The topic of the dissertation is a study on the Ramesseum Dramatic Papyrus, a document that was discovered together with other papyri and funerary objects in a late Middle Kingdom tomb in Ramses II’s funerary temple on the West bank of Luxor. The thesis will cover an analysis of the complete find, providing information on the provenance of the collection, the circumstances of its discovery, the dating of the papyri, and the identity of the tomb owner. The focus of the dissertation, however, is the Ramesseum Dramatic Papyrus itself, which features the guideline for the performance of a ritual. The preservation and fabrication of the manuscript is described as well as the layout of the text. Based on a copy of the original text done with the help of a tablet PC, an up-dated transliteration and translation of the text is provided, accompanied by a commentary. The text has been studied by several scholars, but a convincing interpretation of the manuscript is lacking. Thus, the dissertation will analyse the previous works on the papyrus, and will compare the text of the manuscript with other attested rituals from ancient Egypt. By highlighting the differences and similarities the text has with these other ceremonies, the exact nature of the rites described in the Ramesseum Dramatic Papyrus can be identified. Finally, a new interpretation of the text is offered, suggesting that the ceremony concerns a statue ritual performed in commemoration of Senwosret I’s accomplishments at Karnak.

The topic of the dissertation is a study on the Ramesseum Dramatic Papyrus, a document that was discovered together with other papyri and funerary objects in a late Middle Kingdom tomb in Ramses II’s funerary temple on the West bank of Luxor. The thesis will cover an analysis of the complete find, providing information on the provenance of the collection, the circumstances of its discovery, the dating of the papyri, and the identity of the tomb owner. The focus of the dissertation, however, is the Ramesseum Dramatic Papyrus itself, which features the guideline for the performance of a ritual. The preservation and fabrication of the manuscript is described as well as the layout of the text. Based on a copy of the original text done with the help of a tablet PC, an up-dated transliteration and translation of the text is provided, accompanied by a commentary. The text has been studied by several scholars, but a convincing interpretation of the manuscript is lacking. Thus, the dissertation will analyse the previous works on the papyrus, and will compare the text of the manuscript with other attested rituals from ancient Egypt. By highlighting the differences and similarities the text has with these other ceremonies, the exact nature of the rites described in the Ramesseum Dramatic Papyrus can be identified. Finally, a new interpretation of the text is offered, suggesting that the ceremony concerns a statue ritual performed in commemoration of Senwosret I’s accomplishments at Karnak.

A criminal is thrown from a high cliff into the sea. He has been covered in feathers, live birds attached to him to slow his fall. Fishermen wait below, hopeful of being able to carry him safely away. The people are punishing the criminal with death, yet simultaneously rooting for his survival. This startling image from Strabo, with its delicious ironic tension, is the center‐piece of “Civic Poetics.” The thesis consists of a cycle of poems imagining life in a city where this bizarre ritual is performed, coupled with a number of essays written for several Religious Studies courses on related themes. The interplay of poetry and essay aims to illuminate the experience of my own journey from criminal outsider to re‐integrated citizen. The lenses of (1) my own experiences in 21st century Atlanta and (2) poetic imaginative reconstruction of this ancient ritual reveal a startling picture: a criminal’s relations with the divine, as mediated by his state, and a state’s relations with the divine as mediated by its criminals.

This thesis presents a descriptive and analytical study of Newar marriage and kinship in Kathmandu. Essentially, this is a study about caste and the role that it plays in Newar life, in particular, the way that caste is expressed through marriage patterns and kinship rituals. This study also shows that although the link between one's caste and one's traditional caste occupation is breaking down, one's caste identity is still maintained through one's choice of marriage partner and one's participation in kinship rituals which occur at the various levels of caste organization. Newar caste organizations are also undergoing a process of transformation. In addition to the traditional caste organizations, there are also new intercaste organizations which cater to the ritual needs of those in intercaste marriages. This recent phenomenon coincides with the professionalization of other caste organizations, which, in addition to performing their ritual duties, have also taken on the role of social and economic guardians to their caste members. It could be argued that although some forms of caste are no longer applicable, in other ways, caste in Newar society has never been stronger or more important. Despite the claim that intercaste marriages are on the rise, the data shows that the majority of Newars still practice caste endogamy. Membership into a caste organization - which is through the initiation ritual - is so important to Newar identity that intercaste couples have started their own caste organization to ensure that their offspring will officially be a part of a caste group. In sum, this study shows that despite the fact that caste is no longer recognized in the Nepalese constitution, caste is still the main vector of Newar identity, and this is seen most clearly through the analysis of Newar marriage and kinship.

