theatre performances in the context of social disruption, trauma and death. Diverse discourses are drawn in to consider issues of body, subjectivity and spectatorship, refracted through the writer’s experiences of and discontent with making theatre. Written in a fractal-like structure, rather than a linear progression, this thesis unsettles discourses of truth, thus simultaneously intervening in debates about the epistemologies of the body and of theatre in context of the academy. Chapter 1: Methodological Anxieties Psychoanalytic theory provides a way in for investigating the dynamics of theatrical performance and its corporeal presence, by focusing on desire and its implication in the notions of loss and anxiety. The theories of the unconscious and the gaze have epistemological implications, shifting definitions of “presence” and “truth” in theatre performance and writing about theatre. This chapter tries to outline the rationale for, as well as to enact, an alternative methodology for writing, as an ethical response to loss that does not insist on consensus and truth. Chapter 2: (Refusing to) Look at Trauma This chapter examines the politics that strives to make suffering visible. Discursive binaries of public/private, dead/living, and invisible/visible underlie the politics of AIDS and sexuality. These discourses impact on the reception of Bill T. Jones's choreography, despite his use of modernist artistic processes in search of a bodily presence that aims to collapse the binary of representation (text) and its subject (being). The theory of the gaze shows this politics to be a phallocentric discourse; and narrative analysis traces the metanarrative that results in the commodification of oppositional identities, so that spectators participate in the politics as consumers. An ethical artistic response thus needs to shift its focus to the subjectivity of the spectator. Chapter 3: The Screen and the Viewer’s Blindness By appealing to a transcendent reality, and by constituting spectators as a participative community, ritual theatre claims to enact change. The “truth” of ritual rests not on rational knowledge, but on the performer’s competence to produce a shamanic presence, which director Brett Bailey embraces in his early work. Ritual presence operates by identification and belonging to a father/god as the source of meaning; but it represses the loss of this originary wholeness. Spectators of ritual theatre are drawn into an enactment of communion/community, the centre of which is, however, loss/emptiness. The claim of enacting change becomes problematic for its absence of truth. Bailey attempts to perform a hybrid, postcolonial aesthetics; but the problem rests in the larger context of performing the notion of “South Africa”, a communal identity hardened around the metanarrative of suffering, abjecting those that do not belong to the land of the father/god – foreigners that unsettle the meaning of South African identity. Conclusion: Bodies of Discontent The South African stage is circumscribed by political and economic discourses; the problematization of national identity is also a problematization of image-identification in the theatre. In search for a way to unsettle these interrogative discourses, two moments of performing foreignness are examined, one fictional, one theatrical. These moments enact a parallel to the feminine hysteric, who disturbs the phallocentric truth of the psychoanalyst through body performance. These moments of disturbing spectatorship are reflected in the works of performance artist Marina Abramovic. Her explorations into passive-aggression, shamanism and finally theatricality and the morality of spectatorship allow for an overview of the issues raised in this thesis regarding body, viewing, and subjecthood. Sensitivity to the body and its discontent on the part of the viewer becomes crucial to ethical performance.

