This research reports on a project concerned with the relationship between the person and the environment in the context of achieving a contemplative or existential state – a state which can be experienced either consciously or subconsciously. The need for such a study originated with the desire to contribute to the design of multicultural spaces which could be used for a range of activities within the public and the personal arena, activities including contemplation, meditation and prayer. The concept of ‘sacred’ is explored in the literature review and in primary interviews with the participants of this study. Given that the word ‘sacred’ is highly value-laden and potentially alienating for some people, it was decided to use the more accessible term ‘contemplative’. The outcomes of the study inform the practice of interior design and architecture which tends currently to neglect the potential for all spaces to be existentially meaningful. Informed by phenomenological methodology, data were collected from a diverse group of people, using photo-elicitation and interviews. The technique of photo-elicitation proved to be highly effective in helping people reveal their everyday lived experience of contemplative spaces. Reflective analysis (Van Manen 2000) was used to explore the data collected. The initial stage of analysis produced three categories of data: varying conceptions of contemplation, aspects of the person involved in the contemplation, and aspects of environment involved in contemplation. From this, it was found that achieving a state of contemplation involves both the person and the environment in a dialectic process of unfolding. The unfolding has various physical, psycho-social, and existential dimensions or qualities which operate sequentially and simultaneously. Two concepts emerged as being central to unfolding: ‘Cleansing’ and ‘Nothingness’. Unfolding is found to comprise the Core; Distinction; Manifestation; Cleansing; Creation; and Sharing. This has a parallel with Mircea Eliade’s (1959) definition of sacred as something that manifests itself as different from the profane. The power of design, re-contextualization through utility and purpose, and the existential engagements between the person and environment are used as a basis for establishing the potential contribution of the study to interior design. In this way, the study makes a contribution to our understanding of how space and its elements inspire, support and sustain person environment interaction – particularly at the existential level – as well as to our understanding of the multi-dimensional and holistic nature of this interaction. In addition, it points to the need for a phenomenological re-conceptualisation of the design/client relationship. In summary, the contributions of this research are: the exploration of contemplative experience as sacred experience; an understanding of the design of space as creating engagement between person and environment; a rationale for the introduction of a phenomenological approach to the relationship between designer and clients; and raising awareness of the spiritual in a holistic approach to design.

Mémoire (M.A.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1995. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

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Esta dissertação tem como objetivo identificar a presença do espaço sagrado na Literatura para Crianças e Jovens. Para isso, utilizamos como eixo teóricometodológico propostas sociológicas e antropológicas sobre o sagrado e sua relação com o homem. Como um substrato para mitos, ritos e arquétipos, o sagrado tem permeado a Literatura para Crianças e Jovens, revelando o homem e sua relação com suas crenças. Em diversas obras, evidencia-se como um elemento essencial e norteador do ser que o aceita. Assim, recorrendo ao estudo de temas (tematologia) como método comparativista, objetivamos identificar a configuração do espaço sagrado, pela oralidade, em duas obras: A menina de lá, de Guimarães Rosa, e O beijo da palavrinha, de Mia Couto. Além disso, pelo mesmo método comparativista, analisaremos as obras As Crônicas de Nárnia: o leão, a feiticeira e o guarda-roupa, de C. S. Lewis e Cibermãe, de Alexandre Jardin, com o objetivo de identificar o retorno do sagrado nos dias atuais e, verificar que o sagrado não se limita a épocas, mas até mesmo na modernidade o homem o busca. / This essay aims at identifying the presence of the sacred space in the literature geared at children and young people. For this we used the theoretical - methodological axis as the sociological and anthropological proposals on other sacred and its relationship with man. As a basis for myths, rites and models, the sacred has permeated literature for children and young people, revealing man and his relation to his beliefs. In several literary works, the sacred is highlighted as an essential element and a guide for the man who accepts it. Likewise, resorting to the study of themes as a comparative method, we aim to identify the sacred space by oral sources in two works: A menina de lá, by Guimarães Rosa and O beijo da palavrinha by Mia Couto. According to the same comparative method, we will analyze the following works: The chronicles of Narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C.S. Lewis and Cybermother by Alexander Jardin, aiming in both cases to identify the return of the sacred to the present day, observing that the sacred does not limit itself to periods, but man searches for it even in modern days.

Few people know that the first sessions of the General Assembly of the UN in 1946 were held in a place of worship - Westminster Central Hall. It was part of an ambitious construction programme, initiated by the Wesleyan Methodists, which resulted in Central Halls in most British cities. They were, and in some cases still are, flexible, multi-functional spaces used on a daily basis for a wide range of purposes. They are widely perceived as public space but they are also sacred - camouflaged churches, created as sites for missionary activity and social outreach by a faith which from its origins has challenged the dichotomy between sacred and secular space. They have never been systematically studied – even their number and locations were unknown. This thesis tells their story by presenting them as an undocumented building type of social and cultural significance. It explores the concept of building type and the dimensions of social and cultural analysis that may be explored with the method. The typological approach is then demonstrated with a specific monographic focus on Methodist Central Halls from the 1880s to the present. Using a combination of visual methods, archival research and personal testimony, the analysis offers insights into the many aspects of Methodism through the long twentieth century – the church’s spatial distribution, its modes of mission and worship, its cultural identity and its business model. These centrally located assembly halls with their landmark architecture are for many towns still the top venues for meeting and entertainment. The typology of such public sacred spaces is not only a chapter in the history of British cities but provides findings of wide interest for religion and society.

