The musical neo-matriarchy is linked to the growing popularity of Neo-Paganism. This pseudo-religious scene is based on romantic heritage, real or invented folk traditions and more or less serious historical, theological and anthropological studies of neo-matriarchy. In the focus of the scene stands the veneration of the Great Goddess and its worshipers are exclusively women. The main ideas of this eco-feminist movement are being conveyed also through (popular) music. My contribution encompasses the origins of the musical neo-matriarchy, the mythology it is based on, the message of the songs for the Great Goddess, the musical characteristics of the material collected, the use of typical instruments, and the dissemination of (musical) knowledge as the rather ‘modern’ way of distribution and consumption of the allegedly ‘archaic’ issues.

Esta tese tem como objeto de estudo as antologias da literatura sânscrita conhecidas como Puräëa e tem como objetivo observá-las como uma unidade enunciativa, relacionado-as aos elementos históricos e sociais com os quais essas obras conviveram durante seu longo período de compilação, que se estende aproximadamente do século III d.C. até por volta do século XV d.C. Para tal fim, adotaram-se como linhas teóricas a Semiótica greimasiana, as contribuições dos escritos atribuídos a Mikhail Bakhtin e predominantemente a Análise do Discurso de linha francesa, cuja perspectiva permite investigar o universo de relações existentes entre construção lingüística e elementos sócio-culturais. Os relatos míticos detacam-se como tema privilegiado por esta pesquisa, visto que concentram, em suas narrativas, as interações e negociações culturais que participaram do processo de consolidação das práticas sociais hinduístas, das quais a recitação dos Puräëa faz parte. E, uma vez que os Puräëa consistem em antologias, a presença de determinados episódios míticos revela pressupostos culturais que possibilitam identificar o diálogo existente entre os vários estratos sociais que interagiram na formação do hinduísmo. Observa-se, ademais, o papel que essa literatura desempenhou em meio às outras literaturas de seu cenário cultural, examinando-se seu estatuto de escritura sagrada a partir do conceito de discurso constituinte, o que leva ao panorama das relações interdiscursivas dos enunciados purânicos com outras vertentes da cultura sânscrita, a saber, a tradição védica e o movimento cultural do tantrismo. Exemplifica-se, por fim, o conjunto das reflexões expostas na tese com o hino conhecido como Devé-mähätmya, composto antes do século VII d.C. e transmitido junto à antologia chamada Märkaëòeya. A mitologia da Grande Deusa é vista como um expoente das relações históricas vivenciadas durante o período em que ocorreram a compilação das antologias purânicas e a consolidação do hinduísmo. / The object of research of this thesis is the collection of anthologies known as Puräëa in Sanskrit Literature and its purpose is to survey them as an enunciative unity. This is done by relating the individual works to historical and social elements with which they coexisted during the long period of their compilation, which spreads approximately from III B.C.E to XV C.E. With this purpose in mind we assume as theoretical bases Greimasian Semiotics, the works attributed to Mikhail Bakhtin and mainly French Discourse Analysis, whose perspective allows one to investigate the whole of relations existing between verbal constructions and socio-cultural elements. The mythical narratives stand out as a significant subject of this research inasmuch as they condense in speech form the cultural interactions and negotiations that were in act in the process of consolidation of Hindu social practices, among which the recitation of the Puräëa took part. And since the Puräëa works are anthologies, the occurrence of some mythical accounts can disclose cultural presuppositions that allow us to recognize the existing dialogue between several social strata intervening in the shaping of Hinduism. Furthermore, we observe the role performed by Puräëa literature in the midst of other literatures sharing the same cultural environment by the examination of its status of sacred scripture through the concept of Self-Constituting discourse. That approach leads us to an overview of the interdiscoursive relations of Puräëa enunciates with other trends of Sanskrit culture, namely, the Vedic tradition and Tantrism as a cultural movement. At last, our ideas are exemplified by the analysis of the hymn known as Devémähätmya, composed before VII B.C.E and handed down along with the anthology called Märkaëòeya. The mythology of the Great Goddess it presents is seen as an exponent of the historical relations that took place during the time the Puräëa anthologies were compiled and Hinduism was consolidated.

