Dans cette thèse, j'interroge le développement rapide, au Vietnam et dans les années 2000, d'une forme nouvelle de rituel de possession par les morts, appelée áp vong (littéralement : appliquer/apposer l'âme). L'une des particularités de ces séances est que les défunts n'y sont pas incarnés par le spécialiste rituel, qui ne joue qu'un rôle d'encadrement, mais par un client, par l'intermédiaire duquel les autres membres de la famille pourront interroger leurs morts. Après un exposé du contexte d'idées et de pratiques dans lequel ces rituels sont apparus (représentations liées à la personne, conceptions sotériologiques, autres pratiques de possession), je tente de comprendre la place qu'ils prennent dans la société vietnamienne, marquée par une transformation profonde de la relation entre les vivants et les morts liée au traumatisme de la guerre. Cela m'amène à analyser les aspects politiques de cette innovation rituelle : en effet, la popularisation fulgurante des séances de áp vong a eu pour théâtre des « centres de recherche » créés par des intellectuels vietnamiens se posant en promoteurs de ces pratiques face à un pouvoir central pris entre sa volonté d'éradiquer les « superstitions » et son devoir de prendre en charge la mémoire des victimes de la guerre. Enfin, pour tenter de comprendre ces rituels, où ceux qui incarnent les morts ne sont ni des médiums, ni des victimes de l'affliction causée par un défunt, et où la possession est constamment en train de se faire et de se défaire (j'accorde une place importante aux séances qui ne « fonctionnent » pas ou mal), j'adopte une approche constructiviste visant à lire la possession autour du possédé plutôt qu'en lui. De là, je propose de considérer la possession comme une épreuve, au sens que la sociologie pragmatique a donné à ce terme : une qualification négociée de la réalité, portant dans ce cas sur l'attribution d'une agentivité (celle d'un défunt) à un corps (celui du possédé). / In this thesis, I question the quick development, in the years 2000 in Vietnam, of a new form of possession by the dead, called áp vong (litterally : to affix the soul). One of the specificities of these séances is that the dead are not embodied by the ritual specialist, who only plays a supervizing role, but by a client, through whom other members of the family will consult their dead relatives. After a presentation of the context of ideas and practices in which these rituals appeared (person-realted reprentations, soteriological conceptions, other practices of possession), I attempt to understand the place they take in contemporary Vietnamese society, which is characterized by a deep transformation of the relation between the living and the dead related to the trauma of war. This leads me to analyze the political aspects of this ritual innovation : the dazzling popularization of áp vong séances mainly took place in « research centers » created by Vietnamese intellectuals acting as promoters of these practices, facing a central power taken between its will to eradicate « superstitions » and its duty to take charge of the memory of the victims of the war. Finally, in order to try to understand these rituels, where those who embody the dead are not mediums, nor victims of spirit afflictions, and where one can constantly witness the making and the un-making of possession (special attention is payed to to séances that « don't work »), I build a constructivist approach aiming at reading possession around the possessed subject rather than inside him. From there, I propose to consider possession as a test (épreuve), in the sense that French pragmatic sociology gave to this notion : a negociated qualification of reality, which in this case deals with the attribution of an agency (that of a dead) to a body (that of the possessed subject).