Le monde théâtral de Miguel Romero Esteo, sans doute l’un des dramaturges espagnols les plus importants de la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle, ouvre sur des espaces qui apparaissent comme des univers inconnus encore jamais explorés. Son œuvre, composée de pièces qu’il nomme lui-même « grotescomachies », il invente une dramaturgie nouvelle, festive, rituelle et baroque, qui puise à diverses traditions littéraires, théâtrales, picturales et musicales. L’usage pléthorique de l’intertexte dans ce théâtre polymorphe, hybride et postmoderne avant la lettre – où le chercheur peut glaner les traces d’une anthropologie culturelle – souligne ce que le Moi doit à l’Autre dans toute appréhension esthétique et idéologique du monde. C’est le traitement de la langue qui retiendra notre attention car l’engendrement de la parole dramatique emprunte des chemins de traverse et esquisse des tracés inhabituels. Romero Esteo se livre à une déconstruction du langage et crée ainsi un espace imaginaire inédit, où la poésie et la musique occupent une place centrale. L’auteur crée une fête des sens et du sens, à la fois sonore et poétique, mais aussi critique et grotesque, où chacun des éléments de la structure dramatique s’inscrit dans une forme de jeu particulière qui, loin de dessiner une aire ludique singulière, repousse les limites de l’espace-temps théâtral. Théâtre en liberté, théâtre de la liberté, cette langue autre où se confondent l’animal et l’humain, le spirituel et le corporel, la folie et la raison, la terre et le ciel, construit un univers atemporel qui permet de mieux apprécier et de railler en permanence les traits caractéristiques de la condition humaine. / The theatrical universe of Miguel Romero Esteo, undoubtedly one of the most influential spanish playwrights of the second half of the 20th century, opens up spaces that emerge as unknown worlds no one has ever explored. In his work, consisting of plays he himself calls « grotescomachies », he invents a new dramaturgy, festive, ritual and baroque, which draws on various literary, theatrical, pictorial and musical traditions. The abundant usage of intertextuality in this polymorphous and hybrid theater, post-modern ahead of his time – where the researcher can gather traces of a cultural anthropology – underlines what the Self owes to the Other in every aesthetic and ideological perception of the world. Our primary focus will deal with the treatment of language, as the creation of the dramatic speech ventures off the beaten path and outlines routes that are unusual. Romero Esteo engages in a true deconstruction of speech and thus creates an unprecedented imaginary space, where poetry and music hold a central place. The author creates a celebration of sense and senses, at once loud and lyrical, but also critical and grotesque, where every single element of the dramatic structure falls within a specific form of play which, far from just materializing a unique playground, redefines the boundaries of the theatrical space-time.« Free-range » theater, theater of freedom… this unrivalled language, which mingles animal and human, spiritual and physical, insanity and reason, earth and sky, builds a timeless universe that allows for better appreciation and constant mockery of the distinctive features of the human condition.

Pendant plus de deux mille ans, les historiens ont colporté une légende : les Juifs ont été expulsés d'Egypte car ils étaient porteurs de la lèpre. L'étude de la maladie de Hansen (nom actuel de la lèpre) et les différentes recherches, historiques (sur les textes des historiens de l'Antiquité) et archéologiques permettent de contester certains écrits et de prouver que cette légende, qui s'est perpétuée jusqu'au milieu du XXème siècle, était fausse.Cependant, la Bible hébraïque consacre deux chapitres du Lévitique à une affection qui peut toucher les hommes, les vêtements et les maisons, et le terme employé en hébreu est toujours traduit (malgré de nombreuses contestations) par "lèpre". Une lecture de ce texte, enrichie des explications des principaux commentateurs et complétée par l'étude des textes fondamentaux législatifs que sont la Mishnah, le Midrash halakhique et le Talmud (de Jérusalem et de Babylone), permet de mieux mesurer l'importance accordée à cette affection sur le plan rituel.L'étude des personnages que la Bible présente comme frappés par la lèpre et de ceux désignés par la littérature talmudique et midrashique permet de mieux comprendre les différentes explications que donnent les Rabbins de l'Antiquité sur les causes de la lèpre, considérée souvent comme la punition divine de la médisance et jamais comme une maladie.L'impureté causée à la lèpre nécessitera, en cas de "guérison", une purification dont le processus rituel est bien précisé, qu'il s'agisse de l'homme, d'un vêtement ou d'une maison.Une interrogation demeure : pourquoi avoir accordé autant d'importance à une affection aussi bénigne et passagère et infligé à son porteur la sanction terrible qu'est l'exclusion de la communauté. / During almost two thousand years, the historians hawked about a tale : the Jews were evicted from Egypt because they were affected by leprosy. The study of the Hansen's disease (present name of the leprosy) and the different researches, historical (on the texts of Antiquity's historians) and archaeological allow to object to some of written works and to proof that tale, who was carried on until half of 20th century, was wrong.However, the Hebraic Bible dedicate two chapters of the Leviticus to a disorder who can affect the human beings, the clothes and the houses, and the word used in Hebrew is always translated (against many contesting) by "leprosy". A reading of this text, improved by the explanations of the main commentators and completed by the study of the essential legislative texts as Mishnah, halakhic Midrash and (Jérusalem and Babylonian) Talmud, allow to know better the significance given to that disorder on the ritual subject.The study of characters that the Bible describe as affected by leprosy and of those elected by the talmudic and midrashic literature allow to understand the different explanations given by the Antiquity's Rabbis on the leprosy's origin, often deemed as the divine punishment of gossip and never as a disease.The impurity caused by leprosy will require, in case of "recovery", a purification witch process is quite clear, for human beings, clothes or houses.A question persist : why to give so much importance to a disorder so mild and temporary and impose to the carrier the terrible punishment, the expulsion of the community.

