The thesis explores the existing urban landscape of Jeppestown, specifically with regard to the consequences of the hijacking of inner-city buildings for residential purposes. The aim is to reclaim public space from the post-industrial landscape and reconfigure the existing fabric, by means of a fragile intervention so as to connect the social realm with the built fabric. The project accepts the hijacked typology of urban living as part of the context. It is viewed as an existing and ongoing condition, which far exceeds the current capacity of state-funded housing. From this stance, the project aims to provide public services that celebrate the rituals of washing in a meaningful and accessible way. The project endeavours to utilise theories related to African space to address local contemporary urban issues contextually. It uses the rituals of the everyday as a muse for creating eventful public space, an amenity which is becoming increasingly important with the growing densities of South Africa’s cities. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

This thesis is the result of a concern over ‘being church’ in a multicultural setting, in accordance with the aphorism ‘Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex (con)vivendi’ (cf. Smit 2004). The urban setting of the City of Centurion, in Gauteng Province, The Republic of South Africa, displays a diversity of cultures, languages and individuals in relation with one another. South Africans, as a nation, are still learning to live together (lex (con)vivendi), in unity and inclusivity, some two decades after the birth of democracy in a post-Apartheid context. This context cannot be overlooked, neither can the multicultural context of urban South Africa. Therefore, the research question of this thesis is: how does the form and content of prayer impact the ways in which people connect with God and other people? In the first chapter, the research problem was stated. The second chapter described theory relevant to the research project as well as the research methodology. In the third chapter, the qualitative research data was described. Chapter four involved drawing on theories from various arts and sciences to interpret the empirical data. The fifth chapter considered theological concepts that would aid in developing ethical norms and learning from ‘good practice’. The sixth, and final chapter, formed a pragmatic response by means of suggesting a new theory for praxis. The suggested theory for praxis involves the liturgical inculturation process of continual critical-reciprocal interactions between liturgy and culture, with the inclusion of focussing on the concepts of unity and inclusivity. This should then aid the worshippers’ unity and inclusivity in ‘being church’, in living together — with one another (lex (con)vivendi) in a multicultural setting. Key terms: Liturgy; Liturgical inculturation; Culture; Prayer; Ritual; Ritualisation; Inclusivity; Unity; Practical Theology; Ecclesiology. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Practical Theology / PhD / Unrestricted

MAAS ( Xitsonga) / Ehansi ka Senthara ya M.E. R. Mathivha ya Tindzimi ta Afrika, Vutshila na Ndhavuko / This study is an investigation of Shangani rituals in the Shangaan communities with specific reference to N’wanedzi and Chiredzi District in Zimbabwe. The study analyses the relevance of Shangaan rituals and how they can be performed and preserved. Rituals are cultural or religious ceremonies performed according to the prescribed social rules and customs. Rituals of various kinds are a feature of almost all known human societies but each community has specific rituals that can be prescribed by the tradition of that community. These rituals are critical to individual and community development. The study also examined the extent to which the Shangaan rituals have disappeared and how the socio-economic lives of the Shangaan communities have been affected. The study also highlighted what best can be done to promote rituals, the attitudes of the Shangaan people towards rituals and importance of reviving them. The study is qualitative in nature henceforth the researcher will employ qualitative approach to collect data. The research technique to be used will be interviews and observations. Although the essence of the study will be generalised to the whole of Shangaan speakers, the field will be delimited to N’wanedzi District in Zimbabwe. Data will be analysed using thematic qualitative method. Through this method of analysing data, a number of themes will be identified conveying the findings and making an interpretation of the meaning of the data. Chapter I focuses on the background, research problem, rationale of the study, aims and objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, theory of the study, definition of terms which were mostly used in the research, and methods of analyising data. Chapter 2 deals with literature review whereby the researcher will explore work done by other scholars related to rituals .Research to be reviewed includes dissertations, thesis books and articles that have addressed issues like the importance of rituals in society. Chapter 3 deals with research methodology and data analysis. Research methodology is the plan for selecting subjects and data collection procedures to answer a research question. The study shall employ two data collection techniques namely interviews and observations. vii Chapter 4 is an analysis of Shangaan rituals, death rituals that is the announcement of death, the burial of chiefs, family head and kids, the unveiling of the tombstone, appeasing of family and national spirits and the reasons for their disappearance among the Shangaan. Chapter 5 is an analysis of Shangaan rituals like the rainmaking ceremony, Christian’s participation in praying for rain, the first fruit festival, male circumcision and girls initiation rites. The chapter also focuses on the attitudes of the Shangaans towards rituals and the importance of reviving them. Chapter 6 provides an overview of entire the study, research findings, conclusions and recommendations.

