This thesis aims to provide a critique of the conclusions of Gershom Scholem regarding the potential for ‘Gnostic’-Kabbalistic filiation, and to establish whether, in light of the available evidence, Scholem’s arguments (which have yet, to my mind, to be sufficiently challenged) can be reasonably supported. I strive to offer an arguably clearer definition of the relevant taxonomic terms than is often presented in scholarly analyses of this question, whilst also arguing for the applicability to this debate of certain pertinent methodological approaches drawn from the wider school of comparative mythology. As such, I also attempt to establish a clear methodology for judging the probability of the genetic descent of one ‘system’ from another, viz. that perhaps the most logical method for assessing potential similarities between different ‘systems’ is to assume in the first instance that all correspondences identified are essentially coincidental, dismissing this assumption only if one can identify a high level of exactness in these comparisons (such as would render pure coincidence relatively improbable) and/or establish a secure chain of transmission between two sources, a chain which renders the transmission of ideas not only possible but indeed probable. Applying this methodology to certain potential routes by which second century ‘Gnostic’ thought might have been transmitted to the origin point of the medieval Kabbalah, I attempt both to demonstrate the wider applicability of such a methodology beyond the narrow question of ‘Gnostic’-Kabbalistic relationships, and to illustrate the serious difficulties with advancing any of these potential routes as a reliable source for the transmission of ‘Gnostic’ ideas to the Kabbalah. Rather, I argue that it may be more logically defensible, in the absence of clear source evidence, to ascribe such correspondences as are located purely to coincidence, albeit a coincidence perhaps somewhat tempered by certain observations regarding the relative ubiquity of certain concepts and modes of thought.

The individual's experience of inner authority takes centre stage in the majority of scholarship on New Ageism, with many writers highlighting this theme as a defnitive characteristic of the spiritual culture. The aim of this thesis is to explore this topic and to ascertain the place of the individual and the collective within two commercial New Age feld sites in London. The qualitative data which lead this investigation were collected from a yoga centre called Shanti and a Suf dance organisation called the Suf Order. From this data, the thesis identifes an individual-collective dialectic, one which manifests in particular forms and with divergent orientations; the result is a multiplicity of types of individualisms which include collective forces. The study makes the case for this argument by focusing on four modes in which, at both sites, the individual and the collective co-produce each other. One, the (collective) class culture of the practitioners informs and is informed by the (individual) ideologies of self that the informants assert. Two, the (collective) capitalist context of the organisations infuence and are perpetuated by the ways the (individual) representatives of those organisations express themselves. Three, (collective) shared principles regarding 'positivity' and 'energy' enforce and are sustained by the (individual) feelings of the student. Four, the (collective) communities of practitioners depend on and contribute to the (individual) set apart status of the teacher. These four manifestations of the individual-collective dynamic appear with different orientations in each feld context; in all versions and in both settings, individual and collective are both present and mutually- constituting forces, but at Shanti the dialectics lean more towards the personal and at the Suf Order, the 'same' dialectics lean more towards the social. Each organisation refects and adds to the intersections, both in their forms and their orientations. In so doing, the two New Age centres present divergent balances of the individual-collective dynamic that correlate with the personal and social dispositions of their respective student bodies.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Celia Maki Tomimatsu.pdf: 4178101 bytes, checksum: f9ab4cd9bf8b4d0bd1d305d30fd81f8f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-14 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The object of this research is an investigation about the disposition of good and evil in the Hindu text Bhagavadgītā, which passage is inserted in Book VI of the Indian epic Mahābhārata. The goal is to reflect about the human condition that permeates the passage of Bhagavadgītā, about the ideas of good and evil, especially in the context of the dialogue between the main characters of this chapter: the god Kṛṣṇa and his friend Arjuna, the Pāṇḍava worrier. The hypothesis is that, in this epic, neither the dialogue nor the narrated battle, represent an external action of an individual, but, due to the concept of dharma in Hinduism, an inside; / Este trabalho tem como objeto de pesquisa a investigação sobre as disposições do bem e do mal no texto hindu Bhagavadgītā, cuja passagem está inserida no Livro VI do épico indiano Mahābhārata. O objetivo é refletir sobre a condição humana que permeia na passagem de Bhagavadgītā, principalmente no que diz respeito à ideia acerca do bem e do mal no contexto do diálogo entre os principais personagens deste capítulo: o deus Kṛṣṇa e seu amigo Arjuna, o guerreiro Pāṇḍava. A hipótese é que, neste épico, nem o diálogo nem a batalha narrada representam uma ação externa de um indivíduo, mas um discernimento interno dos valores morais segundo o conceito de dharma do Hinduísmo, tendo, portanto, as ações de Arjuna e tudo que o envolve como uma metáfora da condição humana para distinguir o bem do mal. A metodologia escolhida foi a pesquisa bibliográfica baseada em autores especializados como Sri Aurobindo (AUROBINDO, 1995), Angelika Malinar (MALINAR, 2007), Paramahansa Yogananda (KRIYANANDA, 2007), Surendranath Dasgupta (DASGUPTA, 1952), entre outros. O resultado desta dissertação procura colaborar na discussão de tópicos como traduções e valores interculturais, que de acordo com as leituras do bem e do mal do dharma Hindu, devem ser considerados fora do escopo do pensamento ocidental e de qualquer julgamento de valor

