Cette thèse porte sur les influences de la condition géographique du plateau iranien sur la création du mythe d’Anāhitā et les croyances concernant l’eau chez les iraniens et nous essayons de démontrer pourquoi ses mythes et ses rites sont différents de ceux des autres peuples qui bénéficiaient de la présence de l’eau. La situation particulière de sa géographie et le manque naturel de l’eau font de l’Iran un pays chaud et sec. Il y a quatre mille ans, ce manque de pluie sur le plateau iranien a engendré plusieurs croyances religieuses et rituelles en Perse, nous remarquons ce fait dans Avesta et les autres œuvres de l’époque préislamique. Nous voyons clairement la trace de ces croyances dans les folklores contemporains. Les travaux de recherche sur la langue de cette époque sont nombreux par rapport à l’étude des mythes et leurs formations dans la pensée iranienne préislamique. Plusieurs éléments favorisent cette pensée. Notre tâche dans ce travail consiste à les classer pour pouvoir ressortir les structures élémentaires de ces croyances qui perdurent jusqu’à aujourd’hui et les traces sont présentes dans les folklores contemporains. Notre corpus est constitué de l’ensemble des textes de cette époque et en grande partie les textes religieux notamment Avesta qui reste presque intact jusqu’à aujourd’hui et continue à influencer malgré l’arrivé des autres cultures et religions, mais ce qui est intéressant c’est que la pensée iranienne préislamique a su apprivoiser ces cultures et les localiser et leurs donner une forme iranienne. / This thesis focuses on the influences of the geographical condition of the Iranian plateau on the creation of the myth of Anāhitā and the beliefs concerning water in Iran and we are trying to demonstrate why its myths and rituals are different from those of other peoples benefited from the presence of water. The particular situation of its geography and the natural lack of water make Iran a hot and dry country. Four thousand years ago, this lack of rain on the Iranian plateau generated several religious and ritual beliefs in Persia as we can notice in Avesta and other works of pre-Islamic era. We clearly see the trace of these beliefs in the contemporary folklores. Researches on the language of that time are numerous compared to the study of the myths and their formations in the pre-Islamic Iranian thought. Several factors support this thought. Our task in this work consists in classifying them to be able to arise the basic structures of these beliefs which continue until today and the traces are present in the contemporary folklores. Our corpus consists of the whole of the texts of that time and mainly the religious texts in particular Avesta which remains almost intact until today and continue to influence despite of the arrival of the other cultures and religions, but what is interesting it is that the pre-Islamic Iranian thought knew how to tame these cultures and to locate them and to give them an Iranian form.

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Magister Artium - MA / This thesis investigated the role that folklore can play in contemporary environmental problems. This research was prompted by people living around the Mantrombi nature reserve in the Nebo region of Limpopo province who showed and interest in reviving folklore as an education model to combat their existing environmental problems. / South Africa

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<p> This dissertation treats the reception, performance, and mediation of myth in video games. Myths are included in video games as variants in relation to other myth-variants. This study does not focus on contemporary myths per se, but rather modernized forms of myths modified for a contemporary audience of players, users, and consumers who participate in video game culture. Different video games involve and invoke different mythologies. Thus, different theories about myths are drawn on to extrapolate meaningful applications in the world of each video game. Some case studies involve the creative uses of depth psychology, the hero pattern, otherworldly journeys, mythic-epic story structures, and/or explorations in specific mythological themes and motifs. Pluralistic, folkloristic, and close cross-cultural comparison is exercised on a case-by-case basis&mdash;<i> pace</i> universal and wide-range comparativism&mdash;to effectively account for comparison <i>and</i> context. Case studies include single-player video games involving different sub-genres, online multiplayer video games, and a massively multiplayer online game that includes field work reports and analysis.</p><p> The descriptive process and meta-theory that I propose stem from the playfulness that myths presented in video games afford: first, <i>interpretatio ludi</i> is the general process of transposing mythological traditions and systems into dynamic and playable models, or the invention anew of mythological systems tailored to a particular video game world and genre. Players virtually participate in myths as voyeurs, voyagers and (sometimes) builders. This raises important questions regarding artificial and emergent mythmaking occurring on the side of either player response, from the developers, or from instances of co-creation between both. I also present the &ldquo;agonistic theory of myth&rdquo; to account for the inherent and pervasive tendency of contestation between myth-variants, myths of divine conflict, and theories about myth(s). </p><p> A critical review of scholarship on myths and games is also included. This dissertation proposes that mythological studies and game studies can pursue significant collaborative research trajectories. The overall aim of this study is to develop a critical media-conscious approach to myths, and a myth-conscious approach to media.</p><p> <i>Keywords</i>: myth, video games, mythmaking, mythology, game studies, play, lore, virtual worlds, world-building.</p>

