Thesis (B.A.)--University of Wisconsin -- La Crosse, 2008. / Also available online. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-60).

The emphasis of this PhD is in the field of original/contemporary musical composition and I have submitted a portfolio of original compositions (volume 1/2, comprising of music scores of both acoustic and electroacoustic music compositions [totalling c. 114:30 minutes of music] as well as written material relating to notation and artistic motivation), along with an academic commentary (volume 2/2 [totalling c. 19,500 words], which places the original compositional work in the portfolio in its academic context). The composition works in first volume are varied and broad ranging in scope. In terms of pitch organisation, the majority of works adopt some form of modality or polymodality, whilst certain works also incorporate post-tonal chromaticism and serialism into their syntax. Certain key works also explore extended timbre and colouration (in particular for bowed strings, voices, flute and electronics) and adopt the use of timbral modifications, harmonics, microtones, multiphonics, sprechgesang (i.e. ‘speech-song’), phonetics and the incorporation of electroacoustic sampling, sound synthesis and processing. The academic commentary in the second volume sets out several initial theoretical pitch organisation models (namely relating to modes, polymodes, rows, serial techniques and intervallic cells), with a particular emphasis placed on the formation of a melodic/harmonic language which is fundamentally polymodal, polychordal and polyharmonic. The commentary then takes a closer look at various works within the portfolio which adopt modal, polymodal and chromatic forms of pitch-organisation (whilst intermittently discussing wider musical parameters, such as rhythm, counterpoint, timbre, structure etc.). Separate chapters also discuss a work for flute and electronics and a lengthy work for string quartet (inspired by urban dystopian film) in greater depth. The commentary also discusses my style of writing, placing individual works within the portfolio in their academic context alongside key influences as well as contextualising non-musical aesthetics and sources of artistic inspiration relating to my work.