Name Liturgy of Engagement Abstract The thesis focuses on the phenomenon of blessing during engagement in liturgical ceremony of blessing the engaged couple. The aim of the diploma thesis entitled Liturgy of Engagement was to collect data of lay blessing ritual development in history up to present time with the focus on liturgical ceremony of blessing of the engaged couple using compilatory-analytical method. Using synthetic method the collected data were evaluated in their possible development. The thesis is divided in three chapters. The first chapter is based on compilation of secondary literature with subseqent elaboraton together with secondary documents related to lay blessing ceremonies in the history of liturgy. The second chapter deals with the analysis of primary literature about historical development of lay blessing in the engagement ceremony with the primary focus on historical development in the Order of Celebrating Matrimony and the Order of Blessings. The third chapter introduces the synthesis showing the importance of current ritual of engagement ceremony and the purpose of blessing the engaged couple for their preparation for the sacrament of marriage. The diploma thesis shows permanent development of liturgical ceremony of blessing the engaged couple and the importance of connection the...

Framed by problems and dialogues established in anthropology of religion, ritual studies, and Yi studies, this dissertation explores the processes of religious revitalization and knowledge transformation in contemporary southwestern China among the ethnic Yi people, one of China’s officially designated 55 minority groups. Utilizing ethnographic and visual methods during a 16-month long fieldwork (2016-2017) conducted in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in southern Sichuan, this dissertation examines the politics of religion and knowledge in the mapping of both the Chinese state’s modernist transformations of the 20th century and the ways that local Yi ritual specialists (mainly focused on the bimo priest-shamans) and lay participants wrestle with the emerging circumstances of social change. It draws on local discourses of mixin (“superstition”) as a site for untangling China’s historical problematization of “religion” and the concurrent public ambivalence towards the legitimacy and conceptualization of Yi ritual practices. It also tackles the theoretical debate on magico-religious practices and suggests an analytic approach to Yi bimoist ritual knowledge, practice, and power by undertaking a comparative framework of shamanic studies in South America and Inner Asia. In addition, this dissertation develops an ethnographic understanding of the assemblages and trajectories of objects, animal sacrifice, and the materio-socio-sensorial environment in Yi everyday and ceremonial lives. With this, it illustrates how a morally legitimate relatedness in light of a socio-cosmo-genealogical flow of power is casted in a history-in-the-making of an ethnic group.

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This study describes the public life of Africana religions in New York City, the religions brought to New York City directly from Africa, or from the African Diaspora, particularly from the Caribbean and South America, where traditional African religions brought by the enslaved during the times of the Transatlantic Slave Trade were adapted to the new circumstances. Historically, practitioners of these religions have faced harsh persecution, whether during the time of enslavement when they could face death for their practices or when they came to the United States in the last century, where their religions were seen by many as evil and could lead to persecution by the authorities. Therefore, in the context of the United States, these religious traditions have for a long time been practiced in secret, in basements, and behind locked doors. In the last few decades, however, Africana religious practitioners have been trying to leave their secrecy behind and to become more public and visible. This study suggests that the improvement to the standing of these traditions and their devotees has occurred, and will continue to do so, precisely by occupying space, by actively reclaiming spaces hitherto denied, both physically and metaphorically--a notion that will be understood holistically across several practical and conceptual domains. The first chapter of this study explores the history of Africana religions in the United States and the public attitudes towards them, as they have evolved from facing extreme persecution and stigma to greater acceptance and a more significant public standing. The second chapter discusses in more detail the impact that practicing in secrecy has had on devotees, their rituals, and their religious lives. Also included in this section is an analysis of the ceremonies that are now being practiced in public in New York City and their related spatial reclamation, be it in beaches, in parks, or different types of public venues. The third chapter looks at the way Africana religious presences have manifested through and taken space in the cultural domain, widely defined, and at the way that the diffusion of these presences has impacted on the make-up of the city itself. The fourth and final chapter considers the visibility and popularity Africana religions are now gaining in popular culture and the arts, including in music, concerts, and dance performances; in the visual arts; in public art; and in television and film. This research was conducted from the perspective of a practitioner of Africana religions seeking to advocate for the rights of Africana religious practitioners with respect to equality, visibility, and public presence without discrimination.

The thesis concerns on the phenomenon of death and it's tabooisation in the modern Czech society. Attitude, whether the death is taboo or not, divides not only the society but also the scientists of sociological field. In the first part it sets up basic arguments of both opposing groups by analyzing relevant scientific and general fiction literature. The other part of the thesis concerns on author's own research, with an aim to find out, what attitude to death and burial rituals is adopted by informants belonging to younger-middle aged generation living in the Czech Republic, primarily in Prague. The research uses qualitative methods, method of concerned and unconcerned observation on funeral ceremonies and semi-structured interviews with a group of informants. It focuses on recognition, whether the informants speak about death, go to cemeteries and practice rituals in relation to departed. Based on synthesis of gathered knowledge, the work sets up a new attitude to death-taboo as two different phenomena differing by relation to departed person.

In recent years rational choice approaches have increasingly been employed in the sociological study of religion; however, theory and research from this perspective typically overlook the role of emotionally efficacious collective rituals. This study synthesizes interactive ritual theory with the rational choice concept of strictness, which highlights the level of behavioral prohibitions religious groups place on adherents. Analyses of data from the first wave of the National Congregations Study indicate a positive relationship between a group's level of behavioral strictness and the production of an enthusiastic, outwardly emotive worship style. In general, the effort is made to highlight the utility of combining a focus on the production of collective, social "goods" in religious groups with considerations of interactive rituals and emotion.