Marriage may be viewed from several aspects: social, economic, religious, ethical, political, legal and anthropological. In recent years, several books on Marriage in the Talmud have been published in which their authors deal with the legal aspect of this institution. A study of Talmudic literature, however, leaves no doubt that the religious aspect of marriage constituted the main consideration of the Rabbis in formulating their Marriage laws. Conditions prevailing in Palestine and in Babylon during the first century B.C.E. and the four following centuries, compelled the Rabbis to stress the paramount importance of marriage as a religious duty. The nature of these conditions and how they influenced the Rabbis in their concept of marriage are fully discussed in the first two chapters. At the same time, the Rabbis felt that the social and economic aspects must not be overlooked. It may seam strange that for the purpose of marriage, Palestine should have been divided into three districts: Judea, Galilee and Transjordan. What is even more strange is the fact that a number of Babylonian scholars refused to marry into Palestinian families. This attitude of the Rabbis is fully explained in chapter three and various reasons are given to support their point of view. To the best of my knowledge, no complete picture of the various customs and ceremonials connected with betrothal and marriage in Talmudic times, has so far been presented. I have tried to rectify this omission. In my final chapters, I have tried to give not only a clear picture of the type of betrothal and wedding that took place in Palestine and Babylon during the Talmudic period, but I have also tried to analyse the various customs, ceremonials and rites in order to gain a clear understanding of their religious and social aspects. I have limited myself to the subjects indicated above as I considered them interrelated and of primary importance to the understanding of marriage in the rabbinic ideology. I have,therefore, omitted to deal with the rabbinic concept of divorce and other aspects of the relationship between husband and wife, as these topics require detailed treatment and could not, in my opinion, be included in the same dissertation.

This project explores luchador Rey Mysterio’s cultural figure and the way it is formed institutionally via ringside commentary and through the WWE’s approach to its media market; through his dialogue and performance of body; as well as the myriad ways his performance is interpreted by U.S. fans and around the world. Through the content analysis of four primary WWE texts, this thesis works to better understand how tropes of geography, space, and body interact with underlying (and sometimes very overt) themes of race, U.S. racial hierarchy, ethnicity, and nation presented via the spectacular theater of WWE performance. Important over-arching questions that this project strives to explicate upon focus on how embodiment and racial difference are presented in the U.S. historically and how Mexican American diaspora are represented through U.S. professional wrestling. / text

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The aim of the research is to examine the multiple spatial frameworks and materially manifested forms of memory by applying current memory studies theory to four areas of memorial experience: personal memory, civic memory, tourism and film. The thesis looks at memory practices based in the North East, particularly those that take place in Newcastle upon Tyne, and explores how the city is remembered in specific memory practices and institutions. Combining work in memory studies and cultural geography, the thesis highlights how memory is spatialized and is particularly concerned with the city that shapes, and is shaped by, memory and memory practices. Changes have taken place in the relationship between space, place and temporality that have affected memory and practices of memorialization. At first glance, the technologies we use and the spaces we inhabit can be interpreted as leading to a pervasive amnesia. The thesis challenges this assumption. It proposes that the concept of heterotopia provides a critical mode of reading memory spaces offering a more positive account of the way memory is currently being experienced. The thesis looks at how memory is realized in the fabric of the city and how the historical city itself is represented through the discursive practices of memorial public art, the museum and the cinema, creating a collective cultural memory. The particular contribution that this thesis makes is that it tests the explanatory power of the concept of heterotopia in relation to memorial sites and it applies memory studies to the city of Newcastle in a time of transition and renewal.

Narratives about the discovery of one’s favourite artist are popular discussion topics among adult pop music fans, as are narratives of rediscovery later in life, suggesting that memory and nostalgia are powerful forces that can repeatedly draw fans back to that affective moment when they first discovered, and perhaps rediscovered, their idols. The impact of cultural influences like pop music during the formative period of adolescence cannot be underestimated. Such early identifications with pop music icons enable some adolescents to then carry those attachments with them their entire lives, forming lifelong fandoms. Through an ethnographic investigation into one such fan community, adult female fans of ’80s heart throbs Duran Duran, this research focuses on ‘mature’ pop fans in an effort to explore an enduring and lifelong fandom that is deeply communal, entrenched in a worldwide network of other fans. Of particular interest is the way in which fans connect via a hybrid of online and offline interactions, as well as how the resulting interaction mix generates complex dynamics and hierarchies. While this research focuses on Duran fan culture, fans of other teen idols were surveyed for comparative purposes, in particular bands that also experienced a resurgence of success after announcing a ‘reunion’, including Take That and the Backstreet Boys. Parallels are also drawn to the lifelong loyalty expressed by fandoms of other artists who were not teen-pop pinups, such as David Bowie (Stevenson 2009) and R.E.M. (Bennett 2010), whose now ‘post-popular’ music (Hills 2010) has seen continued popularity among cult audiences for almost four decades.