I have lived in Kyoto for 6 months. During the 6 months, I was intrigued by the Bushido spirit in Kyoto, the core of Bushido is the social stratification and honor unto death. I would like to use the architecture language to demonstrate the Samurai Culture. Earth, Water, Fire, and Air are the elements that I want to consider. When the sword cut into the water, the water stopped for a while, and then it continued flowing, so I made a "Z" shape cut into the earth. I hope there is only a little light in the bottom of the museum. When the glimmer falls on the sword, the beauty of the sword will brighten up the dark room. / Master of Architecture

With its exotic appearance and depictions in ancient Egyptian art and literature, the curved sword referred to as ’khopesh’ has been the source of much speculation. While its actual use as a weapon of war is debated, as is its level of effectiveness, there can be no doubt that it was a highly prestigious symbol of power. This essay aims to shed light on not only the practical aspects of such a weapon but also to delve into the cultural and in particular royal ideological roles. This is achieved through studying textual sources, representations in art and preserved examples of the weapon. Comparisons will also be made with other contemporary bladed weapons in Egypt and its vicinity. Aspects of metallurgy which allows for the making of swords will also be touched upon.

This dissertation explores the construction of masculine identity at the intersection between early modern English drama and competitively violent entertainment. It argues that early modern Englishmen navigated a complex system of dangers and rewards associated with violent self-assertion, and that the playhouse represented a space uniquely suited to the embodying and interrogating of that system. Spaces used for performing plays frequently doubled as venues for cockfights, animal baitings, and fencing exhibitions, and the violence of such entertainments often appeared, either physically or rhetorically, in the period's drama. The project of the dissertation will be to provide a historicizing lens through which to view this violence "in play" in order to understand how early modern English drama refracted and participated in shaping the period's highly contested norms of violent self-assertion in the performance of male identity. Chapter One maps the cultural disruptions precipitated by the importation of the Italian rapier into late-sixteenth century England. It argues that the secretive exclusivity of rapier culture rendered its novel form of violent masculinity fundamentally "untheatrical" in comparison to more traditional male identities, leading playwrights to caricature the duelist as either a cowardly braggart or a treacherous assassin. Chapter Two examines Shakespeare's plays in light of the discourses described in Chapter One. Shakespeare's work consistently associates traditional weaponry with a threatened male honor culture while associating rapiers with the undermining of male identity through cowardice or treachery. Chapter Three considers the English hunt as a means of asserting a capacity for violence, focusing on attempts to use the wild boar as a means of restoring the hunt's fading masculine associations. The chapter ends with an extended reading of Thomas Heywood's Age plays, the English Renaissance theater's richest staging of hunting culture. Chapter Four offers an historically informed understanding of the interconnections between bearbaiting and theater by addressing the early modern image of the bear as both a terrifying representative of a threatening natural world and a figure of courageous self-defense in the face of overwhelming odds. / 2016-11-18T00:00:00Z

