This work is about the secular significance of religious expression in Spain. It is also primarily an ethnographic study of several aspects of everyday life in a Spanish town in 1981. There are four main aims: to explain the relationship between local customs and beliefs and nationally sanctioned symbol systems - in particular, but among others, the relationship between the 750 year old cult of the Cross of Caravaca and the Catholic Church and Spanish State; to describe the unique behaviour of the Fiesta of the Caballos del Vino, and to give an account of one instance of the popular Moors and Christians Fiesta; to describe and analyse the social structure of a provincial town; and to show how important symbols are affected by social change. The thesis is divided into five parts and a conclusion. The first part deals with the geographical setting and the relationship of this study of Caravaca to other anthropological studies undertaken in Spain. The second is concerned with the details of everyday life. It shows the relationship between town and countryside and between everyday economic and political concerns and everyday religious activities. The third part includes a description of the largest and most influential institution in the town - the Cofradia —- and a discussion of religious devotion and the cult of the Cross of Caravaca. The fourth, a description of the Fiestas held in honour of the Cross of Caravaca, and especially the Jubilee year of the 750th anniversary of the apparition of the Cross, the pageant of Moors and Christians, and the unique 'Horses of the Wine 1 competition, provides a contrast with more mundane activities. In the fifth part an examination of the Fiesta symbols contains a discussion of festival behaviour in relation to the everyday life of the town, and changes that have taken place and continue to take place. These sections are followed by a brief conclusion.

This thesis examines how young people identify and affliate with particular club scenes and how these practices and processes relate to their transitions, identities and lifestyles. It aims to give a sense of the processes and the resources that are required to 'become' a clubber over time. The thesis engages with the recent attempts to reconcile the conceptual and empirical divisions between the two main approaches in the sociology of youth. It suggests that the work ofSchutz serves as a heuristic framework to conceptualise data, and when synthesised with other sympathetic conceptual frameworks, links disparate literature to allow for a better understanding of the role of knowledge in the transitions, identities and lifestyles of young people. This focus influenced my choice of method: the ethnographic techniques of participant observation and in-depth interviewing were employed to access participants' experiences and knowledge of becoming a c1ubber. The findings suggest that the process of becoming a clubber is a gendered, dialectical and transformational process: informed by the social heritage and locally situated experiences of clubbing participants. It is a process that manifests itself through embodied practices involving cultural knowledge and taste. Participants place one another on the basis of their participation in and identification with a clubbing lifestyle. These placements appear embedded in the social order: they call not only on old social markers but also on the increasing hierarchies of difference within and across social groups. Social competence, cultural knowledge and consumer activities are all implicated in the placement of others, and the construction of boundaries that clubbing collectives engage in. These are young people who can afford materially and socially to extend both their structural and cultural transitions. The social confidence and adept skills of exchange that 'proper' clubbers develop are resources that help them develop and create social and cultural capital of their own. Becoming a clubber requires competency, skills and dispositions: it is a process that transmits privilege and disadvantage.

In Africa we are confronted daily with a society that has lost its moral fibre, resulting in seemingly endless problems in the educational sector. Universities have the special task of promoting the humanities and applying social values and the social relevance in their teaching, which should lead to effective learning and an improvement in the quality of learning. Neither the written text (Hebrew Bible) nor the archaeological discoveries have provided us with sufficient information on certain Israelite practices and customs. Africa has traditions that need to be respected. A study of oral traditions may provide a supplementary, or perhaps alternate, view. A comparative study between Lemba and proto-Israelite customs and beliefs indicates that there is yet another group whose customs and rituals correspond to a great extent with those of the proto-Israelites. It is comparison in aid of cross-cultural interpretation, as is now forcefully stated in more recent studies in religion. / Biblical and Ancient Studies

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Fine Art, Durban Insititute of Technology, 2006. / The aim of this dissertation is to investigate and critically evaluate the use of skin as a form of identity in Zulu culture. This investigation wil /foc'uu on the historical and contemporary practices of scarification and ear - piercing in Zulu culture. 1 In Chapter One, Section One the candidate will discuss the scarification and tattooing i techniques, and refer to the decline in the practice of scarification in contemporary Africa. 'l The scarification and tattooing techniques have the following elements in common, incisions `made on the body or skin to create scar patterns or shapes. Chapter \xAEne, Section Two the candidate will discuss the different purposes of carification practiced by people in Africa Scarification has traditionally been used for any different purposes, such as rite of passage, tribal/clan identity, civilizing, beauty, sexual atttraction, healing and medicinal. In Chapter Two, Section One the candidate will discuss the concepts of culture and identity and propose a definition of identity and culture for the purposes of this dissertation. In Chapter Two, Section Two the candidate will write a personal history and describe the origins of his identity. Chapter 'two, Section Three will discuss the historical formulation 0. of Zulu identity and culture. Chapter Two, Section ]Foam will investigate how internal and external influences have changed Zulu identity and culture over time. / M

