The dissertation explores how quality-judgments on works of art are created within the contemporary art world. The research starts with the examination of modernist art theories supported by the museum, and continues with the exploration of the impact of the art market on quality-judgments. Although the art market had already distorted the idea of quality, further contradictions and difficulties have risen within judgment-making after the 1960s due to the dematerialisation of the work of art. Art criticism should have been able to deal with this complexity, but it is demonstrated that art criticism is a subjective field and even if there is a universal theory on quality, it often fails when applied to the particular work of art. Throughout the dissertation it is demonstrated that although ‘good art’ is a subjective, power- and discourse-dependent concept, all art professionals seek something that is an inherent quality of the artwork. However, regardless of the existence of such inherent value, judgments on quality are constructed by and subjected to power-struggle. / Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology / M.A. (Art History)

In the process of carving a new England out of the southern end of Vancouver Island in the later nineteenth century, the population of Victoria, BC sought to forge a British identity for themselves through music and its associated rituals. They did this through the pursuit of purposeful acts of cultural meaning. In the social sphere, concerts, parades, religious services, and theatrical productions heightened and inspired loyalty to Mother England. Victoria’s upper classes could then dominate by excluding those people—including Jewish, Chinese, Indigenous, African-American, and Hawaiian residents—who did not conform to that identity. In late-nineteenth-century Victoria, music became more than just a way to celebrate, worship, and recreate; it defined social life for British and non-British peoples alike and shaped the physical space in which they lived. This dissertation explores late nineteenth-century Victoria’s creation of a British identity through music. Ensuring that their churches had a powerful organ and talented organists, Victoria’s religious community proved that they could undertake Britain’s highest social point of sacred musical performance: the choral festival. Positioning George Frideric Handel’s Messiah—with its strong connotations of Britain and her Empire—as their showstopper, these choral festivals served to cement relationships between those citizens who considered themselves British, while also proclaiming this identity as a mark of superiority to the community at large. Itinerant opera troupes further strengthened these imperial bonds by importing European and British opera to Victoria. Through the performances of these professional travelling musicians, Victorian Victorians were able to experience high art and popular operatic music of the Western world, joining the particularly British Pinafore and Mikado crazes of the 1870s and 1880s. These itinerant singers thoroughly impressed local musicians, who avidly tried to reproduce what they had heard, first in instrumental overtures and medleys in the 1860s and 1870s, then with vocal and instrumental operatic numbers in miscellany concerts in the 1870s and 1880s, and finally with full operatic productions in the 1880s and beyond. As with choral festivals in the religious sphere, taking part in opera productions also helped to create a shared sense of British identity among Victoria’s upper classes, during a time when other defining factors of social placement were not yet secure. Settlers in Victoria removed the Indigenous and natural impediments to the construction of their new metropolis, in effect silencing their cultural “voice.” Besides the Indigenous peoples of Vancouver Island, other recent settlers posed challenges to British hegemony, especially Chinese immigrants and “coloured” people of African origin, many of whom came from the United States. Even the gender demographics in the male-dominated frontier society posed challenges to the civilizing process. The Jews of Victoria, the majority of whom were of German or English origin, present an ambiguous case of a cultural and religious community at the crossroads in mid-nineteenth-century Victoria. The butt of rising anti-Semitism in continental Europe, Victoria’s Jewish minority used music and ritual to establish themselves as members of the dominant class. / Graduate / 0413 / 0334 / 0357 / libby.concord@gmail.com

Diploma work abstract I based my work on the research of messianic topic in holy texts of Abrahamaic religions, what means an research on TNK (Old Testament), New Testament and Quran (including the early islamic tradition). I tried to bring a frame of a possible common dialogue based on the shared religious expectation towards common world ethos.

