Funeral ritual was a form of cultural performance that Victorian society modified both to reflect and to reinforce the ideological assumptions upon which nineteenth-century industrialism and commercialism were based. As a socially significant act, the funeral afforded participants a symbolic resolution to the contradictions inherent in industrial culture. In the Victorian funeral material goods ironically signified spiritual values. Charles Dickens presided over a similar evolution in fiction. His revival of the serial format and the innovative marketing of his work displaced more traditional notions of artistic creation by placing 'art' clearly in the 'marketplace' of ideas Despite their reliance on commercialism, both the funeral and the novel effaced their participation in the material exchanges of Victorian culture. Each form evoked a sense of the spiritual to counter the materialism of commodification--the funeral claimed an inherently religious nature that celebrated transcendence over material concerns, while the novel claimed an essentially aesthetic role as art, the deliberate celebration of the imaginative. This prevailing tension between the material impulse of commercialism and the spiritual desire for transcendence over the vicissitudes of industrialization and commercialization defines Victorian culture. In the juncture of the funeral represented in the novel, moreover, the contradictions that each form symbolically resolves tend to stand out in relief This study focuses primarily on represented funerals in three of Charles Dickens's novels--The Old Curiosity Shop, Martin Chuzzlewit, and David Copperfield--funeral scenes that have been read generally as either satirical pictures painted by a social reformer or as reflections of a romantic preoccupation with death. Both of these views tend, however, to oversimplify the role Dickens's fictional funerals play as sites at which cultural values are negotiated. Those ideological concerns reflect not just society's changing values and assumptions about wealth, class, and social mobility but Dickens's own concerns and anxieties for both himself as an artist and for the serial novel as a form of art. In each of these novels Dickens replicates the same spiritual/material tension he calls into question in the funeral scenes and reveals the extent of his own investment in the ideological forms of his culture / acase@tulane.edu

The present study focuses on the pragmatic and sacred relationship between humans and geography and the way in which that relationship is manifested in worldview. In particular, this investigation is concerned with how residents in a Kaqchikel Maya community on the slopes of a volcano perceive of and interact with the world around them, creating their conceptualization of space through the daily processes of living Residents of Santa Maria de Jesus conceptualize space in a highly ordered manner based on where they live, how they live, and the legacy of ancestors who lived there before them. For residents, space has well-defined centers and less-structured peripheries. The most important center is 'community,' the social and physical nexus of life and an integral component of contemporary and historical identity Although Santa Maria de Jesus is a center, residents recognize that it is not the only center. Residents' perceptions of communities and cultures beyond Santa Maria lend insight into a worldview in which Santa Maria functions as both center and periphery within a spatial conceptualization that allows for multiple centers and multiple peripheries The sacred landscape in Santa Maria is coterminous with the physical landscape. Saints' domain is the center (the community), while spirit owners of the mountains inhabit the periphery (the fields and forests outside the town proper). Both types of supernatural entities are connected integrally to residents' collective history on the slopes of Volcan de Agua. Beliefs and practices concerning both saints and spirit owners help to conserve cultural knowledge and living traditions in Santa Maria de Jesus / acase@tulane.edu

