Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media & Philosophy, Department of Anthropology, 2006. / "December 2005". / Bibliography: leaves 327-357. / Characteristics of ritual abuse discourse -- A plethora of theorists (and of differences between them) -- Defining ritual abuse: differences, disputes and bad faith -- Allegations, investigations and trials -- Abuse accomodation and recovered memories -- Moral panic and witch hunt -- Witch craze -- Outsiders, accusations and obligations -- Accusations of ritual abuse in Australia -- Witches and pedophiles -- Conclusion. / Allegations of "ritual abuse" were first made in North America in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was claimed that an extremely severe form of sexual and physical child abuse was being perpetrated by Satanists or the devotees of comparably unorthodox religions. Perpetrators were often supposed to be invloved in other serious criminal activities. Allegations were subsequently made in Britain, Holland, Australia and New Zealand. The thesis examines the bitter debates that these claims provoked, including the dispute about whether ritual abuse "really happens". -- The thesis also contributes to the debate by providing some anthropological insights into why these strange and incredible claims were made and why they were accepted by certain therapists, officials, journalists and members of the public. It is argued that the panic over ritual abuse was a panic about what anthropologists know as "witchcraft" and the thesis makes this argument through an analysis of the events (mainly discursive events) of the panic. The thesis in particular takes up Jean La Fontaine's argument about the similarities between accusations of ritual abuse and those made against "witches" in early modern Europe and in non-Western societies. The similarities between the kinds of people typically accused of perpetrating ritual abuse and those accused of practising witchcraft are considered, with a special emphasis on those cases where accusations were made by adult "survivors" and where alleged perpetrators were affluent and of relatively high social status. The thesis examines how supposed perpetrators of ritual abuse were denied the social support properly due to them and how accusations--and the persecution that followed--achieved certain political, professional and personal ends for survivors and their supporters. -- The thesis also considers similarities between "crazed" witch hunting and the recent spread of the panic about ritual abuse throughout much of the English-speaking West. The peculiar panic about witch-like figures that occurred in Australia -- especially in NSW--is examined. The thesis shows how, at a time when Australians had become very sceptical about claims of ritual abuse, activists were able to incite and affect the latest of a succession of homophobic panics in Australia. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / 357 leaves ill

Submitted by Natália El-Khouri (nat.khouri@gmail.com) on 2015-10-13T19:25:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertacaodeMestrado_FavelaDaSamba_NataliaElKhouri.pdf: 8965359 bytes, checksum: 9129a227c752c5bd10a270e2af12a856 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rafael Aguiar (rafael.aguiar@fgv.br) on 2015-11-10T16:04:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertacaodeMestrado_FavelaDaSamba_NataliaElKhouri.pdf: 8965359 bytes, checksum: 9129a227c752c5bd10a270e2af12a856 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2015-11-11T18:04:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertacaodeMestrado_FavelaDaSamba_NataliaElKhouri.pdf: 8965359 bytes, checksum: 9129a227c752c5bd10a270e2af12a856 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-11T18:04:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertacaodeMestrado_FavelaDaSamba_NataliaElKhouri.pdf: 8965359 bytes, checksum: 9129a227c752c5bd10a270e2af12a856 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-15 / For the Special Group Samba Schools parade of Rio de Janeiro in 2014, St. Clement Samba School chose the theme 'slum'. This dissertation analyzes the choice and the development of this topic by the school, discussing the representations of slum presented in the parade and the ideas and negotiations held between members of the school during its preparation. More specifically, this work has the challenge of thinking slum presented by GRES St. Clement from the ' dogmas ' consolidated around the slum, as argued Licia Valladares (2005 ), and contrasting the expected luxury of a parade of Samba Schools with the simplicity composed of all alleged absence that the slum has. / Para o Desfile das Escolas de Samba do Grupo Especial do Rio de Janeiro em 2014, o Grêmio Recreativo e Escola de Samba (G.R.E.S) São Clemente escolheu o enredo 'favela'. A presente dissertação analisa a escolha e o desenvolvimento desse tema pela escola, problematizando as representações da favela apresentadas no desfile e as ideias e negociações mantidas entre os membros da escola na preparação do mesmo. Mais especificamente, o trabalho procura enfrentar o desafio de pensar a favela apresentada pela G.R.E.S. São Clemente a partir dos 'dogmas' consolidados em torno da favela, conforme argumenta Lícia Valladares (2005), e contrapondo o esperado luxo de um desfile de uma Escola de Samba do Grupo Especial do Rio de Janeiro com a simplicidade composta por todas as supostas 'faltas' que a favela possui.