Esta tese tem como objeto de estudo as antologias da literatura sânscrita conhecidas como Puräëa e tem como objetivo observá-las como uma unidade enunciativa, relacionado-as aos elementos históricos e sociais com os quais essas obras conviveram durante seu longo período de compilação, que se estende aproximadamente do século III d.C. até por volta do século XV d.C. Para tal fim, adotaram-se como linhas teóricas a Semiótica greimasiana, as contribuições dos escritos atribuídos a Mikhail Bakhtin e predominantemente a Análise do Discurso de linha francesa, cuja perspectiva permite investigar o universo de relações existentes entre construção lingüística e elementos sócio-culturais. Os relatos míticos detacam-se como tema privilegiado por esta pesquisa, visto que concentram, em suas narrativas, as interações e negociações culturais que participaram do processo de consolidação das práticas sociais hinduístas, das quais a recitação dos Puräëa faz parte. E, uma vez que os Puräëa consistem em antologias, a presença de determinados episódios míticos revela pressupostos culturais que possibilitam identificar o diálogo existente entre os vários estratos sociais que interagiram na formação do hinduísmo. Observa-se, ademais, o papel que essa literatura desempenhou em meio às outras literaturas de seu cenário cultural, examinando-se seu estatuto de escritura sagrada a partir do conceito de discurso constituinte, o que leva ao panorama das relações interdiscursivas dos enunciados purânicos com outras vertentes da cultura sânscrita, a saber, a tradição védica e o movimento cultural do tantrismo. Exemplifica-se, por fim, o conjunto das reflexões expostas na tese com o hino conhecido como Devé-mähätmya, composto antes do século VII d.C. e transmitido junto à antologia chamada Märkaëòeya. A mitologia da Grande Deusa é vista como um expoente das relações históricas vivenciadas durante o período em que ocorreram a compilação das antologias purânicas e a consolidação do hinduísmo. / The object of research of this thesis is the collection of anthologies known as Puräëa in Sanskrit Literature and its purpose is to survey them as an enunciative unity. This is done by relating the individual works to historical and social elements with which they coexisted during the long period of their compilation, which spreads approximately from III B.C.E to XV C.E. With this purpose in mind we assume as theoretical bases Greimasian Semiotics, the works attributed to Mikhail Bakhtin and mainly French Discourse Analysis, whose perspective allows one to investigate the whole of relations existing between verbal constructions and socio-cultural elements. The mythical narratives stand out as a significant subject of this research inasmuch as they condense in speech form the cultural interactions and negotiations that were in act in the process of consolidation of Hindu social practices, among which the recitation of the Puräëa took part. And since the Puräëa works are anthologies, the occurrence of some mythical accounts can disclose cultural presuppositions that allow us to recognize the existing dialogue between several social strata intervening in the shaping of Hinduism. Furthermore, we observe the role performed by Puräëa literature in the midst of other literatures sharing the same cultural environment by the examination of its status of sacred scripture through the concept of Self-Constituting discourse. That approach leads us to an overview of the interdiscoursive relations of Puräëa enunciates with other trends of Sanskrit culture, namely, the Vedic tradition and Tantrism as a cultural movement. At last, our ideas are exemplified by the analysis of the hymn known as Devémähätmya, composed before VII B.C.E and handed down along with the anthology called Märkaëòeya. The mythology of the Great Goddess it presents is seen as an exponent of the historical relations that took place during the time the Puräëa anthologies were compiled and Hinduism was consolidated.

