<p> This study seeks to demonstrate connections between theatre and conflict, as inspired by metaphor and embodied by case studies of four theatrical organizations working in conflict zones: The Freedom Theatre in Palestine, Ajoka Theatre in Pakistan, DAH Teater in Serbia, and Belarus Free Theatre in Belarus. In so doing, it attempts to name the overlaps and relationships as sub-concepts that exist as connective tissue between conflict and theatre, writ large. These sub-concepts - subverting to play, imagining hidden histories, embodying the unspeakable, and blurring illusion and reality - offer a taxonomy of various dimensions of the theatre-conflict relationship. This taxonomy explores the symbiotic embeddedness of theatre and conflict as a possible explanation for the existence of theatrical organizations in conflict zones.</p>

<p> This Humanistic Social Science Dissertation is an exploration of the continuing belief in fairies as real in spite of over a millennium of sociopolitical and religious pressures aimed at the extinguishment of fairies. In this qualitative, phenomenological study, the belief narratives of eight subjects' encounters with fairy beings are examined.</p><p> For the purpose of this dissertation, the word fairy is based on but not limited to fairy scholar Katherine Briggs' definition and classification, which includes all spirits of the supernatural realms, except for angels, devils, or ghosts (i). Thus, "fairy" includes sylphs, subtle or intermediate beings, light fairies, nature elementals, pixies, leprechauns, elves, changelings, and brownies to name but a few. The fairy beings encountered by the interviewees are reflected against Celtic folklore established in classic works like Reverend Robert Kirk's 1691 manuscript (47) and Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz 1911 thesis.</p><p> Depth Psychology and science provide two additional lenses to explore fairy phenomena and belief since this dissertation seeks to investigate the relationship between reality and imagination, and between tradition, experiential knowing, and belief. Moreover, counterevidence and arguments to the prevailing cultural wisdom and beliefs that fairies and imaginal beings are impossible are examined. This study approaches the interviews from a perspective of cultural mythology and phenomenology with both emic and etic interests. The subjects experienced a moment of gnosis with fairy encounters and subsequently believed with unshaking resolve that fairies are real and true. In this context, C.G. Jung's concepts of the archetype and Henri Corbin's theories regarding the psychoid realm are helpful in understanding the Celtic Otherworld and Land of Fairy.</p><p> A constituent invariant model was developed to organize the data, and facilitated the emergence of key themes, including corroborated sightings, surprising shadows, and messages from nature beings. The belief in fairies continues and is part of an evolving, contemporary, and nature-based mythology that is very much alive.</p>

<p> Waste as a topic for anthropological investigation has enjoyed a recent resurgence in interest, mirroring burgeoning discussion among policy-makers and the general public about questions of environmental impacts, economic costs, and social detriments of contemporary waste management paradigms. While waste management in the United States has largely focused on technical and organizational solutions typically considered the domain of environmental planning and engineering (such as source reduction, recycling, and reuse), anthropology and the social sciences have become more prominently involved in efforts to inform policy-makers and researchers about the social and behavioral factors influencing waste norms and habits, particularly in educational institutions and municipal governments.</p><p> The central questions to this research were as follows: (1) What are some of the perceptions and practices concerning food waste at an environmental charter elementary school in Florida? (2) What do self-reported data on food waste behaviors suggest about disposal habits and norms? (3) What is the extent to which food is discarded relative to other types of refuse? and (4) From the perspectives of school staff and students, what are some of the factors influencing food waste?</p><p> To answer these questions, I employed both "garbological" and ethnographic methods at an environmental charter school, Learning Gate Community School, over a period of nine months, including (1) participant observation, (2) garbological audits of the cafeteria waste stream, (3) key informant interviews with students and staff, and (4) log sheets sent home to a random sample of parents to gauge the fraction of leftovers taken home that are ultimately discarded in order to gain a more holistic understanding of the waste stream of the school cafeteria. </p><p> The results of this project support the following conclusions: (1) students at Learning Gate tend to agree that food waste is a detriment, but these concerns are subordinate to factors such as the degree of hunger at lunchtime and the perceived palatability of certain food items and (2) lunch periods are an important block of unstructured time, which Learning Gate students use for a far broader variety of activities than merely nourishment </p>