This thesis is a postcolonial study of the work of Padraic O Conaire. From the great surge of the Cultural Renaissance to the reconsolidating of conservative forces under the Free State, O Conaire's career encapsulates the defining period of modern Ireland. As the Introduction discusses, this thesis sites his work centrally in that revolutionary era, with O Conaire influenced by the great writers of European Realism who made a profound critique of their own societies with their central focus on the lived experience of the individual. Instead of the modern alienation of his characters, or the radicalism of the author's own politics, both of which comprise the most prominent strands in his critical portrayal to date, O Conaire is seen to make that necessary synthesis between the psychological and the political aspects as a creative writer. Though rooted in the historical experience of the race, the anti-authoritarian project of Postcolonialism is defined as an ongoing challenge in an age of global capitalism and the working through of the psycho-cultural effects of colonization. Noting their emphasis on the biographical element, the Literature Review examines the main contemporary full-length critical studies of 6 Conaire: P6.draic 6 Conaire - Deorai (1994) by Padraigin Riggs which investigates the themes of alienation and exile in the life and the work; Padraic 6 Conaire - Sceal a Bheatha (1995) by Eibhlin Ni Chionnaith which unearths a wealth of biographical information to finally create a portrait of a bohemian Romantic; and Reabhloid Phadraic Ui Chonaire (2007) by Aindrias O Cathasaigh, which directs its attention on O Conaire's journalism and his articulation of a revolutionary socialism; and Saoirse Anama Ui Chonaire (1984) by Tomas O Broin's which is a monograph on O Conaire's one novel Deoraiocht and argues for its socialist expressionism based on the author's lived experience. Three significant short studies out of the wide range of essays on the writer are then reviewed: 'Padraic O Conaire' by Seosamh Mac Grianna (1936) which portrays O Conaire as a heroic literary pioneer for all his faults, 'Padraic 6 Conaire agus Cearta an Duine' by Declan Kiberd (1983) which emphasizes his eccentric individualism and his socialism, and 'An tOrsceal Readach III' by Alan Titley (1991) which claims a special kind of literary realism for Deoraiocht. The remaining works of the Literature Review develop and deepen the postcolonial basis of this thesis, being significant studies in the international and in the Irish context: The Colonizer and the Colonized by the Tunisian writer AlbeIt Memmi, which is a piercing sociological and psychological exposure of the phenomenon of colonization; Tren bhFearann Breac - an Dilaithriu Culruir agus Nualitriocht na Gaeilge Ie Mairin Nic Eoin which applies a wide range of postcolonial theorizing to modern Irish language literature; and 'Decolonizing the Mind: Language and Literature in Ireland' by Gearoid Denvir which is a polemical account of the psycho-cultural aspect of colonization and also treats of the marginalization of modern Irish language and literature. The Review includes a brief examination of the work which inspired the title of Denvir's essay, namely Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. The first chapter of this thesis discusses Deoraiocht as a powerful anti -colonial novel, a monologue of rebellion located in the heart of empire. The second chapter examines important statements from O Conaire's journalistic output concerning the role of the writer in society, and about Irish society itself in the troubled period from 1917-1921, in a critical context that compares the basic radicalism of the modern Russian writer with the Gaelic literary tradition. The third chapter considers O Conaire's five plays, from their original inspiration in Douglas Hyde's plays about traditional Gaeltacht society, to their development of the comic hero of European theatre. The selection of his short stories in the fourth chapter reflects the arc of O Conaire's opus, from Paidin Mhaire, the tragic victim of the colonial system, to the subversive comedy of Fearfeasa Mac Feasa with his challenge to conventional officialdom. The Conclusion looks forward as well as back in that O Conaire as a postcolonial writer straddled the official British colony founded on political, social and economic repression and the official Free State with its emerging conservative, bourgeois and religious ethos. Just like the great modernist pioneer in Irish writing in English, James Joyce, who was born in the same month as O Conaire, his own work is seen to be intimately bound up with the project of decolonization and with the realization of the individual as the embodiment of a changed society. Also, like the dispossessed Gaelic poet of the seventeenth century and the modern underground writer of the Soviet State, O Conaire's work is shown as retaining from beginning to end the integrity of the outsider committed to the truth of individual expression against the ideological control of the dominant institutions of pre- and post-imperial Irish society. If we Irish want the genuine freedom that O Conaire advocated, then we can discover the hidden foundations of our contemporary society in his work, in which there is a truthful reflection of, and liberating insight into, the period that formed today's Ireland.

C. Scott Littleton and Ann C. Thomas' assertion that the core of the Arthurian legends is ultimately rooted in a Sarmatian heroic tradition is challenged. It is argued that, at best, the Arthurian legends contain several names and motifs of possible Sarmatian origin that have been borrowed into what Arthurian scholars have long recognized as an inherently Celtic tradition. Several agencies for their introduction into the Arthurian cycle are considered. It is proposed that two names and at least one of the motifs were introduced by Iazyge cataphractarii stationed along Hadrian's Wall in 175 AD. The other motifs, however, are thought to have been introduced at a much later date --possibly by returning members of the crusader population in the East during the twelfth century. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

No description available.

No description available.

While ethnomusicological scholarship has begun to address Internet studies, the field has yet to amply consider digital diaspora theory. Arguing that the increasing digital aspect of social capital – defined as “the benefits individuals derive from their social relationships and interactions” (Ellison, Steinfeld, and Lampe 2010, 873) -- affects social, cultural, and musical capital in diasporic community groups, I discuss the pivotal role that social media, videosharing sites, and other Internet platforms play in connecting diasporic communities. I develop a hybrid ethnographic fieldwork model for examining contemporary diasporas’ music consumption and production that builds upon Putnam’s (2000) work on social capital, Song’s (2009) analysis of virtual communities, Brinkerhoff’s (2009) conceptualization of digital diaspora, Turkle’s (2011) fieldwork on technology’s impact on social interaction, Sparling’s (2006) conception of cultural capital in Gaelic Cape Breton, and O’Hara and Brown’s (2006) examination of music consumption. To address the high value of music production and consumption in Cape Breton culture, I introduce the concept of musical capital. I define this as arts currency, both tangible and intangible, which can be procured, acquired, or shared, as a more specific way to discuss the shifts in participation and consumption documented in my fieldwork in 2014-15, conducted both online and at the Canadian-American Club in Watertown, Massachusetts. Forms of musical capital analyzed include Skype music lessons, songs of diasporic longing, fiddle sessions, online videos, and in-person performances. I conclude that the online availability of one’s culture has long-range effects for community participation by non-musicians. While artists still gather in person to practice and perform, the greater diasporic community can now interact with other members online and virtually experience their culture, though the personal social capital benefits are not equal to in-person interactions. These changes reflect a larger social capital shift within contemporary American society and acknowledge the impact of the increased use of, and reliance upon, Internet platforms as a means for creating, consuming, and disseminating musical and cultural capital.

