Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This study examines the Oba of Benin Royal Ugie ceremonies, which is an annual religious and cultural event celebrated by the Benin speaking people of Edo State, Nigeria. As a communal and spiritual activity, the Oba and people of Benin kingdom mark the Ugie festivals with Musical and dance performances. Within this context, the study adopts the historical and participant approaches as its method of contending that some events during the Oba of Benin Royal Ugie festival ceremonies are colorful theatrical performances. The organizational structure of the Oba of Benin Palace as it relates to the observance of Ugie festival ceremonies is also discussed in this research. This study also examines the role Ewini music plays in the various Oba of Benin Royal Ugie festival ceremonies, thereby looking at its origin, socio-cultural context, formation procedure, instrumentation, and organizational set-up. This research also recommends different ways in which music practitioner can benefit by applying a theatrical approach to the study of these royal Ugie ceremonies and its music and also the ability of the festival ceremonies to continue to act as an instrument of stability and unity for the people of Benin kingdom, by bringing people from different walks of life together during the performance at Ugie ceremonies. For clarity, all non-english words are defined in the glossary section on page 73. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.Mus.

Les Mebengôkré-Xikrin de la Terre Indigène Trincheira Bacajá (Pará, Brésil) traversent depuis peu des transformations politiques, économiques et écologiques sans précédents. Celles-ci sont liées, entre autres, à la mise en place de l’usine hydroélectrique de Belo Monte et aux projets de compensation qui l’accompagnent. Parmi les impacts une réduction du régime hydrique de leur rivière Bacajá, ayant pour conséquence une érosion de la biodiversité et une atteinte à leurs mobilité et autonomie dans leur rapport aux Autres. Dans ce contexte, ma thèse se donne pour objectif d’analyser la manière dont les Xikrin conçoivent et pratiquent actuellement leur territorialité en même temps qu’ils s’affirment et se reproduisent Mebengôkré, et ce, dans une profondeur historique permise par la littérature et les discours des Anciens. À la croisée entre l’anthropologie sociale et l’anthropologie de l’environnement, cette recherche s’inscrit dans la continuité des travaux récents sur la socio-spatialité qui ont entamé une révision de l’idée de fermeture imputée aux sociétés Jê et aux Mebengôkré en particulier. L’hypothèse est que les conceptions et pratiques de l’espace vécu par les Xikrin sont guidées par le rapport à l’Autre : les Kuben (les Blancs), les Mẽkarõ (les morts) et les animaux et végétaux peuplant les espaces extra et intravillageois. La thèse est structurée en suivant une analyse à trois échelles, de la plus large à la plus étroite : de la région comprise entre le Brésil Central et la Volta Grande do Xingu jusqu’au village, en passant par les lieux explorés de la Terre Indigène Trincheira Bacajá. L’analyse proposée permet de comprendre comment les Xikrin se sont constitués comme un collectif à part des autres Mebengôkré, en s’appropriant l’espace que constitue aujourd’hui la Terre Indigène Trincheira Bacajá, dans leur migration et dispersion à travers les scissions successives depuis leur sédentarisation. Cette thèse met finalement en évidence que les Xikrin, originaires d’un écosystème de savane, ont non seulement développé un rapport singulier avec la ville mais également avec les mondes de la forêt et de la rivière d’une région tropicale. Ainsi, les conclusions remettent en question la représentation dualiste concentrique de la socio-spatialité Xikrin, en permettant d’envisager les espaces extravillageois et leurs habitants non comme simplement asociaux et potentiellement socialisables mais au contraire comme ayant également un rôle dans la (re)production des personnes Mebengôkré et de la socialité Xikrin, notamment par l’apprentissage et l’appropriation d’éléments de ces espaces. / The Mebengôkré-Xikrin of the Trincheira Bacajá Indigenous Land (Pará, Brazil) have recently undergone unprecedented political, economic and ecological transformations. These are caused, among other things, by the establishment of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam and by the compensation projects that accompany it. Among the impacts, the reduction of the hydric regime of their Bacajá river, resulting in an erosion of thebiodiversity and an infringement of their mobility and autonomy in their relationship to the Others. In this context, this thesis aims to analyse how the Xikrin conceive and practice their territoriality as they assert themselves and reproduce as Mebengôkré, and this, in a historical depth allowed by the literature and the speeches of the Ancients. At the crossroads between social anthropology and anthropology of the environment, this research is a continuation of recent work on socio-spatiality that has begun a revision of the idea of closure attributed to the Jê societies and to the Mebengôkré in