Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of English, General Literature and Rhetoric, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

<p>The dominant narrative mode in Ainu studies today stresses an activist agenda that, although worthwhile, limits the potential for new research in the field. In this thesis, I analyze historical accounts of the development of Ainu bear carvings as a case study of the characteristics of the dominant activist mode and present an alternate narrative in order to demonstrate the need for a variety of approaches to Ainu research. </p><p> The activist narrative mode is structured to engender sympathy for Ainu people and respect for their cultural heritage. Activist accounts of Ainu bear carvings often claim that the carvers were pressured by the Japanese tourist industry to violate religious taboos against producing realistic depictions of bears. In this way, the carvings serve as a symbol of oppression of Ainu people under Japanese imperialism. At the same time, activist scholars state that the Ainu bear carvings followed a linear progression from tourist souvenirs to respected works of &ldquo;fine art.&rdquo; Thus, the carvings also reinforce optimistic projections regarding the future status of Ainu culture and socioeconomic condition. </p><p> My alternate narrative focuses on the complexities and ambiguities in the field and avoids judging events in moral or sympathetic terms. I explore a broad range of contextual issues, tracing the regional production of wooden bears from the paleolithic ancestors of Ainu people, examining the role of bears and woodcarving in Ainu culture, analyzing Ainu interactions with Japan, Russia, and other neighboring empires, and investigating the commodification of bear carvings as tourist souvenirs. </p><p> Activist narratives have contributed a wealth of valuable research to the field of Ainu studies and remain a useful tool for promoting social and cultural equality for Ainu people. However, automatic conformity to the dominant activist mode perpetuates the obfuscation of certain details in Ainu history, including the diversity within Ainu and Japanese cultures and institutions, instances of political cooperation between Ainu and Japanese communities, and unanswered questions regarding the complex development of Ainu cultural practices and beliefs. Although any historical account (including this thesis) inherently simplifies its subjects, varying our narrative approach helps us to identify and fill some of the gaps. </p>

nÃo hà / O presente trabalho de pesquisa busca refletir sobre as prÃticas populares de cura e a ciÃncia mÃdica no Cearà durante a segunda metade do sÃculo XIX. Tomamos o livro Medicina Caseira de Juvenal Galeno como fonte e objeto de anÃlise, uma vez que o livro se apresentou como uma produÃÃo inquietante, por se tratar de um livro de receitas caseiras, com prÃticas populares de cura, coletadas durante a segunda metade do sÃculo XIX e organizado em 1919, perÃodo em que a medicina cientÃfica no Cearà comeÃava a se estruturar enquanto ciÃncia legitimadora da doenÃa e da saÃde. Ao longo do processo de investigaÃÃo, localizamos pontos de aproximaÃÃes e distanciamentos entre as prÃticas de cura que envolvem o saber cientÃfico e popular. Tal percepÃÃo nos possibilitou refletir sobre como as prÃticas populares de cura permaneceram presentes e atÃ, em alguns casos, foram apropriadas pela medicina cientÃfica no seu processo de afirmaÃÃo enquanto prÃtica de intervenÃÃo no meio social e na sua busca de institucionalizaÃÃo. / The actual dissertation aims to reflect about the popular practices of healing and medical science in the state of CearÃ, Brazil, during the second half of the 19th century. The book âMedicina Caseiraâ (organized in 1919 by Juvenal Galeno) was taken as analysis source and object, because it showed itself as a disturbing production, since it deals with homemade recipes, popular practices of healing during that period, in a moment that medical science in Cearà was beginning to structure itself as a legitimating science of health and disease. Througt the process of investigation, some points of convergence and divergence were found out among the practices of healing that are related with scientific and popular knowledge. Such a perception allowed us to think about how these popular practices of healing are found at the present time and even, in some cases, were appropriated into the scientific medicine in its processo of affirmation while intervening practice in the social arena and in its search of institutionalization.

This thesis offers a new contextualisation of weather signs, naturally occurring terrestrial indicators of weather change (from, for example, animals, plants and atmospheric phenomena), in antiquity. It asks how the utility of this method of prediction was perceived and presented in ancient sources and studies the range of answers given across almost eight hundred years of Greek and Roman civilisation. The presentation of weather signs is compared throughout to that of another predictive method, astrometeorology, which uses the movement of the stars as markers of approaching weather. The first chapter deals with the presentation and discussion of weather signs in a range of Greek texts. It sees hesitant trust being placed in weather signs, lists of which were constructed so as to be underpinned by astronomical knowledge. The second chapter assesses how these Greek lists were received and assimilated into Roman intellectual discourse by looking to the strikingly similar practice of divining by portents. This lays the foundations for the final chapter, which describes and explains the Roman treatment of weather signs. Here, the perceived utility of weather signs can be seen to reduce rapidly as the cultural significance of astronomy reaches new heights. This thesis provides new readings and interpretations of a range of weather-based passages and texts, from the Pseudo-Theophrastan De Signis, to Lucan's Pharsalia, to Pliny's Natural History, many of which have previously been greatly understudied or oversimplified. It allows us to understand the social and scientific place of weather prediction in the ancient world and therefore how abstract and elaborate ideas and theories filtered in to the seemingly commonplace and everyday. I argue that between the 7th century BC and the end of the 1st century AD, the treatment of weather signs changes from being framed in fundamentally practical terms to one in which practical considerations were negligible or absent. As this occurred, astrometeorology comes to be seen as the only predictive method worthy of detailed attention. These two processes, I suggest, were linked.