Cette thèse se propose de faire une anthropologie socio-historique des cultes de deux saints non reconnus par l’Église, le Gaucho Gil et San la Muerte, tous deux originaires de la province de Corrientes dans le Nord-Est de l'Argentine. L’objectif est à la fois d'analyser la genèse de ces phénomènes et de définir l’apport de la religion populaire dans la construction d’identités collectives. Il s'agit d'interroger la dimension politique et l'historicité de ces systèmes symboliques et rituels en spécifiant les liens qu'ils entretiennent avec la culture guarani et avec la résistance à une situation d'oppression sociale. La réflexion débute par l’exploration socio-historique de la constitution des populations de l’intérieur de l'Argentine afin de comprendre dans quelle mesure ces cultes naissent dans un contexte de mépris social et culturel et de déni de mémoire qui a catégorisé les classes populaires rurales comme subalternes et invisibles. Dans un second temps sont présentées, dans le détail, à partir des données couplées de l’anthropologie historique et d'une analyse ethnographique locale, la fabrication aussi bien des légendes, des images que des pratiques rituelles, du Gaucho Gil puis du San la Muerte. Cette exploration contextualisée nous permet pour finir d’envisager ces dévotions non plus comme de simples résistances à l’ordre ou comme des reproductions déformées de la religion catholique, mais comme des créations culturelles autonomes, issues d’un peuple nouveau et métissé, qui produit une mémoire et des symboles aptes à rendre compte des expériences de sa condition. / This thesis offers a socio-historic anthropology of the worship of two saints not recognized by the Church, Gaucho Gil and San la Muerte, in the province of Corrientes, in the North-East of Argentina. It aims at analyzing the genesis of these phenomena and at defining the contribution of popular religion in the construction of collective identities. It means to question the political dimension and the historicity of these symbolic and ritual systems by specifying the links they maintain with the guarani culture and with the resistance to a situation of social oppression. The study begins with a socio-historic exploration of the constitution of Argentina inland populations in order to understand to what extent these cults were born in a context of social and cultural contempt and denial of memory which has categorized the rural popular classes as subordinate and invisible. Secondly, the making of the legends, images and ritual practices related to gaucho Gil and San la Muerte are explained both through historic anthropology and a local ethnographical analysis. Finally, this contextualized exploration leads to consider these worships no longer as simple means of resistance to an established order or as distorted reproductions of the Catholic religion, but as autonomous cultural creations which belong to a new and mixed people, producing a memory and symbols which accurately represent the experience of their condition.

O presente estudo analisa a figura do diabo benfazejo na literatura tradicional portuguesa. O corpus selecionado é composto pela novela exemplar de autoria anônima Obras do Diabinho da Mão Furada, que remete ao século XVII, e por uma seleção de contos populares recolhidos sobretudo durante o século XIX. Partindo das considerações teóricas contemporâneas referentes ao pensamento mitológico, às poéticas da oralidade e a sua preservação pela cultura escrita por meio de variantes textuais, faz-se uma crítica à romantização de tradições populares e aos pressupostos nacionalistas que marcaram o raiar da folclorística europeia para então analisar a contraposição das diferentes representações de tal figura a oficial, de origem bíblica, e outra popular, de natureza mítica e pagã. Nesse sentido explora-se a associação deste bom diabo a bruxas, fadas, pesadelos e à construção de pontes como forma de demonstrar a pertinência do pressuposto que justifica e norteia este estudo: o de que o bom diabo das narrativas populares portuguesas alude às personagens míticas do folclore pagão, diabolizadas com o advento do Cristianismo. A correspondência entre os traços arquetípicos (Levi-Strauss) dos bons diabos ao dos duendes, gnomos, trasgos e outros pequenos seres da mitologia pagã é demonstrada com as análises dos textos de natureza oral que compõem o corpus elencado. As gravuras e outras representações pictóricas concernentes aos eixos temáticos desta investigação corroboram as perspectivas teóricas multidisciplinares em que o presente trabalho se baseia, fronteiriças à etnografia: os estudos culturais e religiosos, a literatura morigerante e a história do livro em seus aspectos filológicos, tipográficos e pictóricos. / The present study analyzes the figure of the beneficent devil in the traditional Portuguese literature. The selected corpus is composed by the exemplary novel of anonymous authorship Obras do Diabinho da Furada, which refers to the seventeenth century, and a selection of folktales collected mainly during the nineteenth century. Starting from the contemporary theoretical considerations referring to mythological thought, poetics of orality and its preservation by written culture through textual variants, that is, from its critique to the romanticizing of popular traditions and the nationalist assumptions that marked the dawn of European folkloristics, it is told about the contrast of the different representations of such a figure an official of biblical origin and a popular one of a mythical and pagan nature. In this sense we explore the association of this good devil with witches, fairies, nightmares and the construction of bridges as a way of demonstrating the pertinence of the presupposition that justifies and guides this study: that the good devil of Portuguese popular narratives alludes to the mythical characters of pagan folklore, diabolized with the advent of Christianity. The correspondence between the archetypal traits (Levi-Strauss) of the good devils to the goblins, gnomes and other little people of pagan mythology is demonstrated by the analysis of the oral texts that make up the listed corpus. The engravings and other pictorial representations concerning the thematic axes of this investigation corroborate the multidisciplinary theoretical perspectives on which the present work is based, bordering on ethnography: cultural and religious studies, moralizing literature and the history of the book in its philological, typographic and pictorial aspects.