particular. The hypothesis is that the conceptions and practices of the space lived by the Xikrin are guided by the relation to the Other: the Kuben (the Whites), the Mẽkarõ (the dead) and the animals and plants populating the extra and intra villagers.The thesis is structured according to a three-scale analysis, from the widest to the narrowest: from the region between Central Brazil and the Volta Grande do Xingu to the village, passing through the explored places of the Trincheira Bacajá Indigenous Land. The proposed analysis permits to understand how the Xikrin emerged as a collective apart from the other Mebengôkré, by appropriating the space that today constitutes their territory, in their migration and dispersion through the successive splits since their settlement. This thesis finally shows that the Xikrin, originated from a savanna ecosystem, have not only developed a singular relationship with the city but also with the forest and the rivers of a tropical region. Thus, the conclusions put into question the concentric dual representation of the Xikrin socio-spatiality, allowing to consider the extra villagers spaces and their inhabitants not as simply asocial and potentially socializable but, on the contrary, as being socializing, that is to say also having a role in the (re)production of Mebengôkré people and Xikrin sociality, in particular by learning and appropriating elements of these spaces. / Os Mebengôkré-Xikrin da Terra Indígena Trincheira Bacajá (Pará, Brasil) atravessam recentemente mudanças políticas, económicas e ecológicas sem precedentes, devido, entre outras razões, ao estabelecimento da usina hidrelétrica de Belo Monte e aos projetos de "compensação" que a acompanham. Entre os impactos, estão a redução do regime hídrico do rio Bacajá, que resultou em uma perda de biodiversidade e que mina a sua mobilidade e autonomia em sua relação com o Outro. Neste contexto, esta tese tem o objetivo de analisar como os Xikrin concebem e praticam atualmente sua territorialidade ao mesmo tempo que se afirmam e se reproduzem enquanto Mebengôkré, e isso a partir de uma profundidade histórica permitida pela literatura e pelos discursos dos Antigos. No cruzamento entre a antropologia social e antropologia do ambiente, esta pesquisa se coloca em continuidade aos recentes trabalhos sobre a sócio-espacialidade que iniciaram uma revisão da ideia de fechamento imputada às sociedades Jê e aos Mebengôkré em particular. O pressuposto é que as concepções e práticas singulares do espaço vivido pelos Xikrin são guiados principalmente pela relação com o Outro: os Kuben (os brancos), os Mẽkarõ (os mortos) e os animais e plantas que habitam os espaços extra e intra aldeões.A tese está estruturada seguindo uma análise em três escalas, da mais ampla à mais restrita : da região entre o Brasil Central e a Volta Grande do Xingu até a aldeia, passando pelos espaços extra aldeões explorados na Terra Indígena Trincheira Bacajá. A análise proposta permite entender como os Xikrin se constituíram em um coletivo distinto, apropriando-se finalmente do espaço que constitui hoje a Terra Indígena Trincheira Bacajá, na sua migração e dispersão através das cisões sucessivas desde a sua sedentarizarão. Esta tese destaca que os Xikrin, originários de um ecossistema de savana, não só desenvolveram uma relação singular com a cidade, mas também com os mundos da floresta e dos rios de uma região tropical. Assim, as conclusões colocam em questão a representação dualista concêntrica da sócio-espacialidade dos Xikrin e permitem considerar os espaços extra aldeões e seus habitantes não simplesmente como associais e potencialmente socializáveis, mas também como elementos socializantes, com um papel a desempenhar na (re)produção das pessoas Mebengôkré e na socialidade Xikrin, em particular pela aprendizagem e pela apropriação de componentes desses espaços.

The diploma thesis deals with the analysis and detailed description of the basic holidays of the civil year. The theoretical part of the thesis contains the study of the most popular folk traditions, religious rituals and beliefs of the Slavs, the way how Christian church (Catholic and Orthodox) influenced on the origin of fundamental traditions and rituals. There is also a description of the way the major Slavonic holidays are held. Czech and Russian traditions are compared in order to find some basic similarities and differences between them and to analyze the development of the traditions in historical context. Such issues as language pedagogy, intercultural language competence and how to use traditions at Russian lessons at primary and secondary schools are also emphasized in the work. The practical part of the thesis deals with the analysis of some books used for teaching Russian language at Czech schools in order to find out how customs, folk traditions and holidays are described and presented. It also contains the research of the contemporary situation at Czech schools in the form of the testing of the teachers of Russian language and the students of elementary and secondary schools. The aim of the research is to find out which methods the teachers are dealing with for the successful...

