Performance in isiZulu radio drama is imaginative and abstract to the listeners and radio drama writers make use of semiotic signs to convey intended action or information to the listeners. This research is meant to uncover the role of semiotics in the isiZulu radio drama and the impact it has on the culture of the isiZulu-speaking community. This study was dedicated to answer the following research questions: • How does semiotics play its role in isiZulu radio drama? • To what extent does semiotics play its role in isiZulu radio drama? • What impact it has on the culture of isiZulu-speaking community? To answer these research questions the researcher formulated the following objectives: • To identify different semiotic signs that plays a significant role in isiZulu radio drama. • To explore the role of semiotic signs in isiZulu radio drama. • To analyse the role of semiotic signs in isiZulu radio drama. • To examine the extent to which semiotic signs can influence the revival of cultural knowledge in isiZulu-speaking community. • To suggest for further research on the role of semiotics in isiZulu radio drama and the impact it has on the culture of isiZulu-speaking community. The researcher used a mixed method consisting of quantitative and qualitative approaches which examined the research problem by surveying isiZulu radio drama listeners, observing selected isiZulu radio drama scripts and conducting a telephone interview with the participant. The researcher found that semiotics play significant and different roles in isiZulu radio dramas and has the potential to revive cultural knowledge of the isiZulu-speaking community. The researcher recommended further research on the grounds that this study did not focus on the infringement that exists in isiZulu language, which is used in isiZulu radio dramas to fit the socio-economic, political, technological and demographic changes whether such infringement still restore and revive cultural knowledge of the isiZulu-speaking community. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Dans le contexte colonial, le bouddhisme était dans une situation critique. Du sud au nord, les appels des moines et des laïcs se font entendre en faveur d'une réforme en profondeur, comme le montre la voie de la rénovation bouddhique dans d'autres pays asiatiques, notamment en Chine. Fondée le 6 novembre 1934 par décision du Résident supérieur du Tonkin, l’Association bouddhique du Tonkin réunit autour de son projet un grand nombre de personnes, issues de classes sociales très différentes, afin d’œuvrer à la rénovation bouddhique. Ceci à destinations des fidèles comme des religieux avec l'objectif de rendre le bouddhisme conforme à sa doctrine, et en même temps adapté à la société dans laquelle ils vivent. En bénéficiant de nouveaux facteurs dans la vie culturelle et intellectuelle, l’Association bouddhique possède des outils modernes pour une meilleure compréhension et une diffusion plus large vers le public. Elle édite des livres et une revue, Đuốc Tuệ considérée comme son moyen privilégié pour guider les fidèles dans leur pratique quotidienne du bouddhisme dans un monde moderne. Le bouddhisme d’engagement social promu par l'association, démontre que la pratique du bouddhisme ne signifie pas seulement de prières, d’aller à la pagode et faire des offrandes. Le bouddhiste moderne c’est celui qui s’engage dans la société de son temps à travers des actions concrètes en respectant les valeurs morales bouddhiques. Par son influence dans la société, l’Association bouddhique est une version moderniste dans le domaine religieux, ce qui contribue à construire le bouddhisme moderne au Vietnam avec un nouveau visage et un nouvel esprit, l’esprit d’engagement social. / In the colonial context, Buddhism was in a critical situation. From north to south, under the influence of the movement to revive Buddhism in other Asian countries, especially in China, monks and lay people called for an extensive reformation. Founded on November 6 1934 by the decision of the governor of the Tonkin, the Tonkin Buddhist Association brought together a large number of members, from many different social classes to carry out the Buddhist revival and to address to two subjects, believers and monks, with the aim of bringing Buddhism as a religious consistent with its doctrine and the society in which they live. Inheriting the new factors in the cultural and intellectual lives, including the adoption of quốc ngữ, and the development of the press and publishing, Buddhist Association had the modern tools to explain and spread widely Buddhist teachings for better understanding to the public. It published books and magazine, Đuốc Tuệ (Flambeau de la Spiritualité), in the national language, considered as its preferred way to guide buddhism believers in their daily practice in the modern world. Social engagement of Buddhism promoted by the association, meant that the practice of Buddhism was that the modern Buddhists not only prayed, went to the temples, and offered, but also had to engage to their living society, through practical actions in accordance with the Buddhist moral values. Thanks to its influence of the society, the Tonkin Buddhist Association was a unique symbol of the innovation in the religious field, which contributed to building of the modern Buddhism in Vietnam with a new face and a new spirit, the spirit of social engagement.