Khumbu, part of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park in eastern Nepal and an UNESCO World Heritage site, is home to the Sherpa people, ethnic Tibetan Buddhists who migrated to the region more than 500 years ago. Sherpas animate the landscape with localized water, tree, rock, and land spirits, identify sacred mountains, mainly associated with the Bönpo and Tibetan yullha traditions, and some view the landscape as a beyul, a sacred place and hidden valley protecting Buddhist people and beliefs in times of turmoil and need. These beliefs protect the natural environment through religious practices and taboos against environmentally harmful behaviors and activities. Associated ritual practice, perceptions, and mythology encode Sherpa culture and beliefs in the landscape. This research contributes to discussions of place, sacred landscapes, and conservation by documenting older Sherpa residents’ constructions of Khumbu as a sacred landscape in two Khumbu villages. Interviews and participant observations reveal a socially constructed sacred landscape expressing a distinct Khumbu Sherpa identity.

This project addresses the contemporary and competing non-state governmentalities in the Gaza Strip through an analysis of the 1948-1967 period. During this period the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) constructed early notions of non-state 'governance' and quasi-citizenship in Gaza. The majority of this research focuses on these organizations in the 1948-1967 period, however, there is a case study that addresses the way in which these competing models of non-sovereign administration impacted the approaches used since 2007 by Hamas. The distinct histories and experiences of administration under each organization has created competing notions of what components constitute an assembled notion of citizenship in Gaza. Specifically, the bureaucratic categorization preferred by UNRWA conflicts with Hamas' focus on individualized service based on the tradition of shura (consultation) and youth training, in particular. Several approaches to governance in Gaza are common to the three major faith-based organizations discussed here (the AFSC, the YMCA, and the Hamas). Notably, these organizations create sacred spaces and processes as a mechanism of governance, allowing them to exert control over the population. In particular, the manner in which two distinct international organizations – UNRWA and Hamas – came to operate parallel state structures in the Gaza Strip, and the way that these two organizations imbue citizenship like rights and responsibilities on the populations that they serve is of particular interest. In this way governance in the Gaza Strip has completed a circuit: from the faith-based Friends to the faith-based Hamas, with UNRWA as the constant secular parallel authority. Through an examination of organizational archives, memoirs, and interviews this project links these events, arguing that the institutional records of these organizations provide an illuminating path to better understand the situation of governance in Gaza today.

Jerusalem - the third holiest city in Islam - is home to some 300,000 Muslims. But due to Israel’s occupation, they live difficult and disrupted lives. What might it mean for Muslims to practice their faith - on the ground, day by day - in such a conflicted place? One way religion becomes a meaningful category in people’s lives is through ritual. Scholars of Muslim religious practice have been attuned to this insight and observed it in various contexts. But their analyses have often been predicated on an implicit and unquestioned assumption - that people who desire to perform rituals have the means to act on their intention in regular and routine ways. Scholars have also shown that when societies are in rapid transition - be they weakened or threatened - their rituals often evolve with them. In this project, therefore, I ask: what happens in Jerusalem when Muslims live under the existential threat of occupation and their ability to routinely perform religious rituals cannot be assumed? I argue that when rituals are disrupted, Muslims are forced to improvise. Religious rituals - like the performances of skilled jazz musicians - are spontaneous and dynamic but also practiced and deliberate. Rituals are spontaneous in that they respond to the occupation’s disruptions, making physical and discursive adjustments. They are practiced in that Muslims draw from an established repertoire of themes that includes Islam and sacred space, nationalism and resistance, local culture and geography. I term the coalescence of these dynamics the “improvisation thesis” and explore three case studies where specific improvisations have different levels of resonance. The Naqshbandi improvise rituals to make peace, but they are discordant with other established themes; Ramadan rituals have resonance that define specific moments; and the improvisations of the Murabitat are deeply resonant, influencing Muslim rituals throughout the city.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 310-330) / Microfiche. / xiii, 330 leaves, bound ill., maps 29 cm

CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação diz respeito a três grandes conceitos/categorias utilizados historicamente no conjunto das Ciências Humanas e Sociais: espaço, cultura e religião. A partir de uma perspectiva fenomenológica compreensiva e interpretativa, foi analisada a produção do espaço sagrado neopentecostal considerando três dimensões: a econômica, a política e a do lugar. Articula, a partir das análises, categorias do bojo da ciência geográfica como espaço, territorialidade, paisagem e lugar. O percurso metodológico possui inspiração etnográfica, apreendendo metodologias como a observação participante, o diário de campo e as entrevistas semiestruturadas. O objeto empírico compreende uma instituição religiosa neopentecostal contemporânea, surgida em Uberlândia, e que revela um tipo específico de neopentecostalismo, o underground. Os resultados sintetizados apontam para negações, por parte dos fieis e lideranças religiosas, do conservadorismo, do ascetismo e dos aspectos doutrinários. / This dissertation concerns three major concepts/categories historically used in the human and social sciences as a whole: space, culture and religion. From a comprehensive and interpretative phenomenological perspective, the production of the neopentecostal sacred space was analyzed considering three dimensions: economic, political and of the place. It articulates, from the analyzes, categories advent of geographic science as space, territoriality, landscape and place. The methodological route has ethnographic inspiration, apprehending methodologies such as participant observation, field diary and semi-structured interviews. The empirical object comprises the religious institution contemporary neopentecostal, which emerged in Uberlândia, and which reveals a specific type of neopentecostalism, the underground. The synthesized results evidence denials by the believer and religious leaders of conservatism, asceticism and doctrinal aspects. / Dissertação (Mestrado)