Diasporic Homecoming and the New Indian City “We set out, [my father] and my mother and I, for Karol Bagh. ‘15/64 Western Extension Area, Ajmal Khan Road,’ he chanted momentously in the back of the car. We drove through the wide, fluid streets of the bureaucratic area…the entire area was bursting at the seams: shops and warehouses extended out onto the streets, apartments had grown upwards and outwards into every possible gap, and parked cars filled in the rest. We missed our turn and had to do a U-turn, a mistake that cost us half an hour…My father became increasingly upset as we penetrated deeper and deeper into the end-of-day clamour. ‘Karol Bagh used to be a bagh,’ he said, ‘a garden. I used to ride my bike on these streets. What happened?’”—Rana Dasgupta

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The contention of this thesis is that place is much more important in human experience and in the Christian scheme of things than is generally recognised. I first survey the manner in which place has been progressively downgraded in Western thought and practice in favour of a concentration upon space and time. I note that during the latter part of the twentieth century scholars in a variety of disciplines have suggested that place is much more important than this prevailing discourse would suggest. Few theologians, however, recognise the importance of place. I suggest that, in this respect, theologians owe more to the mores of modernity than to a thorough engagement with the Christian scriptures and tradition. Second, I embark upon such an engagement with the scriptures. My findings suggest that their witness confirms that, from a Christian perspective, place is vital. With this in mind, my third step is to propose that the best way of understanding the role of place in a manner consonant with the Biblical narrative is sacramentally. Fourth, I test this hypothesis by examining the Christian tradition's approach to pilgrimage and investigate how it might be applied to holy places and churches in general. Finally, I conclude that a renewed appreciation of place by theologians and churchpeople, which their scriptures and tradition invite, would enable them to offer much to a society still trapped in the paradigm of modernity which underestimates place, with dehumanising effect.

Wilderness is defined as being "a wild or uncultivated region or tract of land, uninhabited, or inhabited only by wild animals" (Oxford English Dictionary 1989). But just how natural is the concept of wilderness? the idea of conserving nature suggests that we think of ourselves as something 'other' than nature, but the truth is that nature is our origin, and although this is often forgotten, it is a connection that is deeply rooted in our being. I am interested in finding an architecture that speaks to our most primal memories, acting to locate humans within nature. Through the creation of 3 mountain refuges, each a point in a larger path of pilgrimage, I will explore the connections that we as humans can share with the Canadian mountain wilderness. / This thesis is sited in Jumbo Creek Valley, British Columbia in the Purcell Mountains.

In Europe and beyond, pilgrimage centres attract millions of visitors each year. This popularity has provoked a burgeoning academic interest in pilgrimage, and this thesis builds on this expanding literature. It emerges out of a dialogue between old and new forms of movement – a conversation that demands further research on the relationship between religious traditions and late–modern consumer culture, a dialogue made explicit through the study of pilgrimage. Although this thesis pays attention to one case study in particular, namely the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, it draws on multi–disciplinary research in order to set a broader context. It reveals four motivational themes, derived from interviews with pilgrims on the road to Compostela. These I explore in depth through qualitative analysis, while at the same time taking note of parallel quantitative work concerned with the Camino de Santiago as well as other pilgrimage sites in Europe. Ranging from the search for spirituality to recreation, motivations are found to be the result of a conflation of meanings; they are ambiguous narratives, which very often include spiritual as well as secular aspirations. My findings suggest a de–differentiation of poles of meaning such as sacred and profane, movement and place, religion and secularity, community and individual. In short, this is a methodologically diverse study which argues that, contrary to perception, traditional forms of religious rituals are not necessarily incompatible with late–modern consumer culture. Through consumer culture religious traditions are being revitalized. The renewed popularity of pilgrimage today demonstrates how some religious landscapes and spaces have remained important through political and religious movements, while others have been regenerated by literature, new media, specialist tourist markets, advertising and private enterprise. Finally, this study reveals a noticeable democratization of traditional rites, and the landscapes in which they take place. A very wide variety of groups and individuals visit them.

This dissertation explores the connection among place, narrative, and ritual in a survey of Kurukshetra and its meaning to different communities across time. Kurukshetra, a region of central Haryana, is currently identified predominantly as a tīrtha and the site of the central battle of the Mahābhārata epic. I ask, "How did this area come to be known as Kurukshetra and how did it become so strongly associated with the Mahābhārata?" I argue that there is a constructive dynamic tension among place, narrative, and ritual that connects Kurukshetra, the Mahābhārata, and tīrthayātrā, leading to the current situation. I begin by examining pre-epic constructions of Kurukshetra to discover shifts and continuities in the terrain that Kurukshetra inhabits and the narrative themes ascribed to it. Following, I trace these themes into the epic period, and explore how a new ritual paradigm, tīrthayātrā, continues to modify the physical and narrative landscape. Next, I observe that the ritual, narrative, and terrain begin to coalesce in the post-epic period. I argue that even as the ritual begins to become more stable, the narrative and ritual geographies remain in flux. By the sixteenth century, the Mahābhārata begins to dominate the narrative identity of Kurukshetra and the region around the city of Thanesar becomes the primary locus of ritual activity and narrative reproduction. / text

The Tokugawa period (1600-1868) brought significant social, legislative, and institutional change to Japan, including peace and stability that pervaded much of early modern society. Life in these new social conditions was experienced under the authoritative and ideological influence of the shogunal regime, which sought to order society in a way reflective of administrative ideals. However, while control over Tokugawa inhabitants existed to a certain degree, there were also instances of geographical and social release from such control through engagement in religious pilgrimage and ritual. Practices such as these allowed some citizens to move around, through, and perhaps beyond the modes of confinement established by authorities. This release, which is illuminated by considerations of social and ritual theory, leaves us with a nuanced picture of Tokugawa life and indicates that relatively fluid portions of society may have maneuvered within the boundaries of the hegemonic structure.

The Pilgrimage to Velehrad and its significance during the Modern Era of Czech History The purpose of my thesis is to introduce pilgrimage as a phenomenon that can expose various discourses; strengthening and framing collective identity and manifesting various interest groups in the foreground of changeable historical contexts. To explain this religious tradition, I am using a concept of so called, 'social drama': Pilgrimage has a cohesive function as well as being a platform for social and political expression. With the help of archival sources, I focus on the pilgrimage to Velehrad in the period between the second half of the 19th Century and the latter period of the 20th. In the era of the Habsburg monarchy, we can see in Velehrad especially, a realization of the official state and church discourse in competition with nationally motivated tendencies for manifestation. During the First Czechoslovak Republic these events are used to present a newly Catholically based national identity under the influence of state and church. In the Communist era interest groups expressed their orientation against the state, but tendencies to manifest the ideology of the regime persisted unerringly in the background.

This thesis proposes that the narrative engagement of ethical leadership is foundational for contemporary Lay Ecclesial Leadership of ministries of the Catholic Church in Australia. It is argued that in the appointment of women and men as board directors it is essential to develop a clear articulation of the key competencies, character strengths and public values for lay ecclesial leadership of ministries of the Australian Catholic Church. The formation process proposed for such appointees has its foundations in the sacrament of Baptism, the Vatican II “universal call to holiness”, the vocation of the laity and Ignatian spirituality. Its manifestation is lived out in the ethical leadership of Walter Earl Fluker and the notion and practice of pilgrimage.

Arguing that one of the multiple dimensions of a Museum’s role is as a landmark of cultural pilgrimage, this Master’s Thesis uses notions of pilgrimage and journeying to develop a Museum of Medieval and Contemporary Art in Bruges, Belgium.