The presence of at least two prominent streams of church music within the DRC is evident – this is also true of most other Protestant and Reformed churches. There is tension between the ‘old music’ and the ‘new music’; traditional church music and contemporary church music; the official repertoire of church music and the utilized repertoire of songs. Liturgical singing often includes various free songs (songs outside the official hymnal). Songs from various traditions are cut and pasted or copied and merged into liturgy through a process of bricolage. Within bricolage liturgy there is a growing tendency towards bricolage liturgical singing. A brief overview of the history of church music illustrates the complexities regarding church music. The official song of the temple was often complimented by the ecstatic song of individuals. The more formal and official song of the church often stood in contrast to the song and music that were played and sung in houses and elsewhere. Christian believers in different eras expressed themselves in different forms and genres of music. The Bible does not support a blueprint for church music. There is no Biblical church music, mainly because no ‘melodies’ could be preserved (cf. Mowinckel 2004:9). The latter is further complicated by the culture-bound nature of Biblical music and songs. The Biblical data mostly provides snapshots of instances where God’s people utilized music and singing in their interaction with the Almighty and covenantal God. Certain principles and guidelines for church music could be drawn from these, although the danger of fundamentalism, relativism and subjectivism remains. A study of liturgy illustrates the important role of music and singing within the dialogue of the liturgy. Recent studies emphasize that church music could function as a ritual symbol within a specific cultural or sub-cultural community. As such church music is closely related to the culture (or sub-culture) of a given community and can never be evaluated apart from that culture. Within a postmodern culture, church music will be greatly influenced and coloured by the values and attitudes of postmodernism. The latter have major implications for musical styles, genres, repertoires and the sanctification of church music. Within postmodernism the borders between sacred and secular are not so clear, neither between sacred (liturgical) music and secular music. Within Western culture and postmodernism there is a growing need for an inculturated and an inter-culturated song, expressing the smaller narrative(s) of the local congregation in idioms, language, metaphors and styles true to the local culture. Church music is closely related to the spirituality of the local congregation. The dominant type of spirituality will necessarily have a sound influence on the musical genres, accompaniments, styles and repertoire of the local congregation. The growing phenomenon of popular spirituality has definite implications for church music. At least three circles of spiritualities must find expression in the song of the local congregation, namely an ecumenical spirituality, a denominational spirituality and a congregational spirituality. Where the official song (Liedboek van die Kerk) gives expression to the denominational or Reformed spirituality as well as the meta-narrative, the free song often gives expression to the congregational spirituality as well as the smaller narrative. It is argued that the freely chosen song is an important means of expressing the spirituality of the local congregation (culture). In this sense, it does not threaten the official church song but compliments it. These two could stand in a positive and creative tension. Regarding liturgical singing, the DRC is presently moving from a societas through a phase of communitas to a new societas. It is impossible to predict the outcome of this process. As Burger (1995:31) indicates, a communitas-phase releases a lot of new energy that could be of great value to the church. Church music, as folk music and cultural music, will have to be faithful to the culture and spirituality of God’s people living in the twenty first century within a given context. The age-old tradition must continue hand in hand with a new song. Vos (2009:5) summarizes accurately: “However, each generation of believers must interpret the ancient sources and traditions of the Church anew, within the demands of their time, without being unfaithful to the traditions in which a definitive liturgy exists”. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

