Thèse--Uppsala. / "Ouvrages cités": p. [116]-130.

Diss. Freie Univ. Berlin, 2005.

Thesis (MA Theology(Practical Theology)--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-104)

<p>This is a study of Prehistoric musical instruments from Scandinavia and the different meanings they could have had in the Prehistoric society. I have described the different types of possible music instruments and the different categories that they belong to. I have also written about their different functions that could have been for example ritual artefacts, shamanic tools or useful instruments in hunting. Two case studies are also presented in the essay, the Falköpingsflute and the Balkåkradrum.</p>

<p>This essay consider ritual death during the ironage, and through a presentation of historical and archaeological sources. Considered ritual death I think we should study both historical and archaeological sources, to get a vider view and a new perspective. To make the essay easier to understand I have split up the early and the late Iron Age in the discussion. In order to study the ritual death I have shown archaeological examples like bogsacrifices in the early ironage, and decapitated victims in the Viking society. The victims have been considered as slaves by some archaeologist. An example of this is the grave in Bollstanäs, Uppland, when archaeologist found a cremated male with personal equipment. They also found two beheaded males. Ove Hemmendorff imply that they were slaves, buried as gravegoods, and he based this opinion of drawing parallels with other similar graves, and to literary sources like Ibn Fadlans story.</p>

Zugl.: Münster (Westfalen), Universiẗat, Diss., 2004.

abstract: The original mediums were not texts or technologies; they were ritual actors performing acts of mediumship. Mediating between determined norms (the status quo) and emergent trends (change), they invoked divine authority to conjure meanings that proved adaptive, nonadaptive and/or maladaptive. With the advent of the written word, ritual became formalized and codified. The medium became a communication device, something abstract and external to the human condition. It then became possible to speak of "media effects" imposing influence in a logical deterministic manner. Yet with the advent of new media, we are witnessing a return to modes of cultural discourse that are spontaneous, interactive, communal and unscripted, all hallmarks of ritual action. This "ritual return" centers on the emergence of the "prosumer" (producer/consumer), a figure actively engaged in mediating practices. While resembling the original archaic "medium" in some respects, the prosumer is a "literate ritualist" allied with a multiplicity of cultural tribes. Thus the "new media" has given rise to "the new medium." The pages that follow focus on acts of contemporary mediumship, examining related concepts such as "ecology," "niche," "role," "affordance," and "trope." Each section considers how specific mediating practices afford and constrain modes of ritualized behavior. I call this practice-oriented approach to media studies "praxism." / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2011

The main purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the range of small finds and other materials often found deposited in the fills and stone settings above later Iron Age graves in the Mälar region of central Sweden. This study investigates how this material, especially potsherds, burnt clay, burnt and unburnt bones and teeth, flint, ice crampons, nails, rivets and knives, were distributed in eight different grave fields in the Mälar valley. The results shows that most of this material was indeed deliberately placed on or in the graves, with different object types added to particular areas of burial monuments.

This dissertation explains why and how urban Shanghainese are primarily commemorated in death as model socialist citizens despite the rise of individualism, the resurgence of religion, and current government opposition to socialist civil funerals since market reforms initiated in 1978. The study draws evidence from archival materials, interviews, and participant observation fieldwork between June 2010 and January 2012 (including attendance at over 75 funerals). The Chinese Communist Party's original funeral reforms, especially the promotion of socialist funerals, aimed at eliminating religious, affective, and relational ideas of self through the removal of "superstitious" elements, ritualized and externalized grief and mourning, and all horizontal ties among its citizens. The dead were thus envisioned as undifferentiated socialist subject-citizens directly tied to the party-state in socialist funerals. After the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the state began to discourage socialist funerals, while marketizing all state funeral parlors. Shanghai state funeral parlors thus started to pursue "personalized" funerals commemorating the deceased as individuals. However, despite such moves, the socialist funeral has become the dominant form of commemoration. The dissertation argues that when death became a profit-making business, the government lost its moral capacity to dominate the subject formation of the dead. Shanghai people saw state parlors' effort to promote personalized funerals as simply another instance of profiteering. "Dying socialist" became a critique of the neoliberal regime, momentarily de-naturalizing the capitalist reality of Shanghai life. Meanwhile, the rise of semi-legal private funeral brokers mediating between the bereaved and state funeral parlors further pushed death into a moral vacuum. Simultaneously, these brokers also provided a new platform for the inclusion of traditional and religious funeral elements within socialist civil funerals. The thesis ends by considering two forms of socialist funerals--popular religious/Buddhist and Protestant versions--and their respective subject formation. The former seeks to add new frames alongside the socialist frame, while the latter seeks to supplant the socialist frame with an entirely different narrative. The first is pluralist and accommodative. The second is revolutionary, striving for a singular Protestant subjectivity to supplant the old socialist one. / 2020-08-31

In this dissertation I examine the social functions of neighborhood plazas by tracing the development of a Classic Maya (AD 200-900) ritual and residential complex at the ancient city of Xultun, Guatemala. In ancient as in modern times, public open spaces were essential to urban life; yet their functions and meanings could vary within and among societies. Using archaeological and architectural data from three plazas and an adjacent residential complex, I identify a shift towards increased public spaces in the Late Classic period, and link this to the rising importance of displays of power for Xultun's growing population. Located on the northern periphery of Xultun, Los Aves, the focus of the study, is an architectural group consisting of a central residential area with three adjacent plazas to the east, west and northwest. During the Early Classic (AD 250-600) period, only one of the plazas had been built and the layout of the complex was balanced between public and private space. Residents carried out domestic activities within six modest patio groups and used a round platform in the western plaza, Plaza Colibrí, for group rituals. The construction of two new plazas during the Late Classic period (AD 600-900) dramatically changed the composition of Los Aves, tripling the amount of public space. Dominating the neighborhood was a new, larger plaza, Plaza Tecolote, with monumental, ritual architecture that opened to the south towards the city center, easily accessible to those outside of Los Aves. An increase in population at this time necessitated the construction of more domestic structures within the house groups, reducing the amount of proximate patio spaces. Such activities now took place in a new, smaller plaza, Plaza Loro, located in the northwest of the complex, that contained broad steps for seating. In the Early Classic period, Los Aves contained equal parts public and private space, while in the Late Classic period public plazas dominated. I argue that as populations grew, public displays of power became increasingly important, and new, larger plazas were built to accommodate these events. This development broadens our understanding of Classic Maya urbanism.