O presente estudo analisa a figura do diabo benfazejo na literatura tradicional portuguesa. O corpus selecionado é composto pela novela exemplar de autoria anônima Obras do Diabinho da Mão Furada, que remete ao século XVII, e por uma seleção de contos populares recolhidos sobretudo durante o século XIX. Partindo das considerações teóricas contemporâneas referentes ao pensamento mitológico, às poéticas da oralidade e a sua preservação pela cultura escrita por meio de variantes textuais, faz-se uma crítica à romantização de tradições populares e aos pressupostos nacionalistas que marcaram o raiar da folclorística europeia para então analisar a contraposição das diferentes representações de tal figura a oficial, de origem bíblica, e outra popular, de natureza mítica e pagã. Nesse sentido explora-se a associação deste bom diabo a bruxas, fadas, pesadelos e à construção de pontes como forma de demonstrar a pertinência do pressuposto que justifica e norteia este estudo: o de que o bom diabo das narrativas populares portuguesas alude às personagens míticas do folclore pagão, diabolizadas com o advento do Cristianismo. A correspondência entre os traços arquetípicos (Levi-Strauss) dos bons diabos ao dos duendes, gnomos, trasgos e outros pequenos seres da mitologia pagã é demonstrada com as análises dos textos de natureza oral que compõem o corpus elencado. As gravuras e outras representações pictóricas concernentes aos eixos temáticos desta investigação corroboram as perspectivas teóricas multidisciplinares em que o presente trabalho se baseia, fronteiriças à etnografia: os estudos culturais e religiosos, a literatura morigerante e a história do livro em seus aspectos filológicos, tipográficos e pictóricos. / The present study analyzes the figure of the beneficent devil in the traditional Portuguese literature. The selected corpus is composed by the exemplary novel of anonymous authorship Obras do Diabinho da Furada, which refers to the seventeenth century, and a selection of folktales collected mainly during the nineteenth century. Starting from the contemporary theoretical considerations referring to mythological thought, poetics of orality and its preservation by written culture through textual variants, that is, from its critique to the romanticizing of popular traditions and the nationalist assumptions that marked the dawn of European folkloristics, it is told about the contrast of the different representations of such a figure an official of biblical origin and a popular one of a mythical and pagan nature. In this sense we explore the association of this good devil with witches, fairies, nightmares and the construction of bridges as a way of demonstrating the pertinence of the presupposition that justifies and guides this study: that the good devil of Portuguese popular narratives alludes to the mythical characters of pagan folklore, diabolized with the advent of Christianity. The correspondence between the archetypal traits (Levi-Strauss) of the good devils to the goblins, gnomes and other little people of pagan mythology is demonstrated by the analysis of the oral texts that make up the listed corpus. The engravings and other pictorial representations concerning the thematic axes of this investigation corroborate the multidisciplinary theoretical perspectives on which the present work is based, bordering on ethnography: cultural and religious studies, moralizing literature and the history of the book in its philological, typographic and pictorial aspects.

The primary focus of this thesis is in the relationship between popular religion and culture in Taiwan. The influences of major religions and schools of thought including ancestor worship, Confucian morality, Sinicized Buddhism, religious Taoism, and Animism, and the traditions and rituals associated with them have all contributed to the structure of popular religious practices in Taiwan today. This thesis therefore approaches popular religion in Taiwan from both historic and contemporary perspectives. First, a framework based on the historic development of philosophies and popular religious practices that began in the Shang dynasty and evolved through social turbulence and religious transformation will be established. Then, employing ethnographic research methods and analysis, field research conducted in four case study temples housing a selection of the most popular deities worshiped in Taiwan will be discussed. Including information from both surveys and key informant interviews, this thesis aims to show how popular religion in contemporary Taiwan is of a utilitarian nature. The historic framework will then be applied to contemporary religious practice in Taiwan, to explain how both historical factors and the evolution of popular religion has created a religiously tolerant and socially cohesive society. Of key interest to this thesis is religious divination, both due to its prevalence in popular religious culture, and its inherent utilitarian qualities. In the process of the aforementioned analysis, the dual phenomenon of finding deities from different traditions housed side by side in a single temple, and traditional aspects of popular religion being perceived as elements of cultural will be accounted for in both historic and current social contexts. Key words: Ancestor worship, Family cult, Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Popular Religion, Deities, Utilitarian, Divination