A Espada de Damasco era uma arma utilizada pelos exércitos muçulmanos medievais. Está de tal forma associada à civilização islâmica que se tornou um de seus símbolos. Esta espada se caracterizava tanto por suas ótimas propriedades mecânicas como por seus belos desenhos ondulados. Estes atributos, somados à sua mística, a fizeram objeto de imitação e cobiça no Ocidente. Entre os séc. VIII e XIII d.C. o mundo muçulmano viveu seu apogeu como civilização, compilando, traduzindo, analisando e desenvolvendo um enorme corpo de conhecimento, em diversas áreas, trazido das grandes civilizações com as quais interagiu. No campo militar, as invasões dos povos nômades da Ásia Central trouxeram inovações, sendo claramente responsáveis pela introdução do sabre. O Império muçulmano medieval reuniu, assim, as condições necessárias para o advento da Espada de Damasco, principalmente por ter absorvido de outros povos, tanto a oeste, como a leste, uma série de elementos e influências fundamentais para a concepção desta arma: seu formato, o sabre, foi trazido pelos povos turcomanos nômades, e a tecnologia do aço de cadinho, sua matéria prima principal, era proveniente do Oriente; da Índia e da Ásia Central. Este trabalho se propõe a discutir de que forma a lendária Espada de Damasco pode ser entendida como um produto único da civilização islâmica medieval. Para alcançar este propósito, duas das principais características desta arma serão discutidas, seu formato como sabre, e sua matéria prima, o aço de cadinho. Finalmente, a etapa experimental realizada nos permite avaliar sob nossa própria perspectiva as duas principais hipóteses para explicar a formação do padrão de damasco, propostas por Verhoeven e Sherby. Além disso, as tentativas de reprodução do aço de cadinho nos levam a propor a hipótese do ferro fundido, invenção sabidamente chinesa, ter sido descoberto de forma acidental ao tentar produzir aço de cadinho. / The Damascus sword was the weapon of choice of the Muslim medieval armies. It is so closely related to the Islamic civilization that it became one of its symbols. This saber was known by its great mechanical properties, as much as its pleas-ant wavy pattern. All these attributes, added to its mystical meaning, turned it into an object to be reproduced and desired by the West. Between the 9th and 13th centuries AD, the Muslim society experienced its height as civilization, compiling, translating, analyzing and developing a wide body of knowledge of many fields, imported from the main civilizations with whom it coexist-ed. On military matters, nomadic peoples from central Asia invaded the Islamic world, bringing innovations with them, such as the saber. The Muslim medieval Empire pro-vided suitable conditions to allow the Damascus sword to be created. Specially, be-cause this civilization assimilated several influences from East and West, essential to the development of this weapon: its shape as saber was taken from the nomadic Turkic peoples, the technology of the crucible steel came from the East; Central Asia and India. This thesis discusses how the legendary Damascus sword may be understood as a unique product of the medieval Islamic civilization. Two of the most important features of this weapon will be discussed in order to reach our purpose: its design as a saber, and its raw material, the crucible steel. Finally, the experimental part allow us to assay, through our own perspective, the two main hypothesis what explain the origin of the Damascus pattern, suggested by Verhoeven and Sherby. Moreover, the different attempts to reproduce the UHC crucible steel lead us to formulate a hypothesis on the origin of the cast iron, a known Chinese invention, which could have been discovered by accident while trying to produce crucible steel.

A Espada de Damasco era uma arma utilizada pelos exércitos muçulmanos medievais. Está de tal forma associada à civilização islâmica que se tornou um de seus símbolos. Esta espada se caracterizava tanto por suas ótimas propriedades mecânicas como por seus belos desenhos ondulados. Estes atributos, somados à sua mística, a fizeram objeto de imitação e cobiça no Ocidente. Entre os séc. VIII e XIII d.C. o mundo muçulmano viveu seu apogeu como civilização, compilando, traduzindo, analisando e desenvolvendo um enorme corpo de conhecimento, em diversas áreas, trazido das grandes civilizações com as quais interagiu. No campo militar, as invasões dos povos nômades da Ásia Central trouxeram inovações, sendo claramente responsáveis pela introdução do sabre. O Império muçulmano medieval reuniu, assim, as condições necessárias para o advento da Espada de Damasco, principalmente por ter absorvido de outros povos, tanto a oeste, como a leste, uma série de elementos e influências fundamentais para a concepção desta arma: seu formato, o sabre, foi trazido pelos povos turcomanos nômades, e a tecnologia do aço de cadinho, sua matéria prima principal, era proveniente do Oriente; da Índia e da Ásia Central. Este trabalho se propõe a discutir de que forma a lendária Espada de Damasco pode ser entendida como um produto único da civilização islâmica medieval. Para alcançar este propósito, duas das principais características desta arma serão discutidas, seu formato como sabre, e sua matéria prima, o aço de cadinho. Finalmente, a etapa experimental realizada nos permite avaliar sob nossa própria perspectiva as duas principais hipóteses para explicar a formação do padrão de damasco, propostas por Verhoeven e Sherby. Além disso, as tentativas de reprodução do aço de cadinho nos levam a propor a hipótese do ferro fundido, invenção sabidamente chinesa, ter sido descoberto de forma acidental ao tentar produzir aço de cadinho. / The Damascus sword was the weapon of choice of the Muslim medieval armies. It is so closely related to the Islamic civilization that it became one of its symbols. This saber was known by its great mechanical properties, as much as its pleas-ant wavy pattern. All these attributes, added to its mystical meaning, turned it into an object to be reproduced and desired by the West. Between the 9th and 13th centuries AD, the Muslim society experienced its height as civilization, compiling, translating, analyzing and developing a wide body of knowledge of many fields, imported from the main civilizations with whom it coexist-ed. On military matters, nomadic peoples from central Asia invaded the Islamic world, bringing innovations with them, such as the saber. The Muslim medieval Empire pro-vided suitable conditions to allow the Damascus sword to be created. Specially, be-cause this civilization assimilated several influences from East and West, essential to the development of this weapon: its shape as saber was taken from the nomadic Turkic peoples, the technology of the crucible steel came from the East; Central Asia and India. This thesis discusses how the legendary Damascus sword may be understood as a unique product of the medieval Islamic civilization. Two of the most important features of this weapon will be discussed in order to reach our purpose: its design as a saber, and its raw material, the crucible steel. Finally, the experimental part allow us to assay, through our own perspective, the two main hypothesis what explain the origin of the Damascus pattern, suggested by Verhoeven and Sherby. Moreover, the different attempts to reproduce the UHC crucible steel lead us to formulate a hypothesis on the origin of the cast iron, a known Chinese invention, which could have been discovered by accident while trying to produce crucible steel.