The Cuban-born artist Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) created the Silueta Series during the 1970s and ‘80s. It consists of earth-body works in situ featuring the silhouette of the artist's body fashioned from mud, plants, rocks, gunpowder and other materials. Underlying the creation of the Silueta Series is Mendieta's belief that the elements are sentient and powerful beings. This perception is particularly strong in the Afro-Cuban religion Santeria, a creolized form of the Òrìsà tradition of the Yoruba of West Africa introduced to the Americas during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. While scholars have noted Mendieta's incorporation of Santeria in her art, a thorough analysis of the iconographical references to the deities have yet to be explored. This thesis aims to provide such an analysis of Mendieta's works; thus enriching the current discourse on the Silueta Series.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-17T15:01:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 5353825 bytes, checksum: 0d54729d502335def0072bbf55a9a2b4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-07-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The subject of this dissertation is the religion of the Great Goddess in Indian scriptures, especially in the first canto of Devi Gita. This religion, belonging to Hinduism, presents itself as a devotional movement called Saktism. Its roots lie in the ancient Indian Vedic tradition, but it only became an independent movement, with its own original concepts, in the Medieval period of India. This study presents a vast outlook of the development of Saktism, from the Vedic age to the medieval Tantric Indian period, presenting information on the female deities and about other fundamental topics for the understanding of the religion of the Great Goddess. This dissertation culminates with a translation and commentary of canto I of the Devi Gita, a work belonging to the Devi Bhagavata Puraa. This scripture is recognized as an important source leading to the recognition of Saktism as an independent cult, and it is the oldest extant work where the Indian Goddess is presented as the supreme deity, as the Ultimate Reality and as the source of all creation. / Esta dissertação tem como objeto de estudo a religião da Grande Deusa nas escrituras indianas e, especialmente, no Canto I do Devi Gita. Tal religião, que faz parte do Hinduísmo, se manifesta por meio do movimento devocional denominado Saktismo, cujas raízes se encontram na antiga tradição do Veda, mas que só se constituiu como um movimento independente, embasado em concepções próprias, no período medieval indiano. Este estudo apresenta um vasto panorama do desenvolvimento do Saktismo, desde o período vêdico até o período medieval tântrico indiano, apresentando informações sobre as divindades femininas e sobre outros temas fundamentais para a compreensão da religião da Grande Deusa. A dissertação culmina com a tradução e comentário do Canto I do Devi Gita, obra que pertence ao Devi Bhagavata Puraa. Esta escritura é reconhecida como uma fonte importante no reconhecimento do Saktismo enquanto culto independente e como a obra mais antiga conhecida na qual a Deusa indiana é apresentada como divindade suprema, como Realidade Última e fonte de toda a criação.

The purpose of this comparative study is to analyse La Quintrala’s myth as a symbolic discourse, thereby filling a gap in the previous studies about La Quintrala. The theoretical and methodological framework of this analysis consists of a hermeneutical approach based on the method of figurative structuralism: mythocriticism. This is a dual classification method of symbols: Diurnal and Nocturnal Orders that expose the symbolic structures formed by symbols and archetypes found in mythemes in a compilation of corpora. The first one is Gustavo Frías’ novels Tres Nombres para Catalina: Catrala (2008) and Tres nombres para Catalina: la doña de Campofrío (2008); the second is a historic essay (hypotext), Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna’s Los Lisperguer y la Quintrala (1944), and four novels: Magdalena Petit’s (2009) La Quintrala, Mercedes Valdivieso’s (1991) Maldita yo entre las Mujeres, Virginia Vidal’s (2002) Oro, veneno y puñal, and Gustavo Frías’ El Inquisidor (2008). Mythocriticism is employed in the analysis to show what the mythical structure of the hero’s journey (Separation, Initiation, Return) reveal. Such journey is combined structurally with the Mother archetype (White, Red and Black Goddess), the intrinsic archetype of La Quintrala’s myth. The heroic structure unveils its own mythemes, La Quintrala’s and the first corpus’s mytheme through the diachronic and synchronic flow of the hero’s journey. This method permits to identify and compare the progression of the symbolic structures. The analysis demonstrates a transformation of the symbolic structures between both corpora. This survey reveals that Vicuña Mackenna and Petit, and partially Vidal and El Inquisidor, exhibit an inclination to the diurnal symbols that strengthen, through a heterodiegetic narrator, the representations of the witch-femme fatale, counteractive attributes of the Red and Black Goddesses in the myth. Valdivieso, on the other hand, shows a propensity to the nocturnal symbols of inversion and intimacy that emphasize the Red Goddess’ features, though the novel also exposes La Quintrala as a witch-femme fatale. This exposure occurs through the use of both an autodiegetic narrator –La Quintrala– and a heterodiegetic one –the hypotext embodied in the popular voice– that appear to contrast each other. Finally, in Tres Nombres para Catalina, La Quintrala as the autodiegetic narrator dominates the whole story. She personifies the Great Goddess archetype who bestows her new positive attributes during the adventure. This novel assumes primordially the nocturnal symbolism incarnated by both the mystical and the synthetical structures and relegates the diurnal discourse of the hypotext to a secondary position in the narrative. Nonetheless, Tres Nombres para Catalina’s narrative still relies on the hypotext to reproduce and reconstruct all the mythemes in the myth of La Quintrala. Conclusively, the results of this analysis indicate that the identification of all the mythemes supports the hypothesis of a transformation in the symbolic structures which characterize La Quintrala in both corpora. This reveals the embodiment of Tres Nombres para Catalina’s own mytheme, consisting of a vindication and a recognition to her indigenous heritage, and the acceptance of her mestizaje. As a consequence, Tres nombres para Catalina, in comparison to the second corpus, diverges and expands the symbolic structures, but still shows a continuity of the myth.