The aim of my study was to explore and describe the possible effects of family rituals as an asset during the process through which children give meaning to their experiences. I undertook an empirical study of limited extent. My study was qualitative by nature and conducted from the interpretivist paradigm. I used an instrumental case study as research design and employed educational psychological assessment, semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, reflective journals by the participants and myself, visual data (photographs), observation and field notes as data collection and documentation methods. I selected two Afrikaans-speaking primary school children and their parents from a nuclear family as participants in the study. The findings of my empirical study are supported by relevant literature with regard to the main concepts guiding the study, namely family, ritual, routine and family ritual, asset, meaning giving and children. The main findings were that the five dimensions of family rituals (structure, meaning, persistence and commitment, adaptability and gender relations), as identified in existing literature, were present in the family’s rituals with the possibility of adding other dimensions to these mentioned, such as task completion, communication, roles, affective management, affective involvement and behaviour management. Furthermore I found that the family’s rituals, with some exceptions, positively impacted on the children’s giving of meaning to themselves and the family rituals. Asset-based outcomes were also evident in the meaning the children gave to their experiences following the practicing of family rituals. Lastly I found that the family’s rituals served as an asset within the family. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

The death of a parent is one of the most serious stressors that can occur in a child’s life. The aim of this study was to describe an 11-year-old child’s journey through traumatic grief after the violent death of her mother. The conceptual framework utilised was Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT). The case study approach was applied as it provided a suitable research design in which to give an account of the subject in a therapeutic situation. A purposive sampling technique was utilised to select the research subject in the study. The following three principles of data collection were adhered to: a) using multiple sources of information, b) creating a case study database, and c) maintaining a chain of evidence. Irving Alexander’s content-analysis technique in conjunction with Guba’s model of trustworthiness was employed for data analysis. The finding that emerged from the study was the resilience shown by Linda in relation to her adaptive functioning following the trauma of witnessing the violent death of her mother. Conclusions and recommendations were made following the findings based on the information obtained during the therapy sessions.

This thesis explores the cult and mythos of the goddess Kali both in her Eastern and Western contexts, comparing and contrasting them in order to gain a better understanding of the Western appropriations of Kali within feminist goddess spirituality. Utilizing a variety of methods, including ethnographic research conducted at Kali temples in California, this research is aimed at providing an entry into the lived contemporary tradition of the Western Kali within goddess spirituality circles, focusing on embodied experience, devotion, ritual, and syncretic practices. Kali, a fierce Indian goddess, is often seen in the Hindu context as a central manifestation of the all encompassing Mother Goddess (Mahadevi, Devi, Shakti, etc), and therefore is a particularly engaging example of contemporary Western appropriation of religious and cultural symbols and narratives. This thesis contributes to understanding Kali in her new North American domain, as well as serving as a case study of the shifting religious landscape in the West.