The dissertation explores how quality-judgments on works of art are created within the contemporary art world. The research starts with the examination of modernist art theories supported by the museum, and continues with the exploration of the impact of the art market on quality-judgments. Although the art market had already distorted the idea of quality, further contradictions and difficulties have risen within judgment-making after the 1960s due to the dematerialisation of the work of art. Art criticism should have been able to deal with this complexity, but it is demonstrated that art criticism is a subjective field and even if there is a universal theory on quality, it often fails when applied to the particular work of art. Throughout the dissertation it is demonstrated that although ‘good art’ is a subjective, power- and discourse-dependent concept, all art professionals seek something that is an inherent quality of the artwork. However, regardless of the existence of such inherent value, judgments on quality are constructed by and subjected to power-struggle. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.A. (Art History)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:19:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 VandersonRodrigues.pdf: 980791 bytes, checksum: c75b486c816884d68ef3f9530f2a049d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-04-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A presente dissertação objetiva demonstrar as causas do conflito da comunidade joanina na segunda metade do século I, bem como revelar as estratégias de releitura da história de Jesus a partir do prisma do autor do QE para combater os inimigos da comunidade, assegurar-lhes a fé, fortalecer os perseguidos e duvidosos e formar uma cristologia solidificada em um pensamento soteriológico quanto a pessoa de Jesus como Messias. Para tanto pretende-se analisar a pluralidade sociopolítica e religiosa da Palestina no século I, demonstrando como o meio influenciou a escolha do autor do QE ao redigir um texto de forma a fazer uma releitura da vida de Jesus em defesa da fé de sua comunidade. Também serão estudadas as vozes em conflito dentro do texto e as vozes discordantes que cercam a perícope, buscando entendê-las a partir do texto do QE, pois este é o elemento mais palpável de que dispomos para o estudo dos conflitos e motivos que geraram esse evangelho. Para melhor expor e entender o argumento de defesa do autor que representa a comunidade joanina, será desenvolvido um estudo sobre o uso dos verbos pe,mpw e avposte,llw no texto do QE, especialmente no capítulo 7, com o intuito de mostrar como o autor entendia este Jesus Messias e como isto moldou sua teologia.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:20:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Edson Martins1.pdf: 3088305 bytes, checksum: b90a934fe301b6d9b070dd9e59138385 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-02-20 / This thesis is a sociological analysis of the main motivations that made men and women let go of everything they were doing up to a certain moment and follow a messianic leader known as Inri Cristo, who claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. It shows, at first, a brief historical account of the three most important and thoroughly documented Brazilian messianic movements: Canudos, Juazeiro and Contestado, so as to understand the context in which such movements were brought up. This account enables the making of comparisons between these three movements and the Inri Cristo one. The research presents and analyses the appearance of the messiah, the content of his message, and the structure of his church, localized in a popular district of Curitiba. After that, there will be an analysis of the data about his disciples, which was gathered in a field research. This analysis will make it possible to understand who they are, their everyday living within the community, the way they absorb the official discourses and how they pass them on, and, most important, which the main motivations are that made them follow the messianic leader. There is also a comparative analysis between the disciples of Inri Cristo and the followers of the movements mentioned above, so as to establish convergent and divergent aspects between them. Finally, there is a presentation of the innovations brought by this messianic movement and its contributions for the study of Brazilian messianic movements. / A presente tese é uma análise sociológica das principais motivações que levam homens e mulheres a abandonarem tudo o que estavam fazendo até então, para seguir um líder messiânico denominado de Inri Cristo, que proclama ser a reencarnação de Jesus Cristo. Ela apresenta um breve histórico dos três principais e mais documentados movimentos messiânicos brasileiros que são os de Canudos, Juazeiro e Contestado, permitindo entender o contexto em que surgiram tais movimentos, estabelecendo uma base de contato para as comparações entre eles e o movimento do Inri Cristo. A pesquisa apresenta e analisa o surgimento do messias, o conteúdo de sua mensagem e a estrutura da sua igreja, localizada em um bairro popular da cidade de Curitiba. A seguir, são analisados os dados colhidos sobre os seus discípulos através da pesquisa de campo, objetivando descobrir quem são eles, como é o cotidiano dentro do movimento, de que maneira é feita a assimilação dos discursos oficiais e como se dá a sua retransmissão, e principalmente, quais são as principais motivações que os levam a seguir o líder messiânico. Também é feita uma análise comparativa entre os discípulos do Inri Cristo e os adeptos dos movimentos já citados, procurando pontos convergentes e divergentes entre eles. Por fim, são apresentadas as inovações que o referido movimento messiânico apresenta e quais são as suas contribuições para o estudo dos messianismos brasileiros.