The Coles Creek culture that developed during the Late Woodland period in the Lower Mississippi River valley is known for the construction of numerous earthen mound-and-plaza centers. An important characteristic of Coles Creek mound centers was the widespread use of mounds as platforms for activities and wooden-post buildings. Several archaeologists have interpreted the structural remains and midden deposits on Coles Creek mounds as evidence that high status leaders began living on mounds (e.g., Brown 1987; Kidder 1992a; Steponaitis 1986:385--386; Williams and Brain 1983:333--336, 407) To investigate the functions of Coles Creek platform mounds, excavations were conducted at the Raffman site, a large Coles Creek mound-and-plaza center in Madison Parish, Louisiana. The two primary goals of this research project were to refine the construction chronology at the site and to test the hypothesis that Coles Creek platform mounds were residence locations for high status leaders. Extensive excavations were conducted on Mound B at Raffman to determine whether this platform mound was the location of a residence, and if so, whether the occupants had privileged access to material goods Stratigraphic profiles, diagnostic ceramics, and radiocarbon dates from recent excavations on Mounds B and G as well as from previous excavations at Raffman were used to examine the construction chronology of the site. Radiocarbon dates and ceramics from mound midden deposits suggest multiple platform mounds may have been used at the same time, but larger ceramic samples and additional radiocarbon dates are needed to clarify the timing of mound use at the site Investigations at Raffman thus far do not support the idea that Coles Creek mounds were chiefly residential locations. However, this research does not definitively resolve the issue. Although the material culture remains on Mound B could be interpreted as domestic debris, cultural features suggest the mound was not the location of a permanent or semi-permanent residence. Debris from food preparation and consumption and from limited lithic reduction activities is located on the summit and eastern slope of the mound. Structural debris was uncovered on the mound summit, but the sparse pattern of postmolds suggests the structure was not used and maintained for a long period of time. A plausible alternative interpretation of the features and artifacts associated with Mound B is that they are the result of periodic, ceremonial events at the mound site / acase@tulane.edu

Today there are over 70,000 Ethiopian Jews living in Israel, many of whom immigrated in two mass movements in the mid 1980's and early 1990's. Among the many cultural practices they brought with them is a spirit possession complex called zar. Zar centers around a class of invisible entities that cause illness and misfortune. Zar practices include healing therapies involving trance ceremonies, fortune telling, and daily coffee ceremonies This dissertation explores the ways zar has been integrated with Israeli lifeways in the realms of mainstream religious practice, ethnic identity, psychiatry, and public culture. Critical methodological concerns arise in the study of zar in Israel connected to working in a multi-cultural, urban environment and the importance of observation and other phenomenological techniques in studying embodied cultural phenomena. The zar complex itself developed through a series of historical conjunctures leading to its recent manifestations in Ethiopia and Israel. Zar has undergone transformations and expansions as it has been reconciled with beam Israeli cultural practices, especially in terms of Judaism and biomedicine. In both cases, ethnic identity and changing citizenship status have influenced the psychiatric and religious discourses and practices surrounding zar. In addition, zar is portrayed and consumed by Ethiopian Jews and other Israelis through mass media and public culture. Mass media places zar in a public and political field of discourse. Ethiopian Jews resist and react to this process as their traditions are re-created in art exhibits, tourist attractions, and films based on zar and the related coffee ceremony Overall, zar must be recognized as a phenomenon that extends beyond essentialized views of spirit possession into many facets of daily life. Zar in Israel illustrates the manner in which contradictions between modernity and tradition, mainstream and minority religious practices, and therapeutic discourses are resolved / acase@tulane.edu

Federal 'Indian law' defines and maintains the unique political status of certain American Indian tribes as dependent-but-sovereign nations within the United States. The resulting political separation of these tribes and their members from the dominant society carries socio-cultural implications of interest to anthropologists. The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 was Congress's response to an ever-increasing flood of imported counterfeit American Indian jewelry, bead-work, and other handcrafts, and secondarily addresses the problem of impostor Indian artists in the United States. The statute prohibits the sale or offering for sale of arts and crafts as Indian-made when they are not. Despite the magnitude of the problem and the Indian initiative behind its enactment, it has generated controversy in the Indian arts and crafts world because it defines 'Indian' and 'Indian tribe' in an arbitrary manner, that is, in a manner not logically connected to the purpose of the statute and contrary to many social usages of those terms. An Indian artist or craftsman must now be a member of a federally or state-recognized tribe or certified by either as an artisan. This requirement of affiliation with a political entity disregards the ancestral, socio-cultural, and historical factors upon which Indian identity is based. The extraordinary difference in legal status between federal and state recognition of tribes and in the degree of meaningful criteria for tribal affiliation by individuals results in an arbitrary process, with arbitrary results, regarding self-identification by an artist or craftsperson The statute works its social mischief in several ways. It confuses political and governmental tribal functions with individual ethnic activity (identifying oneself as Indian in connection with offering one's art for sale) and results in shifts of power relationships. The statutory freezing of the definition of 'Indian' can be argued to create a new type of intellectual property. The Act may create a 'racial' category with the inclusion of state-recognized tribes, and it probably violates the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression. It may also threaten the most precious of the tribes' rights, their sovereignty / acase@tulane.edu