Vad är det hos berättelser om mord och brott som fascinerar oss människor? I den här uppsatsen undersöks hur brott, gärningsmän och brottsoffer samt rättssystem porträtteras inom en true crime-text. I denna studie är det poddsändningen Sword and Scale som står i fokus. Vidare undersöks true crime-genren utifrån ett retorisk perspektiv för att utröna hur texten kommunicerar med och övertygar sin mottagare.  Uppsatsen tar sina teoretiska utgångspunkter i Kenneth Burkes teori om identifikation och Edwin Blacks teori om the second persona för att kunna utröna ideologiska implikationer hos true crime-narrativet.  Resultaten visar att mördare konsekvent porträtteras som onda och fördömda gentemot offret som istället beskrivs som oskyldigt och rättfärdigt, och poddsändningen kan därmed ses konstruera ett etablerat förhållande mellan gott och ont på individnivå. Vidare har analysen visat att rättssystemet beskrivs som en beskyddande, bestraffande och auktoritär makt. Trots detta uppvisas en potential hos anklagande true crime att kritisera rättssystemet, där kritiken riktas mot att rättssystemets beskyddande makt inte utövas tillräckligt eller korrekt. Anklagande true crime fyller därmed även en legitimerande funktion genom att inte att kritisera systemets grundläggande strukturer.

This thesis approaches the reasons behind the success of insurgencies in conflicts against greater nations. Why is it that a small group with limited resources can triumph against a great military power. This study seeks to analyze the conflicts in Afghanistan 1979-1989 and Chechnya 1994-1996 with the use of an adapted version of the SWORD-model in order to conclude whether the model can elucidate the separate outcomes. The original model is based on seven dimensions which all explains different aspects on how a state ought to combat insurgents in order to succeed, and has predominantly been used to analyze conflicts involving the US, not Russia or the USSR. A case study is then realized on the two conflicts in order to strengthen or weaken the analytic prowess of the adapted SWORD-model. The analysis concludes that the insurgents had the advantage in four and three respectively, out of the four adapted dimensions in Afghanistan and Chechnya, which indicates that the insurgents should have succeed in both conflicts which they did. Based on this, it can be argued that the analytic power of the adapted SWORD-model has been strengthened by explaining two additional partly unique conflicts involving alternative states.

Denna kandidatuppsats täcker användningen, deponeringen och handeln av Hallstattsvärd i Sverige under den yngre bronsåldern. Mycket har sagts om fynden, spridning och användning av svärden som hittats inom Hallstattkulturens geografiska gränser men jämförelsevis har lite skrivits om den rika samlingen av Hallstattsvärd som hittats i Sydskandinavien. Denna avhandling syftar till att diskutera kontexten kring dessa fynd genom rumslig och jämförande analys tillsammans med tolkningar av tidigare forskning för att ta reda på hur dessa främmande föremål kan ha använts utanför deras ursprungsområde. Resultaten drar slutsatsen att de svenska Hallstattsvärden har deponerats i de traditioner som rådde i Skandinavien under YBÅ, många av dessa visar även spår av lokal produktion. Svärdens eggskador tyder även på att de kan ha använts annorlunda från den tolkade användningen som kavallerivapen inom Hallstatt. Svärden har tolkats ur ett postprocessuellt perspektiv som levande föremål vars förstörelse och deponering efterliknar den mänskliga användarens död och begravning. / This bachelor’s thesis covers the usage, deposition and trade of hallstatt swords in Sweden during the late bronze age. While much has been said about the findings of hallstatt swords within the geographical boundaries of the Hallstatt culture comparably little has been written about the rich collection of the same swords found in southern Scandinavia. This thesis aims to discuss the context of these findings through spatial and comparative analysis together with the interpretations of previous archaeologists to figure out how these foreign objects may have been used outside of their area of origin. The findings conclude that the Swedish hallstatt swords have been deposited in the traditions prevalent in Scandinavia at the time and many of them show signs of local production. The blade damage prevalent on some swords suggest a different usage from the perceived cavalry weapons observed in Hallstatt. The swords have been interpreted from a post processual perspective as living objects whos destruction and deposit mimics that of the death and burial of the human user.