Né d’une réaction à la sécularisation apportée par la Révolution française, le « renouveau catholique » ou la « renaissance catholique » est un mouvement d’artistes et d’intellectuels catholiques particulièrement actif entre 1885 et 1935. Dans la droite ligne du catholicisme intransigeant dont il procède, il entend œuvrer à remplacer la société moderne par une société chrétienne, en rendant à Dieu sa place dans l’art et la pensée. De sa conversion en 1886 jusqu’à son abandon de la littérature pour l’exégèse au cours des années trente, Claudel, catholique intransigeant et écrivain, appartient à ce mouvement. Pourtant, il s’en tient à distance, ne collaborant que de façon irrégulière et précaire à ses différentes initiatives et ne nouant que d’incertaines ou de mauvaises relations avec la plupart des autres écrivains catholiques. Comment le comprendre ? Il faut voir que, loin de lui être particulière, la situation est emblématique de l’histoire du mouvement : la répression antimoderniste qui a provoqué la naissance de l’écrivain catholique et orienté l’action littéraire catholique vers la défense de l’Église, trace aussi les limites à ne pas dépasser. Or la tentative d’art chrétien, désireuse de montrer la présence du surnaturel dans le monde des hommes, apparaît bien souvent comme un naturalisme, c’est-à-dire une réduction du surnaturel à l’humain. C’est ce naturalisme que Claudel reproche à la plupart des membres du renouveau, pourtant engagés comme lui dans le même projet de réconcilier le monde moderne avec le catholicisme. / Appeared in reaction to post-revolutionary secularization, the Catholic Revival is a French movement uniting catholic artists and intellectuals, particularly active between 1885 and 1935. Rooted in intransigent Catholicism, it aims at replacing modern society with a Christian one, in which God would be given back his place in art and mind. From his conversion in 1886, until he abandoned literature for biblical exegesis during the thirties, Claudel, as a writer and intransigent Catholic, belongs to that movement. He nevertheless remains on the fringe of it, participating only occasionally for limited works to its several initiatives. He builds only uncertain or bad relations with most of the other Catholic writers. How can we understand this? Far from being Claudel’s particularity, this situation symbolizes the history of the Catholic Revival, which was simultaneously guided and controlled by anti-modernism repression. Yet the attempt of a Christian art, eager to show the presence of the supernatural in men’s world, often appears as a form of naturalism, in others words as a reduction of supernatural to human stage. Claudel reproaches the most part of the Revival members for this naturalism, even if they are involved, just as he is, in the common project of reconciliation between Catholicism and modern world.

The subject of spirituality is descriptive, comprehensive, transformative, and interdisciplinary. This study is about the spirituality of Kikuyu PCEA (Presbyterian Church of East Africa) pastors in Nairobi. This research seeks to find expressions and meanings of Christian spirituality of the research context. Thus, the concrete aims of this research are: (1) to understand the complex spiritual/religious/cultural world of Kikuyu pastors of the Presbyterian Church in Nairobi; (2) to study biblical and historical spirituality in order to find biblical and Western-historical spiritual perspectives; (3) to have critical hermeneutical dialogue between narratives, different cultural/religious traditions, biblical/Western-historical spiritual perspectives, and African theological perspectives with a view to finding strategies for transformation of the research participants, churches in Africa, and African society at large. To achieve the aforementioned aims of this research, a research paradigm was employed which is comprised of postfoundationalism, practical theology, narrative, and social constructionism. Postfoundationalism provided theological positioning; practical theological process laid a framework of the research as the main research methodology; narratives generated essential experiences for the research; social constructionism provided a method with which to form the realities socially which would have a relevance to the context. Thick questions were formulated from the following studies: the narratives of the research participants, African (Kikuyu) cultural/religious traditions, Christianity’s influences on the research context, and the socio-economic-political phenomena of the Kenyan society. The questions were: (1) Would mission Christianity including the Presbyterian Church of East Africa continue to be an effective form of Christianity in Kenya and among the Kikuyu?; (2) What is the relationship between charismatic spirituality and the contextual spirituality of East Africa?; (3) How can spirituality shape and influence the socio-economic-political context more than it being influenced by the context?; (4) What would the biblical and historical spirituality suggest to the spiritualities of the research participants? In regards to biblical/historical spiritualities, the spiritualities of both Old and New Testament and each historical period were unique, and the spirituality of each period was developed distinctively by the needs of the time. Then the fusion of horizons between the research context and biblical/historical spiritualities turned out to be a valuable process for the making of the final strategies for transformation. The strategies for transformation reflect the essential elements of African Christian spirituality, which can be applied to the African socio-religious context beyond the scope of the current research arena. Christian spirituality in the 21st century Africa demands African expression and identity whether it means contextualisation, liberation, or reconstruction. Structures, governance, forms, and expressions of the Christianity of the past century need to be re-evaluated for the formation of authentic African Christian spirituality. African society faces tremendous challenges and pressures providing Christianity with both an unprecedented privilege and obligation to impact African society with the message of love and hope. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Through the mid-twentieth century, a significant pattern of migration occurred between Appalachia and the Pacific Northwest, with Washington’s thriving timber industry offering compelling economic opportunities. Many workers and families from western North Carolina settled in the small mountain town of Darrington, Washington, frequently accompanied by their banjos and guitars. As a group of young bluegrass enthusiasts from Seattle established relationships with Darrington’s “Tar Heel” musicians, a collaborative music community formed, laying the foundation for the region’s contemporary bluegrass scene. Drawn from a series of ethnographic interviews, this project illuminates the development of a bluegrass community in western Washington, while identifying several of its key contributors. The resultant narrative explores the musical legacy of Appalachian migration to the Pacific Northwest, culminating in its convergence with the urban folk music revival of the 1960s. This work contributes to a growing body of scholarship that challenges the traditional geo-cultural assumptions encompassing bluegrass music.

