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This research is focused on the teachings of the First Nations people which are grounded sacred stories and which continue to be recalled and recited through oral tradition. The teachings and lessons derived from the sacred stories can be described as ways of knowing. The study explores the persistence of the traditional ways of knowing as a source for influencing First Nations individuals toward greater cultural identity and strength in their present lives. The thesis addresses the value of Peigan ways of knowing as a tool for creating greater meaning in life; for enhancing spiritual wisdom; and for developing insight into and appreciation of First Nation oral traditions. As well, the thesis explores Peigan ways of knowing as an available resource for empowering present day Peigan youth. In researching the First Nations ways of knowing, one Plains Indian group, the Peigan, of which the writer is a member, was used as reference source. The Peigan First Nation belongs to the Blackfoot Confederacy and presenlty resides in southern Alberta on the Peigan Indian Reserve. All participants of the research are members of the Peigan First Nation. The research will begin with an overview of the writer's personal experiences as a student in on-reserve and off-reserve school settings, and later as a worker in the counselling profession. The purpose and significance of the study will be presented as well as the research design within the qualitative methodology. Four individuals were selected as interview participants who were born and raised on the Peigan Reserve. The literature review will reflect current research on the significance of story in the First Nations culture and conclude with the presentation of the recent history of the North Peigan people. The interview data will then be presented with emphasis on the themes that surfaced. Six major themes arouse, which included, renewal and transformation, significance of sacred stories, transmitting culture through story, path of life, the teacher and learner relationship, and finally, the vision for Peigan-Blackfoot youth. The final chapter of the study begins with a summary of the findings and an overview of the themes that details finer points making up the major themes. The implications of and recommendations following the study precede the study's conclusion. / viii, 112 leaves ; 28 cm.

This thesis examines the concept of the indigenous community in Saraguro, Ecuador. I explore the myriad and co-existing ideas of community and community participation at the local level, focusing on two of the defining practices of community integration: monthly assemblies and communal labour parties. Acknowledging the role of the state in the production of local communities, the historical and contemporary relations between highland Ecuadorian indigenous communities and the state are examined in an effort to contextualize the importance placed on communities as autonomous spaces. Centering around a nationwide indigenous-led protest in May of 2010, ideas of mestizaje, modernization, historical fears of the Indian, and community justice are discussed to help analyze the continuously negotiated boundary between indigenous communities and the nation-state. Finally, competing conceptualizations of indigeneity are examined with respect to a recent neo-Inkaic cultural revitalization movement, partly NGO sponsored, that has emerged in the area. iii / vii, 176 leaves ; 29 cm

From the Enlightenment to the Romantic period, many writers transformed Christianity into a religion of temporal salvation. Whether they manifest, in their writings, a will to destroy it (Voltaire, Helvetius, d'Holbach, etc.) or to surpass it (Leroux, Lamennais, Hugo, etc.), all refer to its dogmas as a paradigm of argumentation from which they suggest a new explanation of the world and, most important, they all propose a transformation of the society. The goal of my thesis is to offer a new analysis of this period that spreads from 1750 to 1848. In my hypothesis, I stipulate that before 1789, the philosophers of the Enlightenment never undertook a real "de-Christianisation" and that at the turn of the century, the writers did not return exactly to Christianity. Far from taking the position that the argumentation had transformed itself in a manner that radically differed during this historical period that preceded and followed the French Revolution, my goal is to show that a same will to ameliorate the human condition on earth was manifested in comparable ways throughout these different discourses. The thought of these authors is rather a testimony of a new "sacralisation" of which finality is now on a temporal level: sin is not necessary and, more importantly, it is possible to abolish it through social reformations. This desire of a better world is the most important message that Christianity passed on to the thinkers of this period. By viewing human existence in this way, modernity could be defined not as the end, but rather as the inheritance of Christianity or, to say it all, as its humanization.

The thesis is an ethnographic exploration of the visual performances of the (≠Khomani) Bushmen of the Northern Cape and the Zulu from KwaZulu-Natal of South Africa. I investigate how the ≠Khomani and the Zulu involved in the cultural tourism industry are using archetypical tropes of ethnicity, and how they recreate these in the process of formulating context-specific identities in contemporary South Africa. The Bushmen and Zulu iconography that is ubiquitous is read against the modern day quotidian lives of the people concerned. The role and participation of tourists and researchers (anthro-tourists) in the performative culture of cultural tourism is investigated. An opportunity is also taken to critique the artistic creations of Vetkat Kruiper which partly arise because of the need to satisfy a tourism industry interested in Bushman arts and artefacts. Similarly his wife’s ‘biographical’ book Kalahari Rainsong (2004) is critiqued interactively and allows me to appreciate my encounters with people and text in the Kalahari. My visits to cultural villages where either the Zulu or the Bushman self-perform permit me to indulge in critical performative writing in which I also investigate the role and place of (anthro)tourists in the reinvention of site-specific identities. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-174). / v, 174 leaves, bound 29 cm

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