This dissertation is an ethnography of cultural pluralism in a Fulbe community in Cameroon's Extreme North province. Fulbeness, medicine, gender, and Islam are the principle foci through which Fulbe culture is viewed. Emphasis is placed on the complex, shifting, and often contradictory discourse of Fulbe people themselves. Medical pluralism is but one aspect of cultural pluralism, as the tensions between men and women, Islam and paganism, and Fulbe and non-Fulbe interract in complex ways. The medical section centers on the discourse of people who are not experts in medicine, but who nonetheless employ a wide variety of therapeutic disciplines in preventing and managing affliction. The thesis explores the relation between people and the various orders of knowledge and power which are embedded in the various cultural discourses of the Fulbe terrain / acase@tulane.edu

The general purpose of this study was to determine if there were any significant differences in search behavior between Cubans and Puerto Ricans due to ethnic identification, purchasing involvement, and social class. The total sample consisted of 170 households, 81 Cubans and 89 Puerto Ricans. Five main instruments were used to discuss the research questions: Webster's (1992) search information questionnaire, Slama and Tashchian (1985) Purchasing Involvement Scale, Gaski and Etzel (1986) Index of Consumer Sentiment Toward Marketing, Valencia's Hispanicness Index (1985) and Hollingshead's Two Factor Index of Social Class Position (1965). To analyze the data ANOVA and MANOVA methods were used. / Both subgroups were classified as highly Hispanic, were more highly educated than previous findings had shown and belonged to the middle income class. No significant differences were found in the demographic characteristics or in the information sources of reference groups, store related sources, and miscellaneous readership. Reference groups was the most influential source, followed by store related sources, miscellaneous readership and advertising. Advertising was the only source of information that showed a significant difference. Newspapers were the most influential advertising source followed by television. Puerto Ricans were significantly more influenced than Cubans by newspapers and brochures, product labels and magazines, and by in-store coupon use. Family was the reference group of most influence followed by friends. Puerto Ricans were more influenced by Consumers Report and Cubans were more influenced by Yellow Pages. Window shopping was the store-related source considered the most influential followed by in-store point of purchase. / Puerto Ricans were significantly more involved in the purchasing process than Cubans. No significant differences were found in the personal appearance importance for either subgroups. Personal appearance was more important than fashion consciousness. The most informative activity was visits to clothing stores but no significant differences were found between the subgroups. Most of the sample did not read clothing magazines or catalogs. No significant differences were found in the subgroups' attitudes toward marketing practices. Quality of products was extremely important followed by price and selling conditions. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-01, Section: A, page: 0278. / Major Professor: Mary Ann Moore. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

Information technologies originally designed for use in one country are often transferred to countries with different cultures. A case in point are group support systems (GSS) whose major functions include the reduction of communication barriers and the support of group decision making. As decision making acquires much of its characteristics from the realities of culture, knowledge of how culture influences human decision processes represents a prerequisite for the systems design effort. This study focuses on the effects of culture on group decision making processes and associated outcomes between German and American nursing executives. / Specifically, a values survey was used to assess cultural differences in terms of the degree of importance and implementation of 30 terminal and 26 instrumental values. German respondents appeared to value higher prosocial values, while American respondents gave higher ratings to values associated with individualism, tradition, conformity, and security. In addition, a field study design involving observation of natural groups was used to examine differences in information, communication and decisional processes and outcomes of three American and three German groups of nursing executives. The study's results suggest a higher degree of information sharing, less centralized communication patterns, task orientation, and preference for procedural order, and higher levels of participatory decision making for the American groups. No differences were found with respect to satisfaction with information quality, use of decision schemes, and comprehensiveness of decision making. / These findings support the thesis that cultural differences in group decision making exist even between less diverse cultures. They imply that benefits of group support systems (GSS) such as greater task focus or equalization of participation may be different across cultural settings. This research also highlights the need to control for confounding factors such as preference for procedural order or task orientation when designing research investigating the effects of GSS on group decision making and interaction. Finally, the work with natural groups has led to the conclusion that ease of use and flexibility to accommodate the variety of tasks and needs of a group are prime considerations in the design and subsequent implementation of group support systems. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1435. / Major Professor: Thomas D. Clark. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