Trafficking in persons is a phenomenon that threatens not only basic human rights but also source, passage and destination countries / therefore, it rightfully draws international attention. Being a global threat, it necessitates cooperation and intervention. The aim of the thesis is to analyze anti-trafficking efforts in Turkey by focusing on a particular international initiative. To this end, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is selected as a case and its activities in Turkey are mentioned with the ultimate goal of questioning its effectiveness in the process of fighting against trafficking in persons. The thesis examines the phenomenon of trafficking in persons with a conceptual analysis by dwelling upon the objectives, function and perspective of the IOM. It concentrates on the IOM, which actively assists the Turkish government in every aspect of migration and in combating human trafficking with a particular focus on trafficking in women through the counter-trafficking program implemented in 2004. The thesis also aims at evaluating whether international and local actors take effective actions that cover both the prevention and punishment of trafficking in women, and the protection of victims&rsquo / rights. The binding international legal instrument on the subject matter, the UN Trafficking Protocol of 2000, will be referred to and different approaches to the evaluation of the problem will be mentioned so as to present the focal points of the varying goals.

FRAME ALIGNMENT STRATEGIES IN THE RIGHT TO SHELTERING MOVEMENT: THE CASE OF DIKMEN VALLEY, ANKARA Aykan, Beg&uuml / m M.S., Department of Sociology Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Helga Rittersberger Tili&ccedil / July 2011, 146 pages By the increasing hegemony of neoliberalism following the 1980s, urban transformation projects are becoming increasingly widespread. The present market oriented and rent seeking formulations of the urban transformation projects, leave the gecekondu dwellers who live in the areas to be transformed, outside the redistribution process of the produced rent and lead to the eviction of lower-income gecekondu population from the city to the periphery. Dislocations of this sort as they impose additional burdens to the already disadvantageous populations enhance the urban unevenness. Nevertheless there is an expanding gecekondu resistance against those projects. And Dikmen Valley Right to Sheltering Movement (DVRtSM) is a successful social movement that has been emerged by the organization of this gecekondu resistance which has developed against the implementation of the 4th and 5th Phases of Dikmen Valley Urban Transformation Project. DVRtSM has a strong influence over similar cases of grievances sourced by the neoliberal urbanization: as to this it can be regarded as a model of Right to Sheltering Movements. v The thesis aims to make an analysis of the strategic framing processes of the organization of the DVRtSM, by exploration of the frame alignment strategies which are regarded as decisive factors of movement

Information and communication technologies and their innovative apparatuses have extensive social consequences. The basic interest of this thesis is to argue whether the information technologies and their technological apparatuses have the power to breach in the current capitalist system and therefore to lead us into a transformation towards an alternative world. In fact, this study more specifically attempts to argue and make sense out of this argument on the basis of an analysis of the Free Software Movement (FSM), since it is a product of the information technologies and has some suggestions for such a transformation towards a new society. Simultaneously, the study also argues the novel parts of the FSM as a new social movement and change agent of today&#039 / s contemporary world with reference to the literature on social movements.