<p> This dissertation sets forth a typology of contemporary collectors of objects of material culture. This study characterizes four types of collectors, identified by separate and unique abilities of inner and outward perception, which resonates in their collections as praxis. </p><p> This typology also analyses the degree of both conscious and unconscious meaning in the collection, which, over time and place, becomes a self-referential composition. The meaning of objects as perceived and handled relates to the collector's level of consciousness of this epistemological function. The form or kind of the object, although significant, is not the basis for this ontological study as much as the method of each type of collector in the handling of their collections. </p><p> The latent or manifest drive towards degrees of coherence or completion lies in the collection, a visual, relational structure created by the collector. This structure may result in conscious enquiry, realization, and individuation, or may build a material bastion of self-protection, due to unconscious compensation or denial. </p><p> The handling of objects is the handling of a personal relationship, as collectors do not simply perceive objects, they perceive with objects, over time, in praxis. This dissertation allows for the great significance of home, within which a collector curates objects. </p><p> This dissertation employs a multi-disciplinary and hermeneutical approach as befits each type of collector's idiosyncratic and heterogeneous relationship to lucid materiality. Four types of collectors, the <b>acquirer,</b> the <b>connoisseur,</b> the <b>fetishizer</b> and the <b>hoarder </b> exhibit a neoteric aesthetic of material culture, analyzed individually as types through selected methodologies: the depth psychological perspective, process theory, the mythological approach, and through semiotic structuralism. </p><p> This typographical analysis results in the discovery of four unique ways in which collectors create meaning from our material world with approaches to the nature and concept of a "thing." </p><p> How a thing becomes visual image, which becomes the structure of a psychic reality fortuitously grasped by a mind and the hand, is a reflection of the importance of objects and of a collector's personal epistemology. </p><p> A Production Component, a book called <i>Generosity of Eye: A Seasoned Appraiser Answers Clients' Questions,</i> discusses the evaluation of objects from the perspective of a professional appraiser.</p>

<p> Research has identified a problem of executive authorities in Africa that operate largely free of accountability and/or balance of power, often resulting in oppression, tyranny, or other abuses of power. In response to calls for greater understanding of indigenous African leadership (Littrell, 2011), this dissertation used problem-focused ethnographic methods to investigate characteristics of Gisu/Masaaba clan elder leadership in East Africa, specifically as elders interact with executive authority. Elders are a tribal form of leadership wherein leaders are embedded in the community but lack political power. The research question asked: What are the modalities indigenous to Gisu culture, specifically from elder councils, that facilitate accountability and balance of power in African governance, and how could biblical descriptions of elders be useful in the Gisu's self-perception and construction of elder-based leadership? The study (<i>N</i> = 49) employed participant observation as well as directed observation and interview-based participant listening with elders, youth, and government leaders to produce rich qualitative data. After coding emergent themes and categories, thick descriptions of Gisu clan elder leadership formed a foundation for analysis. Emergent themes were first analyzed using indigenous typologies and then using analyst-constructed typologies before being interpreted to present an indigenous portrayal of traditional Gisu elders' characteristics, concerns, actions, and modalities. Research data provided support for elders' facilitating accountability through speaking directly to the leader, escalating complaints to higher authorities, and taking the case to the public; the data also offered support, to a lesser degree, for elders facilitating balance of power related to executive authority through formation of supraclan bodies such as the <i>Inzu ya Masaaba</i> and Elders Forum as well as through persistently utilizing the modality of elders' voice to call for reform. Drawing from the research data, the author offered suggestions for how biblical descriptions of elders could be useful in the Gisu's self-perception and construction of elder-based leadership, specifically addressing two threats to elder self-perception and construction of elder-based leadership by way of reclaiming important traditional aspects of eldership.</p>

<p> This ethnographic study will analyze data collected through field-based observations, primary ritual texts, and locally conducted interviews of the yin-yang practitioners in the three small villages of Fanmagou, Qijiazhuang, and Wangdazhuang in northwestern China. The practice referred to as yin-yang in this region is part of an archaic folk religious system that can be traced back to at least the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Despite its deep cultural roots, it is becoming endangered due to the impact of national policies (governing religion and culture) and the general adaptation to modernity in China. Due to the localized nature of this cultural system, the main research method used will be qualitative ethnographic description, with a Geertzian "thick description" approach to interpretive analysis. The collected data is roughly divided into three categories: (1) transcriptions of interviews with yin-yang practitioners and other local villagers; (2) video tapes, photographs, and field notes of local religious rituals, specifically memorial and burial rites that are led by the yin-yang practitioners, and (3) my own translations of yin-yang scriptural texts that are used in leading the rituals themselves, as well as for the teaching and training of young yin-yang apprentices. The interpretive ethnography that is produced from these rich primary sources will also be considered for its curriculum applications in two primary higher education contexts: 1) As a rich primary source for courses in Chinese culture and language&mdash;conducted in either Chinese or English language context, and 2) As a source of engaging and culturally relevant texts for courses in content-based ESOL for Chinese students (in China presumably).</p>