The objective of this Master's thesis is to reflect personal memories of the folklore group members on ethnographic Chod festivals, which circle around the period from the fifties till the present day. As well as putting the emphasis on comparison between the memories made before and after 1989, I also focus on the component spheres of interpretation, such as topics about traveling of the Chod folklore groups before the year of 1989 or about music careers of each of the narrators. Furthermore, I observe the changes in political situations and its potential influence on Chod Festivals and its organization and the relationship of local folk groups. The primary sources of this thesis consist of interviews conducted by oral history method with former and current members of local folk groups. The text also derives from archived materials, period press and memoir literature. During the reflection on ethnographic festival the text observes not only historical and political aspect, but the musical and social aspect as well. The biggest contribution of the thesis is therefore the presentation of the topic from different points of view. Key words: Chod Festival, Folklore, bag pipers music, communism, traveling, Oral history.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 445-460).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 445-460).

No description available.

GADELHA, Georgina da Silva.Os saberes do corpo: a “medicina caseira” e as práticas populares de cura no Ceará (1860-1919). 2007. 187 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em História) - Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de História, Programa de Pós-Graduação em História Social, Fortaleza-ce, 2007. / Submitted by Raul Oliveira (raulcmo@hotmail.com) on 2012-06-25T14:24:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2007_Dis_GSGadelha.pdf: 1613483 bytes, checksum: e3839e4512787c006c935506ce9fa662 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Josineide Góis(josineide@ufc.br) on 2012-06-25T14:32:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2007_Dis_GSGadelha.pdf: 1613483 bytes, checksum: e3839e4512787c006c935506ce9fa662 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-06-25T14:32:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2007_Dis_GSGadelha.pdf: 1613483 bytes, checksum: e3839e4512787c006c935506ce9fa662 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / The actual dissertation aims to reflect about the popular practices of healing and medical science in the state of Ceará, Brazil, during the second half of the 19th century. The book “Medicina Caseira” (organized in 1919 by Juvenal Galeno) was taken as analysis source and object, because it showed itself as a disturbing production, since it deals with homemade recipes, popular practices of healing during that period, in a moment that medical science in Ceará was beginning to structure itself as a legitimating science of health and disease. Througt the process of investigation, some points of convergence and divergence were found out among the practices of healing that are related with scientific and popular knowledge. Such a perception allowed us to think about how these popular practices of healing are found at the present time and even, in some cases, were appropriated into the scientific medicine in its processo of affirmation while intervening practice in the social arena and in its search of institutionalization. / O presente trabalho de pesquisa busca refletir sobre as práticas populares de cura e a ciência médica no Ceará durante a segunda metade do século XIX. Tomamos o livro Medicina Caseira de Juvenal Galeno como fonte e objeto de análise, uma vez que o livro se apresentou como uma produção inquietante, por se tratar de um livro de receitas caseiras, com práticas populares de cura, coletadas durante a segunda metade do século XIX e organizado em 1919, período em que a medicina científica no Ceará começava a se estruturar enquanto ciência legitimadora da doença e da saúde. Ao longo do processo de investigação, localizamos pontos de aproximações e distanciamentos entre as práticas de cura que envolvem o saber científico e popular. Tal percepção nos possibilitou refletir sobre como as práticas populares de cura permaneceram presentes e até, em alguns casos, foram apropriadas pela medicina científica no seu processo de afirmação enquanto prática de intervenção no meio social e na sua busca de institucionalização.

(in English): Master thesis examines specific aspects of collective memory of parts of Prague 6, especially districts Dejvice, Bubeneč, Lysolaje, Šárka and Suchdol. These former municipalities are at Prague's outskirts and their marginalization supported some specific local narratives: legends and rumours. In this area gentrification went through since the beginning 21th century and is coming to an end. Gentrification to certain extend ends the social life of narratives, which originated in the 1950s. Master theses researched, how the narratives changed, for instance ones about former malting plant or brick factories. Another researched aspect is continual change of spatial appropriations of this part of Prague and its territorialisation within the framework of local culture: in the local memory there are partially deposited memories of local youth gang fights, which divided territories in Dejvice and Bubeneč at the late 1950s and early 1960s. During the field research the legend about "Roklák" was collected in Podbaba. The research also captured the change of usage of former locations of industrial plants and the continual process of their gentrification.