Cette thèse propose d’observer les ambiances sonores (i.e. sons, cris, paroles, bruits, moments de silence, etc.) et les musiques qui interviennent dans les cultes de la Mère des dieux, de Dionysos et de Déméter dans l’Athènes archaïque et classique, et d’en cerner les fonctions et significations. La composante sonore des cultes grecs, peu prise en considération dans les reconstructions historiques de la religion grecque ancienne, du moins jusqu’à récemment, joue un rôle pourtant fondamental tant dans la pratique rituelle que dans le récit. Ces deux formes d’expression de la religion – pratique rituelle et récit – sont d’ailleurs indissociables dans les témoignages anciens, de la même façon que les éléments imaginaires truffent les représentations inspirées de l’expérience rituelle. En examinant différents types de sources, parmi lesquelles les œuvres littéraires et les images sur vase demeurent les plus nombreuses et les plus instructives, et en abordant les différents aspects cultuels (pratique et récit / éléments imaginaires et réels) comme un ensemble cohérent, la phonosphère propre à chaque divinité se révèle de façon parfois frappante. Une telle démarche globalisante permet de mieux saisir l’expérience religieuse des Grecs, tout en favorisant une meilleure appréhension de certains phénomènes encore aujourd’hui sujets à controverses, par exemple le « ménadisme » et l’extatisme rituel. Car il ressort des témoignages que la musique, les sons et le silence, par leur pouvoir de communication notamment, remplissent des fonctions précises dans la pratique et le récit. Alors que certains sons et musiques visent à plaire à la divinité et, ainsi, à gagner sa faveur, par exemple, d’autres, investis de l’empreinte sonore de la divinité, exercent une emprise sur les mortels, emprise expérimentée dans le cadre de la pratique rituelle comme un moment de contact avec le divin. De cette emprise exercée par le moyen de la musique et des sons, peut résulter, dans certains cas, une guérison, une régulation des instabilités internes. Par ailleurs, la terminologie sonore dans la littérature se montre pratiquement toujours porteuse de sens, et permet de reconnaître l’univers évoqué et la ou les figure(s) divine(s) concernée(s). Répertorier les termes sonores propres à l’un ou l’autre culte facilite le repérage des associations établies entre certaines divinités, permettant ainsi des interprétations plus justes de certains passages de la littérature. D’un autre côté, la recherche sur les instruments de musique révèle des goûts et des tendances, possiblement attribuables dans certains cas à des changements significatifs survenus dans la sphère religieuse et politique de l’Athènes de la fin du Ve siècle. Par exemple, l’introduction progressive du tympanon dans l’univers dionysiaque à partir de la deuxième moitié du Ve siècle suggère une appropriation du culte de la Mère de dieux et de son instrument de prédilection par le peuple athénien. Cette observation, basée sur des témoignages de l’époque, contribue à illustrer la distinction que faisaient les Athéniens entre une religion considérée comme ancestrale, et une autre aux multiples formes et pour ainsi dire « additionnelle ». À cet égard, observer les éléments sonores dans les cultes mène non seulement à une meilleure connaissance desdits cultes, mais également à une meilleure compréhension de la société athénienne et des événements importants qui l’ont marquée. L’étude des sons, de leur place et de leurs fonctions dans la pratique et les récits contribue à l’approfondissement des connaissances concernant la religion grecque et les procédés de communication qu’elle met en place entre la sphère des mortels et celle des dieux, tout en favorisant une meilleure définition du milieu social et culturel dans lequel elle a évolué. / This thesis will consider the sound atmosphere (including cries, speech, noises and moments of silence) and music in the cults of the Great Mother, Dionysus and Demeter in Archaic and Classical Greece and their roles and meanings. Until recently, the audible component of Greek cults has rarely been considered by historical reconstructions. However, it played a fundamental role both in ritual practice and tales. These two expressions of religion – ritual practice and tales – are inextricably linked in ancient storytelling, just as representations inspired by the rituals are rife with imaginary elements. Examining different types of sources – of which the literary works and painted vases are the most numerous and enlightening – and considering the various cultural ingredients (tales and ritual practice, the imaginary and the real) as a coherent whole can provide insight into the phonosphere