<p> This ethnographic study looks at the development and practice of cultural citizenship among ten Mexican undocumented immigrant students at a Southern California university. Amid societal and governmental institutions such as immigration seeking to regulate citizen membership, undocumented students find a sense of belonging and incorporation through educational pathways. Not legally citizens, undocumented students encounter many obstacles to obtaining their degrees.</p><p> Consequently, students must "come out'' of the shadows to institutional gatekeepers and each other in order to access resources and public space. Through the process of coming out, undocumented students leave their liminal, undocumented status behind. Instead, they become citizens as social actors, seeking not only to participate in society--but reshape it. In this narrative, the ways undocumented students explore citizenship, "come out," and contest their status through everyday practices are examined. In developing alternative solutions to citizen-normative practices that seek to exclude the undocumented, the students are able to claim rights and space in their everyday lives and on a university campus.</p>

<p> This dissertation revolves around the riddle of how to honor seemingly disparate traditions such as West African (Dagara) divinatory practices and Western philosophical <i>praxis</i>. The project, following the participatory approach of Jorge Ferrer and Jacob Sherman, sets out to honor these differences by embracing the agapeic-erotic metaphysics of William Desmond, and in so doing delimits modern distinctions between science, philosophy, religion, and anthropology. Rather than move beyond the important scholarly contributions of these fields, however, this dissertation embarks on an interdisciplinary adventure between these traditions by critically reading the work of Philippe Descola and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro in parallel with Desmond. This project articulates multiple ecologies of participation, with totemism, animism, and naturalism foremost among them. It clarifies how Descola and Viveiros de Castro's robust reading of animist/Amerindian shamanic perspectivism is in keeping with Ferrer and Sherman's participatory enaction. It is critical of Viveiros de Castro's dismissal of totemism as overly abstract, as well as Descola's conflation of naturalism solely with post-Enlightenment thought, and his broad use of the category of analogism to include disparate traditions such as Vedic, Ancient Chinese, Greek, West African, and Central American thought. By way of clarifying this critique, this dissertation applies the same participatory understanding offered to animism by Descola and Viveiros de Castro to both totemic (divinatory) and naturalist (metaphysical/philosophical) enactions, placing all three under the broader heading of ecological perspectivism. The subsequent comparative lens allows for a more balanced reading of these three ecologies by broadening the use of these terms. By including the work of Desmond, it also answers important concerns leveled by critics regarding the metaphysical underpinnings of Descola and Viveiros de Castro's assertions regarding ontological relativity. In so doing, this project sets the stage for renewed dialogue between what are often seen as radically divergent traditions (e.g., the animism of the Achuar, the totemism of the Guugu Yimithirr, and the naturalism of modern science).</p>

This thesis establishes a framework for analysing and evaluating human rights within the contexts of global, African-Islamic and Sudanese cultural diversity. The normative impact of culture on international human rights is viewed from the perspective that culture is adaptive and flexible. African-lslamic culture, as exemplified by the Sudan, is no exception. / The first part of this thesis advances a theoretical framework for recognition of cultural diversity and its impact on human rights. Recognition of change as an integral part of culture is vital for a successful mobilisation of internal cultural norms to the support of international human rights. An important conclusion is that ruling elites and those engaged in human rights violations have no valid claim of cultural legitimacy. / The second part of the thesis examines the notion of human rights in traditional Africa and under Shari'a with a specific focus on conceptions of the individual, the nation-state and international law. It is argued that the African-Islamic context is an amalgam of both communitarianism and individualism; further, that the corrupt and oppressive nature of the nation-state in Islamic Africa demands an effective implementation of human rights as set out in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. / It is suggested in the third part of the thesis that three of the rights included in the African Charter are paramount to effective human rights protection in Islamic Africa: the right to self-determination, the right to freedom of expression and the right to participate in public life. These rights are examined within the Sudanese context in order to provide a more concrete illustration of their potential implementation. The dynamics of Sudanese culture are explored to exemplify a culturally responsive implementation of these rights. / This thesis contributes to the debate on the role of culture in enhancing the binding force of human rights and fundamental freedoms. It aims to inspire pragmatic discussion on the need for effective protection of human rights in order to alleviate the suffering of millions of Africans under existing ruthless and shameless regimes.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Drew University, 2006. / (UnM)AAI3222211. Adviser: C. Wesley Ariarajah. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2190.