This thesis contains four stories of fantasy and science fiction. Four story lengths are represented: the short short ("Dragon Lovers"), the shorter short story ("Homecoming"), the longer short story ("Shadow Mistress"), and the novel ("Sword of Albruch," excerpted here).

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-12-20T08:46:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Augusto Montassier.pdf: 5978312 bytes, checksum: 4b364534648767b26d80f96f7df3e1c2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-12-20T08:46:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Augusto Montassier.pdf: 5978312 bytes, checksum: 4b364534648767b26d80f96f7df3e1c2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-15 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / The sword is usually associated with heroic narratives and, according to the anthropology of Gilbert Durand's imaginary, is linked to the diurnal regime of the images. In the context of contemporary media productions, however, it is possible to verify the presence of narratives that have expanded meanings and the sword is transfigured as a sign of complexity. In this approach, the sword is not only a tool for cutting, splitting, excluding and distinction, but it incorporates in a harmonious way opposite ideas, linked to the nocturnal regimes, composed by the mystical and synthetic systems of the images. In the nocturnal regime of images, the sword transmutes itself and connects with the idea of a blacksmith, in the art of working with fire. Thus, the research seeks to relate the importance of the craft processes that accompany the work of creating the sword and for this discussion dialogues with the idea of craftsmanship, according to Sennett's proposition. For him, the sword is a tool and the swordsman is a master craftsman in the art of handling that weapon. We understand the sword as an image of complexity from the knowledge of Japanese fencing present in works such as The Book of Five Rings and The Sword That Gives Life. The image of the sword has transcended the ages and occupies prominence in the contemporary media. The main objective of the research is to seek its presence as a complex image in the media narratives. For this, the empirical object of the research is composed by the series of Japanese animation Rurouni Kenshin, chosen for presenting the sword like something more than a instrument of combat. Imaginary is understood as the universe of symbolic configurations and socio-symbolic practices whose function is to establish the biopsychosocial balance of the human being, mainly to deal with the existential anguish linked to the fear of death. The methodological procedures adopt the perspective of the line of research in processes of creation and communication in the culture and are based on the researches of Lucia Leão, especially in the method of cartography of the imaginary. The research is inserted in the field of communication and understands the communicational processes as interactive, complex and systemic actions, experienced as a mediated experience / A espada é normalmente associada às narrativas heroicas e, segundo a antropologia do imaginário de Gilbert Durand, está vinculada ao regime diurno da imagem. No contexto das contemporâneas produções midiáticas, entretanto, é possível verificar a presença de narrativas que apresentam sentidos expandidos e a espada se transfigura em signo de complexidade. Nessa abordagem, a espada não é apenas um instrumento de corte, divisão, exclusão e distinção, mas incorpora de forma harmônica sentidos opostos, vinculados aos regimes noturno e crepuscular, compostos pelos sistemas místico e sintético das imagens. No regime noturno, a espada se transmuta e se conecta com a ideia de ferreiro, na arte do trabalho com o fogo. Assim, a pesquisa busca relacionar a importância dos processos artesanais que acompanham o trabalho de criação da espada e para essa discussão dialoga com a ideia artífice, segundo a proposição de Sennett. Para ele, a espada é uma ferramenta e o espadachim é um mestre artesão na arte de manejar essa arma. Entendemos a espada enquanto imagem de complexidade a partir do conhecimento da esgrima japonesa presente em obras como O Livro dos Cinco Anéis e A Espada que dá Vida. A imagem da espada transcendeu as eras e ocupa espaço de destaque nos meios de comunicação contemporâneos. O objetivo principal da pesquisa é buscar sua presença enquanto imagem complexa nas narrativas midiáticas. Para isso, o objeto empírico da pesquisa é composto pelas séries de animação japonesa Rurouni Kenshin, escolhida por apresentar a espada como algo mais do que um instrumento de combate. Entende-se imaginário como o universo das configurações simbólicas e das práticas sócio-simbólicas que têm por função estabelecer o equilíbrio biopsicossocial do ser humano, principalmente para lidar com a angústia existencial vinculada ao medo da morte. Os procedimentos metodológicos adotam a perspectiva da linha de pesquisa em processos de criação e comunicação na cultura e estão fundamentados nas pesquisas de Leão, em especial no método de cartografias do imaginário. A pesquisa está inserida no campo da comunicação e entende os processos comunicacionais enquanto ações interativas, complexas e sistêmicas, vivenciados como experiência mediada pelas linguagens