Land is a fundamental resource, both as a source of livelihood and as a symbol of identity andbelonging. This is threatened by a global phenomenon, land grabbing, the practice of acquiring andinvesting in land on a large scale, often enabled by national policies. Land grabbing erodes people’sland rights and in particular women’s rights. In Tanzania, marginalisation leads women to be morevulnerable not only through the loss of land – the blanket – but as the main targets of witchcraftaccusations. The latter often arise within land disputes, where litigants might resort to accusation toprevent the woman from claiming her right to land. This thesis aims to explore the effects of landgrabbing on social and gender relations; and to provide a policy framework in response to theseeffects.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis is a chronologically comparative study of fairy culture and belief in early modern and Victorian Scotland. Using fairy culture as a case study, I examine the adaptability of folk culture by exploring whether beliefs and legends surrounding fairies in the early modern era continued into the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a single culture system, or whether the Victorian fairy revival was a distinct cultural phenomenon. Based on contextual, physical, and behavioral comparisons, this thesis argues the former; while select aspects of fairy culture developed and adapted to serve the needs and values of Victorian society, its resurgence and popularization was largely predicated on the notion that it was a remnant of the past, therefore directly linking the nineteenth century interpretation to the early modern. In each era, fairy culture serves as a window into the major tensions complicating Scottish identity formation. In the early modern era, these largely centered around witchcraft, theology, and the Reformation, while notions of cultural heritage, national mythology, and escapist fantasy dominated Victorian fairy discourse. A comparative study on fairy culture demonstrates how cultural traditions can help link vastly different time periods and complicate traditional conceptions about periodization. Ultimately, this thesis reveals how issues of class impacted the popularization and persistence of fairy culture across both eras, reflecting ongoing discussions about Scottish identity. / Master of Arts

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisors: William J. Scheick and Katherine Arens. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

According to Walter Stephens, witch-theorists in the fifteenth century developed the witchcraft belief of demon copulation in order to prove the existence of demons and therefore the existence of God. In England, during the mid-seventeenth century, Cartesian and materialist philosophies spread. These new philosophies stated there was nothing in the world but corporeal substances, and these substances had to conform to natural law. This, the philosophers argued, meant witchcraft was impossible. Certain other philosophers believed a denial of any incorporeal substance would lead to atheism, and so used witchcraft as proof of incorporeal spirits to refute what they felt was a growing atheism in the world. By examining this debate we can better understand the decline of witchcraft. This debate between corporeal and incorporeal was part of the larger debate over the existence of witchcraft. It occurred at a time in England when the persecution of witches was declining. Using witchcraft as proof of incorporeal substances was one of the last uses of witchcraft before it disappeared as a valid belief. Therefore, a better understanding of this debate adds to a better understanding of witchcraft during its decline.

LLM / Department of Public Law

《睡虎地秦簡•日書》自西元1975年底出土至今已有一段時日，相較於其它出土的《日書》版本而言是較為完整的，引起許多學者熱烈探討且著作頗豐。本論文以有別於其他學者的研究觀點，以文化人類學、考古學、文字學、宗教民俗等為研究方向，並相互比對、釋讀考古資料及歷史文獻，透過字句、語境的詮釋，以探索《睡虎地秦簡•日書》中的鬼神觀和豐富的巫術活動，並分析秦人的巫術信仰及巫術思維，試圖還原秦地巫術文化中的部分面貌。再以商周至兩漢之間的巫術活動的衍變，尋求巫術文化的歷時性脈絡。 / It has been a while since “Shuihudi Bamboo Slips -- Rishu” was excavated in the year 1975. Compared with other copies of “Rishu”, it is more complete and is the subject of scholarly discussion and literature. This study uses a different approach -- that of cultural anthropology, archeology, philology, religion and folklore -- to compare, contrast and interpret the archaeological data and historical documents, as well as to explore the spirits and deities, and witchcraft activities, in “Shuihudi Bamboo Slips – Rishu” through the word usage and context. Finally, the study helps to analyze the Qins’ belief and thinking in witchcraft, and attempts to trace the history of witchcraft culture based on the evolution of witchcraft activities from the Shang and Zhou Dynasty to the Han Dynasty.

This thesis is an intensive, multi-layered analysis of an unpublished, English language, handwritten, mid-20th century manuscript. Originally undated, untitled and unsigned, it has now been positively identified as “Text A”, a Wiccan proto-Book of Shadows compiled by Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964) in the last half of the 1940’s. Different methodologies were applied to the document: transcription using Leiden conventions, handwriting analysis to identify the author, archival research to uncover photographs of the manuscript in use, historical and bibliographical research to situate the manuscript and its author, and finally, an in-depth and exhaustive source analysis to uncover literary and documentary influences on the text. Subsequently, the manuscript was identified as handwritten by Gerald Gardner, from 1940 to 1949, and contains almost no original material other than a handful of pages for a speech or oral presentation. The rest of the document is comprised of extracts from published sources available to Gardner. These include books on Free Masonry, Templars, British Folklore, Kabbalah, Magic – ancient and ceremonial, and books by Aleister Crowley. The document also includes ritual passages and ceremonies, most of which also appear in Gardner’s published novel, High Magic’s Aid. Two theme-lines, “Magic – ancient and ceremonial” and “the writings of Aleiser Crowley”, comprising almost 40% of the total page count, were chosen for thorough analysis. Based on the information revealed by the various methodologies applied to this document, one can assert that Gardner’s claims to have been initiated into an ancient indigenous tradition, Wicca, and to be making available its long secret rituals are not supported by this document.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 220-229). / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / vi, 229 leaves, bound 29 cm