Kukeri is a documentary film investigating the Surva tradition performed in the Pernik region of Bulgaria. The film was shot in Bulgaria, in the winter of 2011/2012, over the course of three weeks, and will be completed in August of 2012. During this creation process, I acted as the creator, director, and guide, and facilitated an artistic process that was shared with my cinematographer, Drew Xanthopoulos. Surva is a ritual performance whose purpose is to chase away evil spirits, ensure a good harvest, health, and perpetuate the life cycle: birth, death, and rebirth. Much of the performance is strictly regulated by tradition and rooted in an agrarian society that is thousands of years old. The society is quickly changing due to urbanization and globalization, and this is having drastic effects on the tradition itself. Inspired by a sense of homesickness for my Bulgarian culture, this project was a study of the transitory aspects of cultural tradition. It assayed topics of ethnography, anthropology, and folk costume, but at its root were more complex topics of the value of cultural traditions and the effects of globalization on one of the oldest rituals in the world. / text

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The study of ritual and practice within the Aztecs is problematic because of the emphasis given to the state public ceremonies rather than daily practice. Scholars often generalize or set fixed definitions on domestic ritual centered on class, gender, and space. These generalizations are passed on to the objects associated with domestic ritual, the figurines. In my study, I pose that by eliminating such limited terms and definitions about Aztec figurines and domestic ritual might help us gain a better understanding of Aztec daily practice. I argue that by examining figurines one can see the diversity and complexity inherent within domestic ritual that encompassed not only women, but also a variety of participants, social classes, and spaces. / text

The Harris site (A.D. 500-1000) is an unusual Mimbres site because it has a Late Pithouse period component with no overlying Classic period pueblo. The excavations by the University of Las Vegas-Nevada (UNLV) were conducted at this site between 2007 and 2013. Shell artifacts, and their role in the Mimbres area, have not been extensively studied. I analyzed shell data from the UNLV field school, combined with Haury's excavated shell assemblage from his work at the site in the 1930's to interpret the role of shell at the Harris site. More specifically, I look at the role shell may have played in the ritual life of Mimbres society. Using context, artifact form, and co-occurring assemblage materials illuminates how shell was used in ritual practice. My methodology includes recording specific information about the shell, including, but not limited to: context, condition (i.e., burnt vs. unburnt), description, measurements, artifact form, genus, and species if the shell is identifiable to that degree. Using this methodology allows me to observe patterns and infer whether specific artifact forms and/or genera correlate with certain contexts. Observing these patterns, I seek to observe the ritual practices in which shell was incorporated. I use Bell (1992, 1997) and Bradley’s (2010) framework on ritual, which posits that ritual-like behavior has marked characteristics and occurs in a variety of quotidian and sacred contexts, which suggests a continuum rather than a dichotomy in the use of these spaces. To further understand the use of shell in ritual practices, looking at spatial and diachronic data is imperative. Therefore, five other sites along the Mimbres River have been chosen for comparison. These sites include Pithouse and Classic period components. This comparison allows me to investigate how shell use changed over time in the Mimbres region. The comparative sites include: NAN Ranch (A.D. 600/650-1150), Mattocks Ruin (A.D. 750/800-1130), Galaz Ruin (A.D. 550-1130), Swarts (A.D. 950-1150), and the Old Town site (A.D. 750-1150).

Large, conical mounds known as sambaquis form the contours of prehistoric settlement, resource procurement, and ritual along the southern coast of Brazil. This research examines faunal remains from Jabuticabeira II, a large shell mound exclusively used as a cemetery for approximately 1000 years (between 2500 - 1400 BP). Its complex stratigraphy alternates between dark burial deposits and light, thick layers of shells. Various groups used neighboring burial areas simultaneously, and faunal analysis of these burial deposits suggests that animals, especially fish, played an integral role in feasts performed to honor the dead.Detailed investigation of feast remains from 12 funerary areas indicates recurrent use of the same resources during the events, especially catfish and whitemouth croaker. Mammals and birds were also part of the ritual and were deposited in association with burial pits, especially during the final episode of construction. The remains of feasts were then used to fill the funerary areas and demarcate the domain of the dead. Recurrent depositional episodes of massive amounts of shell valves eventually formed a large mound, and the building materials were carefully selected to emphasize the opposition between interment areas and covering layers.The results primarily indicate strong continuity in the feasts. A dramatic shift in the materials used to build the mound during the final period of its construction does not coincide with a change in the faunal assemblage. Examination of Brazilian ethnography sheds light on several aspects of mortuary ritual and explains the association of features discovered at the site. Feasts incorporated resources accessible to all group members, and reinforced the connection of groups with estuarine landscape. The identification of bounded deposits that can be assigned to specific affinity groups allows studies of the nature of social relationships. This permitted the development of a sampling strategy that targeted social units, a breakthrough approach. The unique access to affinity groups can answer questions about the behavior of these social units and the association of their members.