The aim of this study was to explore the purposes and effects of women’s leadership in rituals in relation to their social and religious role in society. This was carried out by using qualitative methods and analyzing the data by using ritual theory and theories on religion and gender. The interviews and observations focused on two rituals carried out by women: the Partiv Puja and the Chhath Puja. The results show that women participate in the rituals for religious, cultural, and social reasons, and that their participation in the rituals could be viewed as a reclaim of the public space of religious practice. Furthermore, the women’s participation and leadership in rituals could also, from a ritual theoretic perspective, be viewed as a tool to refuse and change social power structures. The research was carried out in Varanasi, India, during an eight-week Minor Field Study and the study was performed by using observations and interviews, which were conducted between the 21st of October and the 2nd of December 2018 / Målet med denna studie var att utforska syften och följder av kvinnors ledarskap och deltagande i religiösa ritualer i relation till deras sociala och religiösa roll i samhället. Studien genomfördes genom kvalitativa metoder samt en analys av resultaten ur ett ritualteorietiskt perspektiv, samt med hjälp av teorier om religion och kön. Intervjuerna och observationerna fokuserade på två ritualer som utförs av kvinnor: Partiv Puja och Chaath Puja. Resultaten visar att kvinnor deltar i ritualerna av religiösa, kulturella och sociala anledningar, samt att deras deltagande skulle kunna ses som ett återtagande av den offentliga platsen för religiöst utövande. Tilläggningsvis skulle kvinnors deltagande och ledarskap i ritualer, ur ett ritualteoretiskt perspektiv, även kunna ses som verktyg för att gå emot, och förändra, sociala maktstrukturer. Studien genomfördes i Varanasi, Indien, under en åttaveckors Minor Field Study och utfördes genom observationer och intervjuer. Dessa ägde rum mellan den 21:a oktober och den 2:a december 2018.

PhD / Centre for African Studies

No description available.

Whereas commentators frequently restrict the categories for purity language in James to either ritual or metaphorical (and uniformly conclude the language is a metaphor for personal morality) this is overly restrictive and ignores how purity language was used in the first-century. Current research of purity language in ancient Israel calls into question the rigid either/or categorization of purity language in James. Such descriptions are not only unjustifiably restrictive, but they also fail to account for the function or meaning of the purity language within the rhetorical goals of the composition. The central argument of this investigation is that purity language both articulates and constructs the composition's worldview and thus serves as an important theme in the text. Chapter two discusses the different methods of analysis of purity and offers a taxonomy of purity language. This taxonomy provides a more precise approach to understanding the function of purity language. Chapter three argues for several important aspects of the structure and strategy of the text. Specifically the three interdependent characteristics of 1) an epistolary structure; 2) a coherent rhetorical argument based on polar oppositions; 3) and the special function of James 1: 2-27 as an introduction are suggested. While attuned to the textual issues argued in chapter three, the categories developed in the taxonomy were applied as a heuristic guide to understand the function of purity and pollution in chapter four. This analysis demonstrated four specific things: 1) though purity language occurs relatively infrequently, it is used at crucial points of the composition (1: 26-27; 3: 6,17; 4: 8); 2) that the use of purity and pollution specifically functions within the overall strategy of contrasts which leads readers to a decision; 3) that the majority of the time purity language labeled the world (and by extension those associated with it) as set against the implicit purity of God; and therefore, 4) the readers of James must be separate from the impure world ("pure") in order to be wholehearted in devotion to God ("perfect"). Because the purity of the audience is directly related to their proximity to the world, chapter five asks what kind of separation is envisioned by the use of purity language. While purity is indeed boundary language, the cultural stance of James is complex. The author shows signs of acculturation, yet this acculturation is employed to call the audience to specific points of separation from surrounding culture, namely separation from patron-client relationships with the "rich" and use of inappropriate and deceitful speech. Thus the composition is not calling for sectarian separation from the surrounding culture, but rather is a complex document demonstrating cultural accommodation while calling forth specific socio-cultural boundaries between the readers and the world.

The research presented here explores why a few people left their valley-dwelling neighbors to build and live at El Pueblito on Cerro de Moctezuma, the only hilltop settlement constructed during the Casas Grandes Medio period (A.D. 1200-1450) in what is today northwest Chihuahua, Mexico. These people also constructed the only currently recognized trails to a settlement, a massive rock agricultural system and subterranean oven, and an unparalleled crowning hill summit precinct. Comparative analyses of artifacts from limited excavations at El Pueblito to four other Medio period settlements shows that in terms of ceramics, chipped stone, and ground stone, El Pueblito was an ordinary residence. However, other evidence demonstrates that El Pueblito, and more comprehensively Cerro de Moctezuma, was beyond the ordinary. Wood preference, bird wings, remains of elk, an impractical use of construction materials, an imposing use of buildings, a unique architectural style, and an untypical settlement composition support a conclusion of specialized, ideological interests. Trails and wayside shrines at Cerro de Moctezuma were physical and symbolic places that initialized perceptions of the hill. Theories of ritualization, architecture, pilgrimage, and community; ethnographic analogy; and archaeological parallels provide vantages to orient Cerro de Moctezuma within a broader ritualized landscape of interactions involving hilltop shrines, feasting ovens, ball courts, and Paquimé, the premier capital of Medio times. Cerro de Moctezuma and Paquimé each concentrated the trappings of specialization. Tangible reproductions of ritual in the hinterland, such as ovens and ball courts, are less elaborately expressed than at Paquimé. Likewise, hilltop ritual facilities are most elaborate at Cerro de Moctezuma compared to those in the hinterland. Pilgrimage to both ritual centers as well as hinterland ritual leaders are envisioned. Within a trans-regional ideology and worldview of hill settlement and use, Cerro de Moctezuma was locally crafted from a ritual mandate to reinforce and maintain central beliefs and values emanating from Paquimé and was a physical and ideological part of that great center with ritual leadership residing periodically at both places.