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2004-06-16Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:43:07Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 couto_es_dr_assis.pdf: 1089463 bytes, checksum: d6150307735e0a56ed658871141d8ca1 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A pesquisa teve como principal objetivo estudar as festas de Santa Bárbara, N. S. da Conceição e Sant Ana, em Salvador. Apesar das características comuns, cada uma possui suas especificidades. Em 4 de dezembro, Santa Bárbara abre o calendário dos festejos religiosos populares de verão. É festejada pelos comerciantes e trabalhadores dos mercados. No mesmo período, os baianos se dedicam ao culto a N. S. da Conceição. A procissão do dia 8 de dezembro é organizada pela irmandade. Em janeiro de 1824, os pescadores do arrabalde do Rio Vermelho começaram a cultuar Sant Ana. Os veranistas realizavam desfiles em carros alegóricos, bailes e batalhas de confete e lança-perfume, fazendo da festa católica um prenúncio do Carnaval. O período estudado (1860-1940) está inserido no processo de romanização do catolicismo brasileiro. Além de cuidar da formação dos futuros padres, a Igreja Católica desejava modificar a religiosidade dos leigos. As festas dos santos, impregnadas de características profanas e de outras crenças, deveriam ser purificadas e controladas pelos eclesiásticos. A pesquisa demonstrou que as transformações não eram desejadas apenas pelo clero. Na primeira república, políticos e elite intelectual almejavam progresso, modernização e civilização do Brasil. Constatei a existência de três agentes reformadores clero, autoridades civis e elite católica empenhados na mudança dos costumes. Ações isoladas ou conjuntas fizeram desaparecer algumas festividades, como a de Sant Ana. A tese ressalta a persistência da tradição, principalmente entre os adeptos dos cultos afro-brasileiros. Continuaram realizando seus rituais nas irmandades e dentro das homenagens aos santos. Foram ainda perspicazes para inserir o presente de Iemanjá no calendário de festas de Salvador. / The main aim of this research was to study the festivals of Santa Barbara, Our Lady of the Conception and Santa Ana, in Salvador. Despite characteristics in common, each one has its specificities. On December 4th, Santa Barbara opens the calendar of popular religious summer festivals. It is celebrated by tradesmen and market workers. In the same period, people in Bahia worship Our Lady of the Conception. The procession on December 8th is organized by the sisterhood. In January of 1824, fishermen from the village of Rio Vermelho began to worship Santa Ana. Summer tourists performed parades on thematic floats, balls and battles involving confetti and perfume, making the Catholic festival a prelude to Carnival. The period researched (1860-1940) is part of the process of Romanization of Brazilian Catholicism. In addition to taking care of the formation of future priests, the Catholic Church wished to modify the religiosity of lay people. The saints festivals, impregnated with profane characteristics and those of other beliefs, were to be purified and controlled by the clergy. The study showed that these transformations were not desired only by the clergy. In the first republic, politicians and the intellectual elite desired progress, modernization and civilization of Brazil. The existence of three reformatory agents was noted clergy, civil authorities and catholic elite dedicated to the metamorphosis of customs. Isolated or joint actions made some festivals disappear, such as that of Santa Ana. The thesis emphasizes the persistence of this tradition, especially amongst those adept at Afro-Brazilian forms of worship. They continued to hold their rituals in the sisterhoods and within the homage paid to saints. They were also perceptive enough to insert offerings to Iemanjá in the calendar of festivals in Salvador.

The dominance of the White Christ in Latin America has been used to lend “theological” support for social, racial, and colonial hierarchies of the Spanish in Ecuador. The rhetoric used to justify the blanqueamiento process continues to play an enormous role in Ecuadorian social mobility, and also determines how various ethnicities in Ecuador are governed and treated. The Indigenous and Afroecuadorian populations of Ecuador are subjected to significantly higher rates of violence, poverty, and disease than their Mestizo and White counterparts. Against the tide of this theological distortion, I will argue that the Black Christ of Daule subverts the dominant image of a White Christ along with its implied oppressive hierarchies, instead paving the way for a vision of liberation for Ecuadorian Catholics.