M.A. (Religious Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

AFRIKAANS:By die interpretasie van tekste moet die historiese en kultiese Sitze im Leben waarbinne hierdie tekste ontstaan en oorgelewer is in ag geneem word. Ou-Testamentiese tekste het elkeen ’n selfstandige betekenis wat nie van ander tekste afhanklik is om betekenis te kry nie. Hiervolgens handel die sogenaamde Koningspsalms (ook genoem messiaanse psalms) soos Psalm 45 en Psalm 110 inhoudelik oor ‘n Judese koning. Elke Dawidiese koning het as seun van God oor die volk Israel regeer. Hy was die verteenwoordiger van God se regering. Sy taak was om reg en geregtigheid te handhaaf. Elke koning was ‘n tipe verlossersfiguur. Deur die koning en die oorloë wat hy gevoer het, het Jahwe verlossing van hulle vyande, aan sy volk geskenk. As teken van sy gesag en sy besondere taak wat die koning van Jahwe ontvang het, is die Dawidiese koning met olie gesalf. Dit het van hom God se messias gemaak. In ooreenstemming met hulle Jebusitiese voorgangers was elke Dawidiese koning ‘n priester net soos Melgisedek, die koning van Salem. In hierdie Dawidiese dinastie van messiaanse priester-konings, was Israel se hoop gesetel. Die Ou Testament gee ‘n unieke betekenis aan die begrip messias. Hiervolgens is die sentrale figuur in Psalm 45 en 110 die aardse koning van Juda wat optree as Jahwe se messias. Met die Babiloniese ballingskap is die Dawidiese messias-dinastie verbreek. Nou is die messias-begrip na die toekoms geprojekteer sodat die verwagting van ‘n komende messias begin ontwikkel het. Die unieke betekenis wat die Ou Testament aan die messias-begrip gee, is op sy beurt deur die Nuwe Testament geherinterpreteer sodat dit op Jesus Christus dui. Daarom dat die Hebreërskrywer Psalms 45 en 110 herinterpreteer met betrekking tot Jesus Christus. Die Nuwe Testament is dus nie ’n sleutel tot die verstaan van Ou-Testamentiese tekste nie. ENGLISH: When texts are being interpreted, it is necessary to do so within their historic and cultic Sitze im Leben where they have originated and have been transmitted. Old Testament texts have their own unique meanings. Therefore it is not necessary to use other texts to give meaning to a specific text. According to this, the royal psalms such as Psalm 45 and Psalm 110 have a Judean king as its contents. The royal psalms are also messianic psalms. Every Davidic king ruled over his people as the son of God. He was the representative of God’s rule. His task was to uphold justice and righteousness. Every king was a type of redeemer. To his people God gave redemption from their enemies by the king and the holy wars he waged. As a sign of his authority and the fact that God chose him for a specific task, every Davidic king was anointed with oil. This made him the messiah of God. In co-ordinance with his Jebusite predecessors, every Davidic king also was a priest just as Melchizedek, the king of Salem, was. Upon this Davidic dynasty of messianic priest-kings, Israel’s hope as a nation rested. The Old Testament gives a unique significance to the concept of messiah. In this significancent context the central figure in Psalms 45 and 110 is the earthly king of Judea. As king, he is the messiah of Jahwe. With the Babylonian exile, the Davidic messiah-dynasty was ended. Now the concept of the messiah was futurised in such a way that the anticipation of a coming messiah was developed. In its turn the New Testament reinterprets the unique significance that the Old Testament gives to the concept of messiah as being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This is why the writer of Hebrews reinterprets Psalm 45 and 110 as being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The New Testament is therefore not the key to the interpretation of the Old Testament. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Old Testament Studies / unrestricted

This study considers the visual representation of the alchemical idea of the philosopher’s stone (lapis philosophorum) in the Harry Potter films: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Columbus 2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Columbus 2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Cuaron 2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Newell 2005), andHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Yates 2007). The lapis philosophorum was believed to turn base metals into gold and produce an Elixir of Life. As such, it is envisioned as the ultimate alchemical idea, and this study emphasises how the lapis can function as a signifier for an alchemical worldview within the Harry Potter films. Because the concept and symbolism of the Harry Potter films is largely based on JK Rowling’s (1997; 1998; 1999; 2000; 2003; 2005; 2007) original novels, this study provides a detailed comparison of how alchemical imagery is used in the novels and contrasts this with the visual imagery of the films. This study undertakes a hermeneutic analysis of the transmission of alchemical ideals from the literary to the visual medium. It also provides a detailed analysis of interrelated visual icons in the Harry Potter films that represent the idea of the lapis as an embodiment of alchemical perfection. In addition, by studying the interplay between alchemical imagery in the Harry Potter novels and films, and comparing the worldviews represented by each, this study is able to analyse the dynamics of the hermeneutic process. This study concludes with a consideration of how alchemical theory relates to the discipline of hermeneutics, how it influences the process of interpretation, and ultimately the relationship between the alchemical worldview and current perspectives on authorship. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

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