Abstract This essay discusses different explanations and interpretations of what characterizes large areas containing clearance cairns (cairn fields). Results from the analyses show that there are different explanations about when and why cairn fields and clearance cairns occur. Explanations vary from introduction of the wooden ard in the early Bronze Age to the introduction of rational hay-making in the Roman Iron Age.  There is, anyway, relative agreement considering why and when cairn fields were abandoned. The reason suggested is an increasing pasturage with the consequence of reducing soil to poverty during the period of the Great Migration or in the Viking Age. The most likely cultivation system in cairn fields is a system consisting of both intensive and extensive characteristics. The latter coincides with the probable mobility of settlements. When it comes to cultivation a possible development is the use of hand-tools initially, followed by an increased use of wooden ards. Stones from clearance cairns have often been used when graves were built. Sometimes this is interpreted in ritualistic and symbolic terms, but a practical explanation seems most likely. Graves in areas of clearance cairns are usually located nearby the settlements. This is either indicating a more developed individualized ownership of land in the Iron Age or a stronger cult of ancestors in the period. When the element of ritual and symbolism in the agriculture practiced in areas of clearance cairns is discussed this is, almost without exception, a question for archaeologists, though many archaeologist, like culture geographers, emphasize practical explanations to different phenomena.   KEYWORDS: Areas of clearance cairns, clearance cairns, cultivation systems, settlements, ritual and symbolism.

There have been two key difficulties concerning the study of indigenous rituals, religious conversion and change among the Igbo of South-eastern Nigeria, both before and after the missionary upsurge of the mid-nineteenth Century. First is the inadequate awareness or lack of reflexivity by some scholars regarding the resilience of the Igbo indigenous religions. Second is the neglect of oral sources and the overdependence on missionary archives. This thesis draws on field research on the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria (PCN) and the Ogo society in Amasiri. The research method follows a triangulation research design which incorporates an ethnographic methodology. This involves participant observation and interviews, thus allowing for a set of guidelines that connect theoretical paradigms to strategies of inquiry and methods for collecting empirical data. Within the Amasiri clan it is expected that every male will be initiated into the Ogo society as a means of attaining manhood as well as incorporation into the adult group. Refusal to be initiated into the society amounts to ostracisation and a loss of social relevance. The thesis examines the establishment, growth and impact of Christianity among the Amasiri clan in its different phases (colonial and post-colonial eras) - 1927-2008. It demonstrates the interaction between Amasiri indigenous religions and Christianity, in order to show how and to what extent the Ogo society has endured over time. The thesis analyses specific beliefs and ritual practices of the Ogo society and Christianity, paying close attention to the resultant tensions as well as the dynamic of acquired and lived religious identities. In view of the complex patterns of interaction between Christianity and the Ogo society, the thesis explores the following questions: What makes the Ogo society an integral part of the socio-religious life of Amasiri and what powers and identity does it confer on initiates? How are these predominantly indigenous cultural features, expressed within Christian spirituality? What effect does the construction and negotiation of religious identities have on the interaction and co-existence of Christians and members of the Ogo society? Furthermore, three themes were central to this research: the first is the gender dynamic of initiation processes into the Ogo society. The second is the pattern of religious change, identity and politics of Christianity and indigenous cultures. The third is analysing the need for and limits on effective dialogue between Christians and members of the Ogo society. The thesis raises a crucial question, whether religious conversion is partial or total repudiation of indigenous cultures. These analyses propose a viable means of negotiation between Christianity and the Ogo society in Amasiri. It sets the stage for a dialogue between Christianity and the Ogo society, a dialogue that takes the indigenous context seriously.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att skapa en inventering för på vilket sätt ritualer påverkar anställdas trivsel, uppskattning, gemenskap, motivation och missnöje på deras arbetsplats. Metod: Uppsatsen utgår från en deduktiv ansats där teorin samlades in innan insamling av empiri. Insamlingsmetoden för uppsatsen var intervjuer och det genomfördes 30 stycken utifrån ett bekvämlighetsurval i Kalmar län. Insamlat material analyserades noggrant för att se på vilket sätt ritualer påverkar anställda. Resultatet jämfördes med tidigare forskning för att se om tidigare teorier stämde överens eller skiljde sig från resultatet i vår undersökning. Slutsatser: Uppsatsens resultat visar att anställda påverkas av ritualer på arbetsplatsen. Det framgår också att det uppkommit skillnader från tidigare forskning jämfört med vår undersökning. Ritualer påverkar majoriteten av de anställda positivt, men det har även framgått att ritualer tenderar att leda till missnöje.