Introduction: The long-term success of non-surgical weight loss treatment in adults with obesity is limite by substantial relapse, and only a few evidence-based weight loss maintenance treatments exist. This clinical trial investigates the feasibility and efficacy of a social facilitation maintenance programme for weight loss maintenance, tailored to meet the needs of obese adults who have undergone a lifestyle weight loss intervention. Methods and analysis: In a single-centre, open feasibility trial, 72 adults currently or previously obese or overweight who have undergone a lifestyle weight loss intervention are centrally randomised to 4 months of social facilitation maintenance treatment or treatment as a usual control condition. In 16 outpatient group sessions, the social facilitation maintenance treatment, based on a socioecological model and on evidence supporting social facilitation as a key process in maintaining weight loss, focuses on promoting interpersonal relationships to build up a healthy lifestyle for long-term weight loss maintenance. Primary outcome is the amount of weight regain at 6-month follow-up, compared with pre-treatment weight, derived from measured body weight. Secondary outcomes address feasibility, including recruitment, attrition, assessment non-completion, compliance and patients’ programme evaluation; and in comparison with pre-weight loss maintenance, social and interpersonal functioning, eating behaviour and physical activity, psychological and physical symptoms, body composition and risk of comorbidity, and quality of life at post-treatment and follow-up assessments. Ethics and dissemination: The study was approved by the Ethical Committee at the University of Leipzig (165-13-15072013). The study results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications. Trial registration number: DRKS00005182

M.A. / African family structures have not been systematically studied in South Africa. This is a pilot study of household structures in the Qumbu village at the Mhlontlo district in the Eastern Cape. I researched household arrangements in the area, whether migration of husbands to the cities has disrupted the traditional family unit, what the survival strategies are of these women, and whether survival strategies influence household structure. Fifteen households were surveyed. Questions asked included marital status, household size, ways of earning a living, alternative survival strategies to wage employment and government social grants, contributions to the household, government role to such families, any knowledge about self help groups and decision making skills, power relations, perception of future developments in their communities, fulfillment of essential needs and service rendering, etc. The study revealed that since traditional family units were disrupted by migration, and wives were left at home to take care for the children, the traditional “extended” African household, dependent on various survival strategies. The main categories are: Five women survived through receiving social grants from the Department of Social Development. Four were domestic workers, three were supported by their lovers whom are from extra marital affair, two from doing piece jobs in the community and 01 from community projects. The majority have no wage employment and make a living on the land where they dwell, but because of migration, rural food production has declined. However, the community survives also by supporting each other, for example, kin and community networks and neighborliness account for much of the survival strategies. Many men migrate to the cities, and as a result wives have different feelings towards male migrancy such as anger, regret, self blame, confusion and powerlessness. Dominantly in black societies grandmothers play a vital role in maintaining households and raising the children of migrants

This thesis is an ethnographic account of how the Wapichannao, who are situated in the Rupununi of Guyana perceive themselves within the nation-state. This is also an account of how non-Amerindian Guyanese envisage Amerindians as ‘past' peoples. Hence, distinctions are made between Amerindian and non-Amerindian—us vs. them—where both identities become placed as opposite poles within a continuum. Emphasis is placed on the shifting relationships between these poles, but more specifically, the cultural paradigm through which these relationships are made possible. This paradigm, I suggest, may be understood in terms of polarities of difference, with regard to which Amerindians are constantly ambiguating/negotiating, disjoining, and resignifying notions of ‘who they are'. This thesis evidences this paradigm through an ethnography of some of those aspects of Wapichannao culture—village work, the shop, joking activity, culture shows—that are considered to be traditional on the one hand, and modern on the other. In doing so, an incongruous trend emerges, on which makes the classic imagery of Amerindian ontological homogeneity much more complex. Therefore, this thesis moves from the more traditional aspects of Wapichannao culture towards the nation-state, in order to take into account aspects of Amerindian experience absent from classic ethnographic accounts.