This study explores aspects of the development and organization of a mid-thirteenth through fourteenth-century, ancestral Hopi settlement cluster at Homol'ovi, located in the central Little Colorado River valley in north-central Arizona. The Homol'ovi cluster has been the subject of an intensive, 20-plus year program of excavation and survey by the Arizona State Museum's Homol'ovi Research Program. Homol'ovi I, an 1100-room pueblo occupied from approximately A.D. 1290 to 1400, was excavated between 1994 and 1999 and yielded deeply stratified, intact cultural deposits. The present study develops an internal, ceramic-based chronology of deposits at Homol'ovi I; establishes temporal relationships between occupational components at Homol'ovi I and other Pueblo IV period sites in the Homol'ovi cluster; and explores spatial and temporal variation in ritual activities within the Homol'ovi cluster through the lens of zooarchaeology.The Homol'ovi I chronology developed in this study is based on frequency seriation of imported Jeddito Yellow Ware pottery; stylistic, formal, and technological analysis of Jeddito Yellow Ware; ceramic cross-dating; and high-precision AMS radiocarbon dating. These dating techniques make it possible to seriate cultural deposits at Homol'ovi I, and to tie deposits from other local sites into the Homol'ovi I sequence. Additionally, some of the techniques potentially can be applied to date sites in other regions where Jeddito Yellow Ware pottery is found. This chronological research establishes a framework for tracking behavioral and organizational changes within the village of Homol'ovi I, and for situating events and processes in the life history of this community within a broader, regional context.One potential application of this chronological framework is explored through a zooarchaeological study that addresses temporal and site-to-site variation in the use and deposition of ritually sensitive categories of fauna at Homol'ovi I and other nearby villages, including Homol'ovi II, III, and IV. The fauna of interest include birds, carnivores, artiodactyls, and certain reptiles and amphibians. This study identifies a number of temporal trends that may be related to a major, late-fourteenth century reorganization of the Homol'ovi cluster and its external relations. In doing so, it lays a foundation for further research into the ritual organization of the Homol'ovi cluster.

This dissertation addresses the role of ritual practices in the emergence of complex forms of social organization during the Late Archaic Period of the Central Andes (ca. 3000 1500 B.C.). This theme is approached through description and analysis of ritual architecture remains recovered in excavations at the site of Cerro Lampay, located in the Fortaleza Valley, within the North Central Coast of Peru.The emergence of social complexity is approached from the perspective of Practice Theory, noting the relevance of ritual practices in the generation, reproduction, and/or transformation of social conditions of existence.Following these theoretical principles, archaeological information is analyzed through a methodological frame built to understand the performative aspects of ritual and its material manifestations. A particular emphasis is put on the analysis of architectural remains, which are analyzed from proxemics and space syntax perspectives, in order to define the patterns of human interaction produced during the conduct of ritual.The inference of behavioral patterns conducted within construction events and ritual performances have allowed me to propose a scenario of a community with emergent leaders and a dual organization, which was responsible for the building, use, and closure of the architectural compounds found at Cerro Lampay. Ritual practices such as conspicuous consumption and feasting played a key role in the development of social dynamics and might have been a significant power source for the emergent leaderships.

This paper explores the cultural roles of tale-telling, and how these roles may have been transformed by the transcription of folk and fairy tales into “literature,” with reference to Paul Connerton’s ideas of habit-memory and collective identity, Benedict Anderson’s writing on the rise of print capitalism, and Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of cultural capital and the power of language.

Tyrimo tikslas – sukurti ir taikyti naują socialinio grupinio darbo metodą. Tyrimo uždaviniai: apibūdinti problemą, sudaryti informacinę – teorinę bazę, sukurti socialinio grupinio darbo metodą, taikyti metodą dirbant su neįgaliųjų grupe psichikos sveikatos centre, atskleisti metodo pranašumus ir trūkumus, atlikti metodo trūkumų korekciją ir įvertinti darbo rezultatą. Tyrimo metodai – veiksmo (veiklos) tyrimas, mokslo šaltinių analizė, fokus interviu. Tyrimas, laikantis etinių reikalavimų atliktas N. Psichikos sveikatos centre 2008-04-01 – 2008-05-21 panaudojant atskleidžiamąjį pokalbį, atliekant stebėjimą, įrašant fokus interviu. Tyrime dalyvavo 7 asmenys. 5 moterys ir 2 vyrai. N. miesto neįgaliųjų draugijos nariai, amžiaus vidurkis 50m. Naujas socialinio grupinio darbo metodas sąlyginiu Eklektiškos biblioterapijos pavadinimu leido spręsti klientų išsakytus pageidavimus. Pagrindinės išvados: socialiniame darbe nėra ir negali būti iš anksto paruoštų sprendimo būdų; kūrybiškai derindamas įgūdžius, vertybes, žinias socialinis darbuotojas turi susikurti jam reikalingą socialinio grupinio darbo metodą, kurdamas socialinio grupinio darbo metodą socialinis darbuotojas turi atsižvelgti į klientų pageidavimus, galimybes ir grupinio darbo metodams keliamus reikalavimus: efektyvumą, pagrindimą psichologijos žiniomis, etiškumą; kuriant socialinio grupinio darbo metodą galima derinti įvairias pagalbines psichoterapines priemones, šiuo atveju biblioterapijos, susitikimų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of the work is to create and practise a new social group work method. The objectives of the work: to discribe the problem, to create informatike – theoretical base, to create social group work method, to practise this method working with a disabled group of people in the Psichic Health Centre, to educe benefits and drawbacks of method, to fulfill thr correction of the method drawbacks and evaluate the result of the work. The methods used in the research: action research, observation, conversation, interview. The research was implemented in the N Psichic Health Centre from 01/04/2008 to 21/05/2008 under ethic requirements, using revealing conversation, performing observation and recording focus interview. Seven people of whom five women and two men (N members of the disabled association of the town) participated in the research. The average age of participants is 50. This new social group work method, tiled provisory Eclectic Bibliotherapy, let us tackle clients, wishes witch were said by them. Main outcomes: an advanced decision does not exist and cannot be prepared in social work; combining skills, values and knoweledge creatively, a social worker should create his needful social group work method; creating social group work method a social worker should consider clients preferences, abilites and requirements of group work method such as efficiency, reasoning psychological knowledge and ethic; creating social group work method, diferent supporting means of... [to full text]

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