This is an extensive study of the non-verbal in Genet's dramaturgy. Non-verbal forms constitute the plural, fragmented sum of theatrical possibility. Rhythms, movements, colours and shapes highlight the ritualised form of words and actions on and off stage. In Part One I define my understanding of Genet's theory of representation, and show how this theory informs his use of the non-verbal. On the one hand the discursive limits of Genet's reality forefront closure. On the other, within this closure an absence of transcendental meaning enables signs to be reconfigured and accorded a plurality of signification. A wealth of non-verbal scenic elements is codified and made to signify. But an antagonism between the triumphant liberation from inherent meaning and the inevitable falsity of representation underlies all Genet's theatre. Genet's reconfiguration involves transubstantiation, not substitution. It adds a supplementary layer of falsity to the sign. The co-presence of multiple layers of artifice effects a duality of belief and disbelief in the spectator, redefining the notion of theatricality. Non-verbal forms are of existential as well as theatrical import. Falsity is omnipresent. Genet thus destabilises and redramatises security, possession and identity. Part Two develops and illustrates the notion of the non-verbal elaborated in Part One through a predominantly stylistic study. I illustrate how performance on Genet's stage is a surface made of ritualised gestures and words, devoid of substance. Through constant polyphonic shifting characterisation is fragmented and unity of voice is denied. Central acoustic matrices are expanded forming homogenous blocks of repeated words, phonemes, stresses and prosodies. These blocks are juxtaposed with other rhythms creating chains of antagonistic structures that fracture traditional diegesis. Actors' gestures, tone, pitch, tempo and costume display a hybrid heterogeneity of styles which abolishes the monolithism of identity. The horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines constituting the set create a lattice network that fills a hypothetical vide with Genet's panoramic definition of reality. All these material signifiers resist metaphorical globalisation into themes or characters. They subsequently afford an opacity that fractures action into immediate acoustic and visual effects, and underscores form as surface detached from the oppressiveness of substance. And yet the absence of substance merely underscores the falsity of Genet's success. My concluding comments state that material, non-verbal artifice is freed from essentialist signification. It is therefore mobile, not static. The plural and liberated nature of the non-verbal enables Genet's singularity to be expressed, and in turn allows for the singularity of the spectator.

How do we build for a specific place and culture in the age of globalization, where the notion of culture has become fluid and drawn from a multiplicity of locations? This thesis argues that rather than relying on ideologies of symbols, an authentic regional architecture must derive its meaning through the experience of localized rituals that take place over time, and thus give constancy to place. The notion of cultural identity in this thesis is explored through the story of the Baths and the Mineral Spring in Sofia, Bulgaria. This story takes us from the origins of the city, through its cultural mutations and transformations and finally to the questions posed by the decommissioned Baths. The thesis design proposal outlines an alternate architectural strategy to the current proposal: converting the Bath House into a prestigious spa center and ‘Museum of Sofia’. The alternate design in contrast, addresses the importance of place specific ritual and the still enduring practice of spring water collection - which has now been dislocated from the main Baths square. The question of authenticity in the design for the Baths Square is connected to the changing notion of cultural identity. The origins of which are rooted in our response to a particular environment; a rapport which has framed our social ideologies, cultural practices, and their formal manifestations. However, within the regimes of globalization cultural identity has become uprooted from ‘place’ and has come into crisis. In response to this crisis of identification, there is a frantic desire to reaffirm the local and re-envision a collective identity. This thesis proposes an architecture of the material imagination - which recognizes the multiplicity of our cultural reality today. It creates spaces that are not designed primarily on the visual level of the symbol but rather spaces which are to be experienced sensorially and habitually; only then becoming part of the collective experience and identity of the culture. These spaces reduce the specificity of the symbol as a depiction of ‘one’ identity, and rather derive cultural meaning from the experience of a unique and hierophantic place, and its living practice.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis examines the coexistence of traumatic themes and Masonic content in the work of contemporary visual artists. The project originated with a discovery of the depiction in my own artwork, produced in the context of a professional art career, of traces of terrifying early initiatory experiences in the context of a Masonic Lodge and using Masonic ritual and regalia. A number of key Masonic authors suggest that the Order draws on a mixed ancestry that contains not only the orderly and sombre rituals based on the practices of the early cathedral builders, but also initiatory rites from various cult groups of the Classical world that involve a course of severe and arduous trials. Recent research by scholars examining cult practices has indicated the existence of Masonic ritual abuse of children, based on the reports of a substantial number of survivors in western countries. Premised on this discovery, the thesis constitutes a feminist and interdisciplinary investigation into the impact of hidden fraternal initiation practices on the production of contemporary art. Examining Masonic themes, symbols and allegories in the context of the contemporary debates about trauma, the thesis initially argues that the concepts used to describe the impact of trauma on the individual psyche may be observed in symbolic form in the rites and practices of the Masonic tradition. This leads into an exploration of the work of five high profile international contemporary artists - the American artists Matthew Barney, Bruce Nauman and Paul McCarthy, an early career painter Mark Ryden, and the Australian artist Ken Unsworth - as case studies, arguing that similar traces of initiatory trauma, along with Masonic references, may be identified in their work. Incorporating insights from trauma theory, scholarly discussions of initiation rites and ritual abuse, combined with knowledge of Masonic practices, this groundbreaking study sheds new light on these artists' work, in particular, on those aspects of the work that have hitherto remained obscure and perplexing for critics. The thesis also includes an examination of my own artwork in this light.

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-170).

Zugl.: Erfurt, Univ., Diss., 2006

Thesis (M.A.)--Eastern Illinois University, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-81).