An analysis of the insect fauna in a sample from a Celtic well in southern Germany dated to 133 BC has been carried out. The fauna is congruent with a typical ‘farmland fauna’, as outlined by Smith et al. (2019) and also indicate a couple of settlement-related practices, – namely herding of sheep and retting of nettles for fibre-manufacturing.

In Celtic religious studies, it is often difficult to find reliable textual sources if you are working with pre-Christian religion, since all text is written in a Christian context. As a result, Celtic scholars have to look outside of the pre-Christian Celtic context, to search for knowledge elsewhere. For example, one may use texts from Classical writers (such as Caesar) who wrote about Celts they encountered, or look to Christian material (in particular saints’ lives) to search for clues of pagan traditions which may have survived into Christianity. This has resulted in that certain Celtic pagan deities which we do not have a lot of information on, are compared to or even equated with other religious figures from outside of the pagan Celtic context. One such example is the pagan, Irish goddess Brigid, who is frequently equated with the Roman goddess Minerva, and also said to be the predecessor of the Christian Saint Brigid. Some also make comparisons between Minerva and the saint. This thesis aims to make an extensive textual analysis where all of these three characters are compared and discussed. Are they actually ‘the same’, and if not, how similar or different are they? Is the equating valid, or do we need to take another approach within the Celtic field? Using discourse theory and a comparative method, the research eventually shows that some of the characters’ most important traits are lost when we do equate them with each other.

This study explores two ancient approaches to spirituality, together with the cultural contexts in which they developed. Spirituality is a popular concept today among people of widely differing religious traditions, and among those who espouse no religious tradition. Spirituality defines the way in which people relate to what concerns them ultimately, and ways in which this concern is manifested in their daily lives. This popular interest has resulted in the rise of spirituality as an academic discipline. An in-depth study of Celtic and African Spirituality is presented in this study. Celtic Spirituality dates from the fifth century CE onwards, whereas African Spirituality predates written history. Few examples of African Spirituality are recorded in writing before the twentieth century, although some have existed for centuries in oral form. Many Celtic poems, and other examples of traditional oral literature were collected and recorded in writing by medieval monks, and thus preserved for later generations in writing. Both Celtic and African Spiritualities have a healthy, integrated approach to the material world and to the spiritual world. They acknowledge a constant interaction between the two realms, and do not dismiss or devalue either the physical or the spiritual. Art and oral literature also play an important role in enabling communication and expression of ideas. Power and powerlessness emerges as a dominant theme in African thought and spirituality, especially where African peoples perceive themselves to be powerless politically or economically. Areas of relevance of Celtic and African Spiritualities to the life of the church today are identified and discussed, such as ecological spirituality; oral and symbolic communication; the role of women in church and society; and the theme of power. These are areas from which the world-wide church has much to learn from both Celtic and African Spiritualities. The findings of this study are then discussed in terms of their relevance and helpfulness to church and society. Insights from Celtic and African spiritualities should be used in the future to deepen devotional life of individual Christians and of congregations, and ideas such as ecological responsibility and recognition of the value and gifts of women should permeate the teaching and practice of the church in the future. / Religious Studies & Arabic Studies / D. Th.(Religious Studies & Arabic Studies)