<p> This inquiry has engaged master dowsers in conversation about their lived experiences with the practice of dowsing, how it has affected and influenced their lives. The history of dowsing, including its folklore, master dowsers throughout history distributed across numerous countries, is offered as contextual background of the lineage to which these individuals belong. Controversies regarding the validity of dowsing and how it functions are discussed. The multitude of tests of dowsers and dowsing are described. Mindfulness practice is explored as a bridge to the dowsing mind state. It is hoped that the information and insight gleaned from this inquiry will support the hypothesis that students will benefit by learning dowsing skills to enhance and expand their mental and emotional capacities.</p>

Stories from Klamath Country is a encounter with contemporary Klamath/Modoc oral literature from south central Oregon. Part ethno-poetics, part folklore, part literary criticism, and part narrative essay, the text presents an encounter with the enduring yet dynamic range of traditional and contemporary Klamath stories. Chapters focus on the issues of the transcription of an oral literature, performance, the connections between traditional and modern storytelling, ethnographic encounters and cross-cultural reading. Old and new stories are presented in this text, framed by an attention to the dynamics of assembling this larger story. Central as well to the discussion is the relationship between storytelling, landscape and identity.

<p> This paper explores the way contemporary American Conservative Jewish communities express ideas of egalitarianism and feminism through active use of specific ritual garments (tallit and tefillin). It addresses the meanings that these garments currently have on individual, communal, and institutional levels. Additionally, it considers women&rsquo;s changing roles regarding ritual and participation in these communities. It also considers that in this context, when women take on additional religious obligations they are simultaneously representing feminist and religious issues and actions, and the conversations between these ideas.</p>

This doctoral thesis is composed of two separate sections: a novel and a contextualising critical discussion. The novel deals with a thirteen-year-old boy named Morgan whose parents are separating, moving him from a comfortable city life to his mother’s hometown in rural Perthshire. There he begins a friendship with a mysterious young girl and together they tap into the landscape’s rich cultural history of Scottish tales and folklore. Split between parents he cannot understand and an ancient world of which he is not a part, Morgan’s flirtations with Scottish storytelling become a search for personal history and heritage, culminating in Morgan crafting his own story. This final story acts as a teller-created bildüngsroman but also challenges the authority and validity of the stories that he is told, highlighting the fallacy of any concepts of “ownership” inherent in them. The critical portion contextualises Morgan’s tale. It discusses how we problematize our interactions with the form of storytelling by fixing it as linear history to promote it as a national signifier or cultural vessel. The paper discusses this by engaging with the novel’s main themes through three distinct sections. The first examines eighteenth century engagements with Scottish storytelling and their role in creating national identity. It focuses on MacPherson’s Ossian scandals, Scott and Burns. The second section examines how this fractious groundwork developed during the twentieth century folk revivals and the cultural engagements of Henderson and the Scottish travellers. The final section discusses methodology and both the problems and strengths of contemporary academic responses. The paper argues that we have developed a methodology that is too rigid and reverential, often essentializing “fixed” understandings of storytelling in attempts to distribute ownership or champion nationalistic priorities. The thesis argues that attempts to preserve or promote the form often work to limit it. To make any progress in developing the “tradition”, we must approach it with a critical methodology that is free of elitism and allows new patrons of whatever experience or knowledge to contribute to it. The discussion poses that this is only possible if our critical and academic interactions become as malleable as the form itself: rather than attempt to absolve or excuse the difficulties and historical contradictions inherent in the form, it must openly embrace them as a vital part of a very “Scottish” form of storytelling.

A profound concern with demonic spirits was central to a large body of literature from the Latin Middle Ages and early modern period. This dissertation shows the ways in which learned writings about demons reveal insights into the cultural and intellectual history of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century western Europe. In particular, an interest in how and in what (visible or invisible) form demonic beings afflicted humanity emerged as larger issues of theological debate from approximately 1400-1600 CE. As I demonstrate, orthodox theologians maintained that demons existed solely as fallen angels, and that they were the primary culprits of myriad haunting phenomena (e.g., visible apparitions, unsettling movements, and wayward sounds and feelings). In rebellion against the Christian divinity, these wicked spirits were consistently associated with sinful behavior, temptation, and illusory tricks. At the same time, vernacular and folk storytelling suggest that fallen angels were but one of many possible spiritual creatures inhabiting the cosmos. Rather than a strict binary between good and evil spirits, many instantiations of spiritual creatures resisted and survived alongside ecclesiastical teachings on the subject. Informed by multiple overlapping traditions, the premodern Christian imaginary perceived a world filled with invisible agents of both benevolent and malevolent intentions, as well as other ethereal forces with moral ambiguities.