Situé entre le VIIe et le XVIe siècle de notre ère, le phénomène mégalithique sénégambien est contemporain de l'émergence et du développement de grandes entités politiques tels que le Ghâna, le Tekrûr et le Mâli. Depuis les années 1970, les recherches archéologiques menées sur les architectures mégalithiques du Sénégal et de Gambie contribuent à mettre en avant une riche culture matérielle se présentant notamment sous la forme de poteries entières, parfois déposées en façade orientale des monuments, et d'un abondant mobilier fragmenté. Toutefois, le manque de contextes stratifiées constitua longtemps un obstacle à la compréhension de ces productions céramiques en diachronie. Or, depuis 2005, les fouilles archéologiques conduites sur la nécropole de Wanar (Sénégal) (dir. L. Laporte et H. Bocoum) révèlent des contextes soigneusement renseignés, permettant de situer le mobilier céramique par rapport aux séquences architecturales et funéraires propres à chaque monument. Ces données nouvelles constituent le cadre de référence de notre étude céramique. Afin d'appréhender au mieux la diversité des productions céramiques liées à ces architectures funéraires, nous avons choisi d'adopter une approche croisée du mobilier céramique. Celle-ci combine l'étude des répertoires morphologiques, des motifs et des techniques décoratives et, finalement des chaines opératoires de façonnage. La périodisation obtenue pour la nécropole de Wanar sert ici de fondement à l'établissement d'une périodisation générale des productions céramiques, valable pour l'ensemble de l'aire mégalithique sénégambienne. Cette séquence souligne notamment l'abandon progressif des poteries adaptables en couvercle, à vocation funéraire, pour des exemplaires incompatibles avec cette fonction, à vocation commémorative. Ces changements trouvent un écho particulier dans les contextes archéologiques et ethnographiques de l'Afrique de l'ouest aux Ier et IIe millénaires de notre ère. / Located between the 7th and the 16th century AD, the Senegambian megalithic phenomenon is contemporary with the emergence and development of large political entities such as Ghàna, Tekrûr and Mâli. Since the 1970's, archaeological research carried out on the megalithic architectures of Senegal and Gambia has contributed ta highlighting a rich material culture, notably in the form of whole pottery, sometimes deposited on the eastern facades of the monuments, and an abundant fragmented furniture. However, the lack of stratified contexts was for a long time an obstacle to the understanding of these ceramics productions in diachrony. However, since 2005, archaeological excavations conducted on the necropolis of Wanar (Senegal) (directed by L. Laporte and H. Bocoum) reveal carefully informed contexts, allowing to locale the ceramic furniture in relation to the architectural and funerary sequences specific to each monument. These new data constitute the frame of reference of our ceramic study. ln order to better understand the diversity of ceramic productions related to these funerary architectures, we chose to adopt a cross-approach of ceramic furniture. This combines the study of morphological repertoires, motifs and decorative techniques, and finally shaping operating chains. The periodization obtained for the Wanar necropolis serves here as the basis for the establishment of a general periodization of ceramic productions, valid for the whole megalithic area of Senegambia. This sequence highlights the progressive abandonment of pottery adaptable as lids, used in funerary contexts, for new vessels incompatible with this lid function. ln this case, pottery adopts a commemorative role. These changes find particular resonance in the archaeological and ethnographic contexts of West Africa in the 1st and 2nd millennia of our era.

The aim of this paper is to use a cultural-hermeneutic methodology to investigate how meaning is constructed in a contemporary social situation (co-culturally) and to suggest the Christian concept incurvatus in se as a critical theological resource (counter-culturally). Central to this account is how to think theologically in a secular situation. It could also be understood as a habermasian translation of a christian experience of the human problem as curved into themselves (homo incurvatus in se) into a existential language for a (possibly) universal experience. I liken this curvedness to the pervasive individualism of today’s society and argue that meaning-making based on the idea of individual freedom can lead to a lack of meaning and existential emptiness.  To arrive at a discussion of incurvatus in se as a theologically critical resource for the study of existential emptiness, I analyze film, parenting and worship to get an idea of what a meaning-making process can look like in these examples. The result of this analysis suggests that by viewing these activities as something that points beyond themselves, rather than something that only reflects the subjective, they can play a meaning-making role.  In light of this result and the interpretation of the situation, I propose a concept of humans as homo incurvatus in se as contrast to an idealization of individual freedom and selfrealization. Overall, this study develops a excurvatus ex se approach that is constituted by conscious and critical meaning-making and argues further that a modified understanding of the human problem as curved into themselves can serve as an incentive, or even a primus motor, to seek meaning outside the subjective in a responsible way.