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Il Sacro Bosco in Bomarzo is an experience in Lessons on Love. The statues are a constant repetition of the paradox of Eros. The exoteric meaning of the statues will be given through the- narratives that influenced them. Then, the esoteric meaning behind the narratives and the statues will be given with the help of Ficino's Commentary on Plato's Symposium on Love. Because the garden exists in the space of desire, it is able to speak to us today. This thesis is a walk through the garden. It is only through the experience of the garden that architectural meaning is conveyed. The garden is a journey that will heal the body and the soul through the spirit. Il Sacro Bosco leads to a better understanding of the self and, in the Renaissance, its connection to the One.

Many educational researchers (e.g. Jansen 2001) argue that not enough is known about how teachers view their careers and identities as teachers and how they adapt to new educational policies and teaching situations. Researchers (e.g. Woods and Jeffrey 2002) have argued that a consideration of identity issues is of crucial importance when investigating the experiences of teachers in any institutional setting. The purpose of this research study is to investigate the impact of working in an international school context on the identities of English-speaking teachers at the International English School (IES) in Italy. The research aims to identify the issues of identity experienced in the new institutional context, to examine the identity work and strategies engaged in by the teachers and to analyse what kind of reconstruction of their identities has taken place. Three main theoretical perspectives have informed the research. Firstly, poststructuralist theories critique an essentialist view of identity as universal or stable and argue that it is socially constructed and open to continual change. This view of identity works with an understanding that the research participants construct identity rather than report on a pre-existing identity. Secondly, critical theory emphasises the political nature of identity and that it is always linked to power relations in particular sites of practice. Thirdly, theories and research on 'teacher identity' and 'teacher strategy' from the field of education have been drawn on. Three studies from the sociology of education provide a fine-grained analysis of how teacher strategies operate in particular sites of practice and show how strategies are always linked to issues of identity. Insights from the literature on international education suggest that cross-cultural issues are key for teachers relocating to an international school context. Qualitative research methods were chosen. The case study was the main method used: the International English School (IES) formed the case with seven English-speaking teachers at the school as the research participants. Mapping, interviewing and field observation were used to collect the data. The research participants constructed maps of themselves at IES as well as of their career history, and in-depth interviews were conducted. Finally, an on-site field visit took place at the school and included lesson observation of each research participant. The data was analysed thematically using grounded theory. The findings show that the research participants' experiences at IES affected their identities in profound ways and that they experienced a fragmentation of identity. In order to respond to the issues of identity they experienced, the teachers engaged in identity work and particular strategies which allowed them to reinforce or reconstruct their identity as teachers. Each teacher experienced a reconstruction of his or her teacher identity differently. However, the majority of the teachers maintained their vision of education and the teacher identity they wished to subscribe to, although these would have to be realised outside the school. None of the teachers was prepared to invest their long-term commitment or careers in the school. The reconstruction ignored both the international and intercultural factors. None of the teachers defined themselves as international teachers with an international career path and the majority of teachers did not become significantly more interculturally literate through their experiences at IES. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

The religious and ecclesiastical role of women in the early medieval church in the city of Rome has so far not been studied in detail and this thesis offers to remedy that gap. It presents in form of a case study limiting itself in terms of its topographical boundaries to the city of Rome, and in terms of a historical time period to that which coincides approximately to the start of the papacy of Hadrian I to the end of the papacy of Paschal I. Use is made only of source material which can be connected directly to early medieval Rome, and not only ordained and monastic roles of women are explored but also the many other ways in which women were able to engage with the liturgy, sacraments and religious ordinances as well as through diaconal and other forms of work. This is done not least through a detailed analysis of the relevant Ordines Romani. Other ways in which women of early medieval Rome were able to engage in the life of the church was through the production and maintenance of liturgical textiles and also through patronage on large and small scales towards individual ecclesiastical institutions. A less well known means of engagement was through the work of the diaconitae at Rome’s diaconiae. Throughout the thesis a particular interest is expressed in exploring how religious and ecclesiastical engagement was possible for women from lower social strata. In addition to this the overall inclusion, or otherwise, of women in the surviving iconographical material of early medieval Rome is analysed. Particular attention is given to matters such as relics, saints patronage and lectionary readings in relation to saints’ days. Matters of hermeneutics are explored on an ongoing basis in relation to the source material, but also in relation to the secondary literature consulted. Regarding the latter this is especially undertaken in relation to female monastic communities and the offices of the diacona, presbytera and episcopa. In respect of these offices, but also in relation to all other matters pertaining to the ecclesiastical and religious roles of women in early medieval Rome this thesis argues neither for a minimalist nor for a maximalist interpretation, but offers a nuanced yet, of necessity, fragmentary overall picture. This is borne out of the decision to work only with source materials that can be directly linked to early medieval Rome which in itself is fragmentary in nature. On the one hand it means that little can be made known on a subject area such as women’s religious education for instance. On the other hand this concentration on Roman source material alone means that matters unique to the situation of women in the church of medieval Rome can be established, such as, for instance, the continuation of the ordained office of the diacona into the early ninth century or the absence of any issues regarding cultic cleanness relating to women.

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This thesis examines expressions of self-identity used by creative men and women in early modern Italy (ca. 1450-1650). Self-fashioning strategies were based upon contested notions of melancholy, genius, virtue and decorum which were profoundly influenced by ancient and medieval intellectual traditions ... . / Graduate / 0377 / 0453

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This study investigates a repertoire of eighteen madrigals whose texts refer to heraldry, all of which were composed in trecento Italy. The hereditary and personal arms cited in the song texts are those of the Visconti, Della Scala and Carrara families of northern Italy. Though these madrigals have been used in the past as a means for dating manuscripts and reconstructing composer biographies, they have never been studied as a discrete repertoire. This study applies musicological, heraldic and art historical approaches to the repertoire in order to investigate the heraldic madrigal as a manifestation of political authority in trecento Italy. Part One offers background information necessary to the understanding of the heraldic madrigal repertoire. Chapter 1 presents a glossary of heraldic terminology, and an overview of the role of heraldry in late medieval life, art and literature, focusing on heraldry as a means of representing ideas of authority and identity in the late Middle Ages. Chapter 2 defines the heraldic madrigal and discusses the stylistic features unique to this repertoire. This chapter also considers the heraldic madrigal in the context of contemporary musical repertoires such as the Italian motet and the songs of the French ars subtilior. Chapter 3 presents a critical edition of heraldic madrigal texts with translations. Part Two consists of case studies. Chapter 4 explores the link between Jacopo da Bologna’s madrigal Aquila altera and the references to the Holy Trinity in the heraldry of its dedicatees, Giangaleazzo Visconti and Isabelle de Valois. Chapter 5 offers a re-evaluation of the poem La fiera testa, challenging the common opinion that the text is condemnatory. Chapter 6 considers non-musical models for the the madrigal texts Inperiale sedendo and Per quella strada, based on manuscripts owned by and dedicated to the Carrara family. The Conclusion of this study touches briefly on the legacy of the heraldic madrigal, giving a summary of later Italian songs containing references to the heraldry of noble families, such as the Malatesta and Medici.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2006. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Bibliography: p. 451-458.