Orientador: Eduardo Basto de Albuquerque / Banca: Milton Carlos Costa / Banca: Solange Ramos de Andrade David / Banca: Vasni de Almeida / Banca: Terezinha Oliveira / Resumo: A pesquisa teve como principal objetivo estudar as festas de Santa Bárbara, N. S. da Conceição e Sant’Ana, em Salvador. Apesar das características comuns, cada uma possui suas especificidades. Em 4 de dezembro, Santa Bárbara abre o calendário dos festejos religiosos populares de verão. É festejada pelos comerciantes e trabalhadores dos mercados. No mesmo período, os baianos se dedicam ao culto a N. S. da Conceição. A procissão do dia 8 de dezembro é organizada pela irmandade. Em janeiro de 1824, os pescadores do arrabalde do Rio Vermelho começaram a cultuar Sant’Ana. Os veranistas realizavam desfiles em carros alegóricos, bailes e batalhas de confete e lança-perfume, fazendo da festa católica um prenúncio do Carnaval. O período estudado (1860-1940) está inserido no processo de romanização do catolicismo brasileiro. Além de cuidar da formação dos futuros padres, a Igreja Católica desejava modificar a religiosidade dos leigos. As festas dos santos, impregnadas de características profanas e de outras crenças, deveriam ser purificadas e controladas pelos eclesiásticos. A pesquisa demonstrou que as transformações não eram desejadas apenas pelo clero. Na primeira república, políticos e elite intelectual almejavam progresso, modernização e civilização do Brasil. Constatei a existência de três agentes reformadores clero, autoridades civis e elite católica empenhados na mudança dos costumes. Ações isoladas ou conjuntas fizeram desaparecer algumas festividades, como a de Sant’Ana. A tese ressalta a persistência da tradição, principalmente entre os adeptos dos cultos afro-brasileiros. Continuaram realizando seus rituais nas irmandades e dentro das homenagens aos santos. Foram ainda perspicazes para inserir o presente de Iemanjá no calendário de festas de Salvador. / Abstract: The main aim of this research was to study the festivals of Santa Barbara, Our Lady of the Conception and Santa Ana, in Salvador. Despite characteristics in common, each one has its specificities. On December 4th, Santa Barbara opens the calendar of popular religious summer festivals. It is celebrated by tradesmen and market workers. In the same period, people in Bahia worship Our Lady of the Conception. The procession on December 8th is organized by the sisterhood. In January of 1824, fishermen from the village of Rio Vermelho began to worship Santa Ana. Summer tourists performed parades on thematic floats, balls and battles involving confetti and perfume, making the Catholic festival a prelude to Carnival. The period researched (1860-1940) is part of the process of Romanization of Brazilian Catholicism. In addition to taking care of the formation of future priests, the Catholic Church wished to modify the religiosity of lay people. The saints’ festivals, impregnated with profane characteristics and those of other beliefs, were to be purified and controlled by the clergy. The study showed that these transformations were not desired only by the clergy. In the first republic, politicians and the intellectual elite desired progress, modernization and civilization of Brazil. The existence of three reformatory agents was noted clergy, civil authorities and catholic elite dedicated to the metamorphosis of customs. Isolated or joint actions made some festivals disappear, such as that of Santa Ana. The thesis emphasizes the persistence of this tradition, especially amongst those adept at Afro-Brazilian forms of worship. They continued to hold their rituals in the sisterhoods and within the homage paid to saints. They were also perceptive enough to insert offerings to Iemanjá in the calendar of festivals in Salvador. / Doutor