M.A. / The dissertation focuses on a particular community, religiously defined, residing in a certain area. It characterizes their particular beliefs and customs, and portrays the history and development. For this purpose several sources have been consulted and no less than 37 people interviewed. The Malay community of Gauteng predominantly originated from the Cape and Port Elizabeth. Their ancestors were originally posted to South Africa from the Dutch settlements in the Malay Archipelago during the 17th and 18th centuries as slaves and political exiles. Some of them, however, were people of high rank. The Malays settled in Johannesburg and Pretoria towards the end of the 19th century and in Nigel between 1976 and 1977. This area is presently known as Gauteng. The Malay community of Gauteng are all Muslims and predominantly followers of the Shafi‘î madhhab (Islamic School of Thought). They constitute a minority group both religiously and ethnically. The Malays of Gauteng furthermore consist of various ethnical groups who were classified as part of the Coloured population group under the Group Areas Act 41 of 1950. In Johannesburg and Nigel the Malays lived in Coloured residential areas but in Pretoria the Malays rather associated them with the Indian Muslims. In Pretoria the majority of the Malays therefore settled in the Indian residential area Laudium instead of the Coloured residential area Eersterust. The research highlights the prominent early ‘Ulamâ’ (Muslim religious scholars) in both the Cape and Gauteng as well as their contributions towards the preservation, growth and development of Islam in both areas. Unfortunately in the Gauteng province (formerly part of the old Transvaal province) the Malays were often denied their contributions and initiatives in the Islamic field by another Muslim ethnical group. Attention is paid to the Malay communities’ acceptance of various syncretistic elements and innovations in their daily Islamic belief systems and social and religious customs. These include certain practices during pregnancies, ‘aqîqah (birth ceremonies), grave worshipping, engagements, weddings, doopmaal (baptisms), religious celebrations and tamats (Muslim religious school graduations). The research shows how pure Islamic elements were diffused and transformed into a unique local version of Islam since their days of slavery. The said practices also reflect possible elements of Hinduism and local tribal customs in them. It is founded in the research that the Malay community practised syncretism in the spirit of pure Islam. Their syncretistic customs were never intended to show disrespect to Islam or to create a new brand of Islam. It was practiced by the majority of the Malay community rich and poor, educated and uneducated. The Malay community of Gauteng never realised nor were they aware that their various religious customs and cultures were actually syncretistic in nature and not part of pure Islam. It was only during the last fifteen years that they became aware of this fact. To many Malays what they were practising was part of Islam and as such will always be part of Islam and part of their heritage. Their practices, however, brings them into conflict with some of the Malay ‘Ulamâ’. The research also discusses the various dark superstitious beliefs of the Malays of Gauteng. These kinds of superstitious beliefs formed an integral part of the belief system of the Pagans prior to the advent of Islam. Unfortunately even today superstition still forms part of some Malays’ belief system which include elements such as visiting dukums (Malay spiritual doctors), fortune tellers; avoiding double weddings; superstitious beliefs pertaining to pregnant ladies, new born babies and the misperception that the month of Safar (2nd Islamic month) is filled with fear, ill fortune and bad luck. Some Malay ‘Ulamâ’ especially those who are alumni from the Dâr al-‘Ulûms tried and are still trying various methods to rid the general Malay community of Gauteng from their syncretistic practises and superstitious beliefs but unfortunately they are not very successful in it. Wherever and whenever these ‘Ulamâ’ officiate at Malay religious functions they would not participate nor allow or even encourage that any of the Malay syncretistic practices should be part of the proceedings. Since the Malays of Gauteng have moved to new mixed racial areas far from vibrant Malay communities the future of the Malay culture is however unpredictable. The research further focuses on the spiritual, educational and economical development of the Malays of Gauteng. Firstly it focuses on the fact that the Malays were forcibly removed from their homes in Johannesburg and Pretoria and compelled by the government to resettle in new Coloured residential areas. Here they were however afforded the opportunity to purchase their own residential properties and built their own businesses. (Formely the Malays were deprived by the authorities to rent businesses from government owned business enterprices). Secondly it focuses on the growth and development, deterioration and eventual resurgence of the Malay Hifz (memorization of the Qur’ân) tradition. A similar tendency is also reported with regard to the number of ‘Ulamâ’. Most students are nowadays trained locally at the Dâr al-‘Ulûms in South Africa. Formerly they were educated at institutions in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Many Malay ‘Ulamâ’, past and present were known for their extensive academic qualifications. Thirdly the research focuses on the Malay ‘Ulamâ’s inability and unsuccessful attempts since 1923 to establish a recognized ‘Ulamâ’ body (theological council) in Gauteng. The research found that the Malay ‘Ulamâ’ had over the years resisted all attempts to unite on a common ground in Gauteng.

D. Litt et Phil. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The thesis deals with a separate analysis of the local development and the state of social activities. Closer examination focuses on the method of financing and support of local development and civil society initiatives in the Central Bohemian Region. In the Czech Republic are these initiatives defined best by the competition "Village of the Year" since 1995. The aim of this work is to assess the impact of civic initiatives in the local development and quality of life in selected communities. The results of the competition in the field of communities' social life are represented by both the current state and the information from directed interviews and surveys. These interviews were conducted with the representatives of the communities awarded for a community life. Contribution of the thesis will be to provide partial conclusions and recommendations concerning the potential development of rural communities with regard to the existence of civil initiatives, primarily in the Central Bohemian Region. Some general or cross-sectional findings can be applied to other regions in the Czech Republic.