An ethnographic account of Coptic Orthodox Christians in Egypt, Cultivating Mystery argues that an anthropological study of miracles can help to explain the social world of a religious minority that perceives itself as beleaguered in the midst of a Muslim nation. Miracle accounts are one way by which a religious community constructs itself along moral lines and maintains, contests, and negotiates the social boundaries between self and other. An emphasis on materiality is intended to make a critical intervention in ongoing debates about belief by illuminating how religiously charged objects and language are constitutive of the relationship between inter-religious politics and faith as embodied practice. / The dynamic of miracles and materiality is further complicated by the mystery that emerges and is cultivated in this intersection. I employ the concept of mystery as an umbrella term for encounters with things not seen, or seen but not quite understood, encounters that seem always to elude capture in semiotic form, and yet can only be captured in semiotic form. A revelation is made in material form, yet the revelation itself conceals something from the religious practitioner. Gestures toward a largely invisible world, made by signs of the miraculous, are used to create relationships between heavenly beings and those on earth. These relationships, in turn, are taken by pious Copts as reflecting their moral superiority in the context of Muslim Egypt. / After introducing the concepts of mystery, materiality, and miracles in Chapter One, Part I of the dissertation examines the historical background that frames the current investment in the miraculous that one today finds among Copts. Chapter Two discusses the figure of Baba (Pope) Kyrillos VI (pope 1959-1971) who is widely considered a saintly man by contemporary Copts, and the current Coptic Pope, Shenouda III (1971-present) with a particular emphasis on the changing Church-State relationship over the last four decades. Chapter Three offers an analysis of the 1968 apparition of the Virgin Mary in a neighborhood of Cairo highlighting how the current political atmosphere, especially in terms of Muslim-Christian tensions, is imposed on a retrospective view of the apparition. / Part II explores the materiality of difference and piety. Chapter Four examines the increasing Coptic mobility around Egypt to Coptic holy sites and the ways in which the places visited and the very materiality of these places shape a particular mode of moral being all the while discreetly cultivating, on the one hand, a sense of mystery in encounters with the relics of holiness (such as the bones of saints), and, on the other hand, a sense of difference from the Muslim Other. Chapter Five expands on the previous chapter by specifically looking at two Coptic interlocutors' encounters with saints and the Devil through material objects. Of particular concern are the signs that for some Copts are taken to be indications of their piety. / Part III consists of one chapter (Chapter Six), which is a theoretical reflection on the relationship between faith and skepticism wherein I argue that not only are these facets of religious practice two sides of the same coin, but that it is perhaps in the space between them, between one's simultaneous embrace of the tenets of her religion and the skepticism that creeps up behind her, where mystery resides. To invoke, with a twist, a popular Biblical passage, faith without skepticism is dead.

This thesis explores the potential for ethico-politically committed cultural critique in investigating lived experiences of gender in the hegemonic global north, where the neo/liberal rhetoric of sexual equality tends to portray issues of gender as already sufficiently addressed. It argues that the ideological roots of dominant gender discourses can be productively explored through the interrelated histories of Christianities and neo/liberalisms that have powerfully shaped mainstream Canadian society. Supported by an extensive body of literature bringing religious studies, feminist, and queer theory to bear on sociological and political questions, this rhetoric is investigated by applying critical discourse analysis to transcripts of interviews conducted over a year of participant observation with the members of a local United Church women's discussion group. Findings suggest a complex set of attachments, rejections, and ambivalent attitudes toward those elements of feminism that have entered into the social, cultural, political and economic discourses that have become dominant in Canada. The discussion of results considers the forces which produced respondents' general complacency with the status quo of gender equality along with their hesitancy to make judgments about the validity of competing claims regarding gender ethics. Analysis concludes by examining the implication of these attitudes for the prospects of gender justice movements, especially those conceived in terms of allyship and coalition-building at the intersection of different axes of identity and practice.