Séville, quatrième ville d’Espagne, constitue un exemple de société contemporaine « hybride », prise entre modernité et mémoire. Ce travail de thèse, à vocation comparative, appuyé sur une patiente immersion de terrain, interroge les modalités du renouveau, de la permanence et de la stabilité de l’identité de la ville, au miroir des complexités de son fait religieux populaire. L’étude révèle d’abord les singularités d’un principe relationnel à l’œuvre dans la cité : segmentaire et médiatisé, de type familial extensif. Elle détaille ensuite la nature des dévotions portées aux multiples images locales du Christ et de la Vierge. Réellement présentes, les images entrent dans le jeu des interactions mondaines et les liens qui les unissent aux hommes se déploient au fil d’un calendrier liturgique hautement festif. Le travail en décrit les principales séquences. Il dévoile également l’action géopolitique des variations morphologiques que cette boucle cérémonielle produit dans la ville. Enfin, au-delà de ce que les seuls yeux peuvent percevoir, la thèse questionne plus particulièrement certains secrets de l’herméneutique locale du mystère pascal. L’observation des différentes étapes du sacrifice du Fils, puis de sa résurrection locale invisible, sensible et progressive, vient en effet mettre à jour un principe original de renouvellement du social, impliquant rituellement les vivants, leurs morts, ainsi que les générations à naître.Cette thèse présente ainsi différents aspects d’un même système politico-religieux local. L’articulation complexe de l’ensemble y ordonne cycliquement pouvoir et autorité, politique et imaginaire, au sein d’un même espace de sens symbolique. / Seville, Spain's fourth largest city, constitutes an example of a « hybrid » contemporary society caught between modernity and memory. This thesis, aiming to be comparative and supported by a patient field immersion, questions the modalities of the renewal, the permanence and the stability of the city's identity, in the mirror of its popular religious phenomenon.The study first reveals the singularities of a relational tenet at work in the city : segmental and mediated, while also shaped as an extensible family. It then details the nature of the devotion shown to the multiple local images of Christ and the Virgin. Through their real presence, these images fit into a pattern of social interactions, with the links that unite them to people unfolding throughout a highly festive liturgical calendar. The research describes its main sequences. It also reveals the geopolitical action of the morphological changes created by this ceremonial periodicity in the city.Finally, beyond what bare eyes can perceive, the thesis questions more specifically some of the secrets in the local hermeneutics of the Paschal Mystery. An observation of the different stages of the sacrifice of Christ, and his ensuing invisible local resurrection, emotionally perceptible and progressive, indeed furthers an original principle of social renewal, ritually involving the living, their dead as well as the future generations to come.This thesis thus presents different aspects of the same local political-religious system, wherein the complex articulation of the whole cyclically orders power and authority, politics and imagery, all within one space of symbolic meaning.

Gottbegrüßungsprozession (迎神赛会, oder Gottempfangsprozession) ist die eines der wichtigsten volksreligiösen Rituale, die zu den bedeutendsten Zeremonien des Religionslebens des chinesischen Volks zählen dürften. Der Ausgangspunkt meiner Forschung ist die 1995 veröffentlichte Studie Demon Hordes and Burning Boats: The Cult of Marshall Wen in Late Imperial Chekiang von Paul Katz, in der „Zivilgesellschaft und Volksreligion“ zum ersten Mal in der Forschung über die chinesische Kultur thematisiert. Um Katz’ Schwächen in der Studie zum Marschall Wen - sowohl an Quellen als auch in Theorie - auszugleichen, folgen ich in meiner Arbeit vertiefend zwei Grundlinien und damit sie grob in zwei Teile teilen, nämlich einen theoretischen und einen empirischen Teil. Im theoretischen Teil müssen zwei Fragen beantwortet: Was ist Zivilgesellschaft? Wie könnte die Zivilgesellschaftstheorie für diese religionswissenschaftliche Forschung nützlich sein? Um eine präzise Arbeitsdefinition geben und eine operationalisierbare Fragestellung aufstellen zu können, verfolge ich zunächst im ersten Teil die Begriffsgeschichte von „Zivilgesellschaft“ und „Öffentlichkeit“ im abendländischen Kontext zurück. Ein dreieckiges Problemfeld zwischen Staat, Privatsphäre und Ökonomie, zwei Ansätze der Zivilgesellschaftstheorie (der analytisch-deskriptive und der Idealistisch-präskriptive) werden zusammengefasst. Sieben Merkmale (öffentliche Assoziationen, Autonomie, Pluralität, Legalität, zivilisiertes Verhalten und utopisches Potenzial) und sechs Modelle (Das Trennungs-, Oppositions-, Öffentlichkeits-, Unterstützungs-, Partnerschaftsmodell und die globale Zivilgesellschaft) werden in der Forschung