This study examines critically how women in poverty use their labor in the production and reproduction processes against poverty and the effects of these processes on women becoming poor referring to women&amp / #8217 / s knowledge. The material foundation of women&amp / #8217 / s poverty is conceptualized as a two-way devaluation of women&amp / #8217 / s labor used in social reproduction. Patriarchal, cultural and ideological structures and relationships are studied as other determinants of women&amp / #8217 / s poverty. In this framework, women&amp / #8217 / s poverty studied based on a field research conducted on 120 women in EskiSehir province, consisting of regular and irregular workers, housewives, married and single mothers. Household is the basic unit of analysis of women&amp / #8217 / s poverty. The scope that women&amp / #8217 / s poverty experiences are questioned are the following: women&amp / #8217 / s labor in production process, women&amp / #8217 / s domestic labor, women participating in social life, violence against women, their perception of poverty and their place in power relations.

No description available.

Norme-pratique écart ou rapport dialectique ? C'est ce que ce travail a tenté de montrer à travers un choix de fatāwā, concernant le commerce, émises par les fuqahā´ de l'Ifrīqiyya hafside. L'intérêt de cette recherche, dans laquelle on s'est posé la question de l'interaction norme-pratique, est que la hiérarchie des normes, principe universel chez Kelsen, et principe applicable à l'Islam selon les juristes musulmans, trouve une exception avec la question du`urf. Les fatāwā, qui sont des questions-réponses, indiquent que le fiqh n'a pas tout réglé et que la société musulmane est en perpétuelle évolution. Nouvelles pratiques, nouvelles normes. Dans ce travail qui concerne l'interaction entre norme juridique et pratique sociale dans le domaine des transactions commerciales en Ifrīqiyya médiévale. La première partie est consacrée à la réflexion sur le concept de norme. La deuxième partie, s'intéresse à appliquer ce concept de la norme aux corpus classiques des sources normatives arabes (Coran, Sunna, iǧmā`, qiyās), pour en dégager le référent normatif sur lequel s'appuient les fuqahā' de l'Ifrīqiyya hafside. Et la dernière partie s'est consacrée, à l'exposition, à la traduction et l'analyse d'une sélection de fatāwā afin d'illustrer l'interaction de la norme et de la pratique. / Norm-practice gap or dialectical relationship? That's what this work attempted to show through a selection of fatāwā issued by the fuqahā´ of hafsid Ifrīqiyya. The interest of this research, in which we posed the question of the interaction between norm and practice, is that the hierarchy of norms, Kelsen universal principle, and principal applicable to Islamic is an except with the question of `urf. The fatāwā which are questions and answers, indicate that the fiqh has not quiet settled and the Muslim society is constantly changing/ new practices, new norms. In this work regarding the interaction between legal norms a social practice in the field of commercial transactions in medieval Ifrīqiyya. The first part is devoted to reflection on the concept of norm. The second part, is interested in applying this concept of norm to the classical Arabic normative sources (Coran, Sunna, iǧmā`, qiyās), to identify the referent normative. And the last part is devoted to exposition, translation an analysis of selected fatāwā to illustrate the interaction between norm and practice.

Memoria para optar al grado de Licenciado en Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales / Aunque se suele afirmar que las leyes penales en blanco constituyen, ante todo, una técnica legislativa, pocos autores han intentado extraer consecuencias analíticas de esta aserción. En general, su estudio se concentra en las denominadas leyes penales en blanco “propias”, debido a que son las únicas que tensionan la garantía de la lex scripta. Estudiar estas figuras a partir de la técnica legislativa, sin embargo, obliga a emprender un análisis no directamente sobre ellas, sino que sobre su tertium genus: las remisiones normativas. Soslayar este punto de partida puede conducir a errar sobre la clase de remisión que entraña un determinado tipo penal y, en consecuencia, errar sobre su constitucionalidad. El presente trabajo constituye un análisis crítico de las sentencias dictadas por el Tribunal Constitucional, entre el 2006 y el 2016, que recayeron sobre aquellos requerimientos de inaplicabilidad por inconstitucionalidad en contra del delito de incumplimiento de deberes militares del artículo 299 N°3 del Código de Justicia Militar. Desde el primer requerimiento en adelante, en noviembre de 2006, habiendo sobrados motivos para hacerlo, nadie parece haber cuestionado el desacierto de nuestro Tribunal Constitucional al calificar al citado precepto como penal en blanco. Lo particular de este análisis, además de controvertir esa calificación, se ve reflejado en el lugar desde donde se levanta el discurso crítico: la lex certa; ya que aquella es la manifestación del principio de legalidad penal que se ve tensionada con la cada vez más frecuente técnica legislativa de remisión normativa