This thesis focuses on the description of real conditions and opportunities of development of civil society organizations in the field of cultural heritage preservation in Buryatia, which is a federal subject in Russia. The theoretical part includes basic approaches to the concept of civil society, the definition of culture, a brief excursus into the history of civic activism in Russia, and an overview of laws and regulations governing the activities of Russian non-profit organizations. In the second part the author, through semi-structured interviews and a document analysis, seeks to provide a detailed insight into the context in which the organized civil society exists in Buryatia nowadays and to understand what role it plays in the process of rediscovering and promoting the Buryat national culture that was suppressed during the Soviet period. The conclusions of the thesis point to general improvement in the conditions for civil society in Buryatia over the last 27 years, and also contain recommendations on a range of actions that should help overcome the current barriers. Key words: civil society, non-profit organization, culture, nation, national revival, Buryatia, Post- Soviet period, democracy.

This doctoral thesis deals with bertsolaritza - Basque poetic improvization - in its relation to language revival and politics in contemporary Basque country. In terms of methodology, this paper is based on anthropological fieldwork combined with the study of secondary data. Theoretical framework uses concepts of ethnicity and nationalism, anthropology of art, theory of poetry and performance as well as concepts of political anthropology. The issue is built on three fields: history of basque nationalism, language revival and bertsolaritza. Bertsolaritza is depicted as an artistic activity that participates on the construction of collective identity of euskaldunak (speakers of Basque). The core analysis is focused on 2013 Championship (Bertsolari Txapelketa Nagusia) in improvised poetry and its link to the basque political discourse 2011-2013. Bertsolaritza is to be understood as an expression of sociopolitical reflections within the frame of izquierda abertzale (nationalist left) as well as an open artistic reflection of a variety of socially relevant issues.

This thesis concern with the teaching of the literature of the czech national revival at the secondary school. Its aim is to analyze selected textbooks and manuals used in secondary schools and based on this analysis it tries to characterize the most important aspects of this period. It describes how the term "national revival" is explained to high school students, what is the time range of this period, which authors of this section of czech literary history are included in individual textbooks and also in the canon of works required for the final school- leaving examination. It compares individual aspects with the starting points of the professional literature. The work raises the question of whether and to what extent textbooks create an image of this topic for school purposes, how they affect students' awareness of the topic. Finally, it proposes specific procedures and activities that can be used in teaching the literature of the czech national revival at secondary schools and grammar schools.

The tradition of protest songs in the United States is a continuum, which began in colonial times with the British Broadside Ballads, was nurtured in the 19th century through the Negro spirituals, and throughout the 20th century by performers such as Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan. Out of necessity, blacks developed strategies of veiled protests to a fine art during the 19th century. The perennial cause of the black protest was the status forced on them by white supremacists. The spirituals encouraged them to persevere in their efforts to free themselves from the shackles of slavery. Many of the spirituals were modified in the 1950s to accommodate the needs of the Civil Rights Movement. This appropriation of the Southern rural folk music tradition was the genesis of a phenomenon which has become known as the American folk music revival. The foremost figure of the movement was Woody Guthrie, the author of "This land is Your Land." Guthrie is cited as major influence on his disciple Bob Dylan, who was pronounced the folk messiah of the folk circles. This paper seeks to determine whether Dylan was, in contrast to his assertions, a topical songwriter writing about particular events or whether he was in fact an apolitical artist, whose personal insight and feelings simply happened to fit the...

Performance in isiZulu radio drama is imaginative and abstract to the listeners and radio drama writers make use of semiotic signs to convey intended action or information to the listeners. This research is meant to uncover the role of semiotics in the isiZulu radio drama and the impact it has on the culture of the isiZulu-speaking community. This study was dedicated to answer the following research questions: • How does semiotics play its role in isiZulu radio drama? • To what extent does semiotics play its role in isiZulu radio drama? • What impact it has on the culture of isiZulu-speaking community? To answer these research questions the researcher formulated the following objectives: • To identify different semiotic signs that plays a significant role in isiZulu radio drama. • To explore the role of semiotic signs in isiZulu radio drama. • To analyse the role of semiotic signs in isiZulu radio drama. • To examine the extent to which semiotic signs can influence the revival of cultural knowledge in isiZulu-speaking community. • To suggest for further research on the role of semiotics in isiZulu radio drama and the impact it has on the culture of isiZulu-speaking community. The researcher used a mixed method consisting of quantitative and qualitative approaches which examined the research problem by surveying isiZulu radio drama listeners, observing selected isiZulu radio drama scripts and conducting a telephone interview with the participant. The researcher found that semiotics play significant and different roles in isiZulu radio dramas and has the potential to revive cultural knowledge of the isiZulu-speaking community. The researcher recommended further research on the grounds that this study did not focus on the infringement that exists in isiZulu language, which is used in isiZulu radio dramas to fit the socio-economic, political, technological and demographic changes whether such infringement still restore and revive cultural knowledge of the isiZulu-speaking community / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)