angeführt. Anschließend setze ich mich mit der Zivilgesellschaftsdiskussion im chinesischen Kontext auseinander. Aus der „Modern China Debate“ in den U. S. A. und der daran angeschlossenen chinesischen Diskussion wird eine Bilanz gezogen. Die „teleologische Annahme“ und der „China-Hat(te)-Auch-Komplex“ werden herausgefunden, die in einer historischen Forschung nicht legitimierbar sind. Danach wird die bisherige Erörterung über die Beziehung zwischen Zivilgesellschaft und Religion kurz zusammengefasst. Zum Ende des theoretischen Teils beschließe ich auf den idealistisch-präskriptiven Ansatzes zu verzichten. Die Zivilgesellschaftstheorie als Idealtypus im Weberschen Sinn benutzt, um die Kulturbedeutung der volksreligiösen Feste in China zu erkennen. Besonders die Organisation und die politische Auseinandersetzung der Prozession sollen in Betrachtung der Zivilgesellschaftstheorie gezogen werden, um die chinesische Gesellschaft besser zu verstehen. Im empirischen Teil der Arbeit werden Regionalbeschreibungen, Archivakten und Zeitungsartikel als Hauptquelle benutzt. Weil bisher keine systematische Forschung im Bereich der Religionswissenschaft zur Gottbegrüßungsprozession vorliegt, wird zuerst eine ausführliche Einführung in die Prozessionen in China gegeben, um ein zuverlässiges Bild von den Prozessionen innerhalb der chinesischen Religionslandschaft entwerfen zu können. Die Etymologie, die Arbeitsdefinition und die kosmologische Ordnung hinter der Prozession werden anschließend vorgestellt. Ich schlage vor, die Prozession als das Kennzeichen der kommunalen Religion Chinas anzusehen. Durch einige Sammelbände zur Folklore in China wird dann deutlich belegt, dass zahlreiche Gottbegrüßungsprozessionen ab Anfang der Qing-Zeit bis in die Republikzeit hinein kontinuierlich in fast allen Provinzen Chinas stattfanden. Danach werden die gesetzlichen Verbote in der Kaiserzeit dargestellt. Die Forschungsgeschichte zur Prozession und deren Problematik werden daraufhin zusammengefasst. Nachdem die Grundform bzw. die alternativen Formen, der Aufbau des Umzugs, Gottheiten, Dauer und Häufigkeit der Prozessionen in einem weiter begrenzten geographischen Raum, nämlich dem heutigen Shanghai, und zeitlich Raum, nämlich der Republikzeit (1912-49), dargestellt werden, werden die Haltung der Regierung und die mediale Präsentation solcher Prozessionen während der Republikzeit rekonstruiert, um die potenzielle Spannung zwischen dem Staat und den religiösen Gemeinschaften als eine der wichtigsten kollektiven Einstellungen zur Prozession zu zeigen. Die Zwischenfälle in der Nachbarregion werden wiedergegeben. Sodann werden drei detailreiche historische Fallbeispiele stichprobenartig angeführt und analysiert, um die weitere Behandlung der Fragestellung empirisch zu untermauern. Das erste historische Fallbeispiel ist der Stadtgott-Inspektionsrundgang. In diesem Fallbeispiel werden besonders die Finanzierung, die Aktivisten und Organisationen berücksichtigt, um ein Licht auf die Durchführung und Verwaltung der Prozessionen zu werfen. Darüber hinaus werden die Streite, Auseinandersetzungen und Konflikte zwischen den lokalen Behörden und dem Aufsichtsrat des Stadtgotttempels beleuchtet, um deren Verläufe, Hintergründe und Ursachen zu erforschen. Das zweite Fallbeispiel handelt sich um die Prozessionen und die Konflikte in Pudong von 1919 bis 1935. Die Verbote, die Gegenmaßnahmen der Regierung und die Verstöße gegen das Prozessionsverbot werden ausführlich geschildert, um die tatsächliche Ursachen der Konflikte zu finden. Zum Schluss des Kapitels wird die Polizei als Beispiel der damaligen Staatsmacht analysiert. Das dritte Fallbeispiel ist die Prozession im Dorf Jiangwan. Im Jahr 1935 wurde die dortige Prozession von der lokalen Feuerwehr schikaniert. Die Nachwirkung und die direkte Einmischung der Parteidirektion werden auch detailreich dargelegt. In der Schlussfolgerung der Arbeit werden die Beteiligten der Prozession in drei Gruppen, nämlich den Schaulustigen, den Aktivisten, den Unterstützer und die Förderer, eingeteilt. Ihre unterschiedlichen Funktionen und Motivationen getrennt zusammengefasst. Die andere Partei, die Kontrolleure der Prozession, wird anschließend behandelt. Alle historischen Beschreibungen werden im Spiegel der Zivilgesellschaftstheorie, v. a. der sieben Merkmale und sechs Modelle, evaluiert. Außerdem bringe ich zwei Einwände gegen die Dichotomie von C. K. Yang vor.