An emerging program is developing between Canada’s Department of Justice and Indigenous Communities, addressing incarceration and recidivism rates among Canada’s Indigenous peoples. Both parties concede current rehabilitation programs have proven ineffective, if not detrimental to the population as we witness a fracturing of fragile human relationships – self, community and spirit. The design proposal integrates the mandate of the Canadian justice system with Indigenous ceremonial activity. The community of the Okanese First Nation located in Saskatchewan informs the project and guides the exploration of ceremony, site, history and action in the interior environment.

An emerging program is developing between Canada’s Department of Justice and Indigenous Communities, addressing incarceration and recidivism rates among Canada’s Indigenous peoples. Both parties concede current rehabilitation programs have proven ineffective, if not detrimental to the population as we witness a fracturing of fragile human relationships – self, community and spirit. The design proposal integrates the mandate of the Canadian justice system with Indigenous ceremonial activity. The community of the Okanese First Nation located in Saskatchewan informs the project and guides the exploration of ceremony, site, history and action in the interior environment.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [229]-236).

This thesis examines the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, which was an unprecedented effort by the Chinese Party-state to reinvent Chinese national culture for consumption at home and abroad. Director Zhang Yimou delivered a spectacular event – three-thousand chanting Confucian scholars, two-thousand Ming Dynasty sailors, a grid of giant dancing printing blocks and an endless display of fireworks presented a sensational spectacle of Chinese culture and history. How should we interpret these symbols representing a romantic Chinese past? I argue that the “ancient” history on display in the Opening Ceremony is actually a product of China’s recent past: its interactions with the West, revolution, nationalism and communism, and the turn toward capitalism and authoritarianism. This thesis pulls the Opening Ceremony back into this historical context, closely examining three of its most prominent symbols: Zheng He and his voyages to the Indian Ocean, the Four Great Inventions, and Confucius. My results show that, 1) far from being a product of China’s history alone, these symbols are a co-production of China and the West, in which both identities were mutually constituted; 2) they are created in the context of political power, and take on different meanings in response to political shifts; 3) they suggest a state desire for power and status rather than simply a revival of cultural heritage. This research will contribute to an understanding of the modern political uses of Chinese history. / Graduate

Name Liturgy of Engagement Abstract The thesis focuses on the phenomenon of blessing during engagement in liturgical ceremony of blessing the engaged couple. The aim of the diploma thesis entitled Liturgy of Engagement was to collect data of lay blessing ritual development in history up to present time with the focus on liturgical ceremony of blessing of the engaged couple using compilatory-analytical method. Using synthetic method the collected data were evaluated in their possible development. The thesis is divided in three chapters. The first chapter is based on compilation of secondary literature with subseqent elaboraton together with secondary documents related to lay blessing ceremonies in the history of liturgy. The second chapter deals with the analysis of primary literature about historical development of lay blessing in the engagement ceremony with the primary focus on historical development in the Order of Celebrating Matrimony and the Order of Blessings. The third chapter introduces the synthesis showing the importance of current ritual of engagement ceremony and the purpose of blessing the engaged couple for their preparation for the sacrament of marriage. The diploma thesis shows permanent development of liturgical ceremony of blessing the engaged couple and the importance of connection the...

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Hearths and cooking pits are common remains from the Bronze Age. It is a trace of human activity possibly over a short or sometimes a longer period of time. Settlement, cooking and crafts are what we associate them with, but these remains have an underestimated potential to tell us more about the people who used them. Being o pen to a broader perspective might provide a  better understanding of the phenomena. By examining more closely new interpretations of hearths and cooking pits, we see new meaning and significance of these features which can be seen as a previously overlook ed cultural expression. Based on previous studies, the thesis will further explain and argue for the cultural significance of hearths and cooking pits from the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

This dissertation deals with ritual and its connection to music. The objective of the research and the studies of selected rituals is to describe the relations between ritual and the music- dance elements within it. The dissertation focuses on musical expression. In the dissertation we describe a few traditional rituals from the European cultural heritage, and also some selected examples of secular ceremonies in relation to them. Sources of information include field research, studies of authentic ritual (filmed by Lubomír Tyllner), as well as specialist literature. The concept of "ritual" means, for us, a performance, a symbolic activity, the aim of which is to create and to consolidate social bonds, and to regulate, conserve and transmit social habits and manners. It prescribes behavior which should help an individual to win favour with supernatural powers, or which could have a positive effect on achieving an intended goal. The important part of the ritual is the concept of "liminality", and in addition "The communitas" status of the community. Victor Turner, who studied these aspects of ritual in detail, distinguished the term "ritual" from "secular ceremony" by the existence of liminality. In ritual and secular ceremony music performs many functions, and seems to be a very essential part of...

70 ABSTRACT The topic of my Master's degree thesis is institution of "Marriage". I chose this topic because I am interested in family law and I would like to be an attorney focusing on this area of law in future. I also think that marriage is an important legal and social institute, which proves its long-standing history. This thesis reflects the historical development of the law but it mainly deals with legislation in force. Specifically it deals with the origin of marriage, dissolution of marriage and the legal consequences that legal negotiation brings. I also pay attention to the legal regulation of rights and responsibilities of spouses. The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is dedicated to an introduction. The next three chapters deal with the actual institution of marriage and its aspects. The fifth and last chapter is the conclusion. In addition to these chapters thesis contains the Content, the Bibliography and the Annexes. The second chapter describes the historical development of legal regulation of marriage. This chapter is divided into two subchapters, the first of which is devoted to marriage in Roman law and the other depicts the development of legislation marriage on Czech territory. Chapter Three discusses legislation in force of marriage in the Czech Republic and...