unique to each god in striking ways. This comprehensive approach leads to a better understanding of the religious experience of the Greeks, including certain phenomena that remain controversial today, such as maenadism and ecstatic ritual. The sources reveal that through their communicative power, music, sounds and silence filled specific functions in the ritual practices and tales. While some sounds and music were intended to please the god and hence gain favour, others bearing the god’s sonic signature held sway over mortals during rituals as a moment of personal contact with the divine. In certain cases, this aural sway could bring healing and a balancing of internal instability. Moreover, the sound vocabulary found in the literature almost invariably carries meaning that makes it possible to recognize the world and divine figures it describes. Cataloguing the sound vocabularies of individual cults/deities helps identify the relationships between certain gods. This in turn can clarify interpretations of certain passages in the literature. Similarly, research on musical instruments reveals tastes and trends, which could be attributed to the significant 5 changes in the religious and political spheres of Athens in the late 5th century BC. For example, the progressive introduction of the tympanum to the Dionysian world starting in the first half of the 5th century BC suggests that Athenians appropriated the cult of the Great Mother and the instrument most commonly associated with it. This observation, based on contemporary accounts, corroborates the distinction Athenians made between an ancestral religion and an “additional” multifaceted one. In that respect, investigating the sound atmosphere in these cults improves our understanding of not only the cults themselves, but also Athenian society as a whole and the milestone events that shaped it. Studying the sounds and their place and function in ritual practice and tales deepens our knowledge of Greek religion and the methods of communication it established between the realms of mortals and the gods. It also allows us to better characterize the social and cultural environments in which it developed

Den breda mitten, eller bara mitten, är ett centralt begrepp i Centerpartiets identitet. Trots detta är Centerpartiets sakpolitik inte särskilt positionerad i ”mitten”. Partiet är snarare det mest högerlutande partiet av samtliga riksdagspartier vad gäller ekonomiska frågor. Samtidigt är själva idén med den breda mitten att etablera ett bredare samarbete över blockgränser men exkludera Vänsterpartiet och Sverigedemokraterna på grund av deras respektive ytterkantsposition. Rent sakpolitiskt är den breda mitten en gåta. Medan fenomenet inte tillåter sig att begripas speciellt väl ur ett sakpolitiskt perspektiv, argumenterar föreliggande uppsats för att det bättre kan förstås utifrån dess symboliska betydelse. Den breda mitten undersöks således som en instans av sekulär religion. Genom intervjuer med Centerpartister kartläggs ett religiöst meningssystem som grundas på; (1) ett heligt ideal om en icke-extrem politisk karaktär i form av mitten; (2) en moralisk gemenskap som sluter upp kring idealet och försvarar det från all form av upplevd extremism, men som är mer intresserad av sitt förakt för Sverigedemokraterna och (3) upplevelser av hur ritualer kring motståndet mot Sverigedemokraterna och självuppoffring för idealet erbjuder frälsning från synden att kunna associeras med Sverigedemokraterna via högeridentiteten. Religionens funktion tolkas vara att reglera diskrepansen mellan partiets identitet och praktik genom ritualer och moraliska argument som triumferar över sakliga problem med motstånd mot Sverigedemokraterna som den övertygande mekanismen. Mitten identifieras vidare som den perfekta täckmanteln för en förlorad högeridentitet och för de framgångar som motståndet mot Sverigedemokraterna bringar partiet, då motstånd mot båda ytterkantspartierna gör att Centerpartiet kan hävda sig som mitten och därigenom attrahera den större grupp väljare som finns där. Motståndet mot Sverigedemokraterna tolkas i sin tur som den grundläggande drivkraften bakom fenomenet den breda mitten, en drivkraft som inte bara bygger på framgångar i termer av en ökad väljarbas utan också på en upplevd välvilja, en dold förhoppning om en alternativ och självständig högergemenskap men även på en möjlighet för Centerpartiet att göra upp med sin egen historia av främlingsfientlighet. / The broad middle, or just the middle, is a central concept in the identity of The Centre Party in Sweden. Despite this, the politics of The Centre Party is not particularly positioned in “the middle”. Rather, The Centre Party is the most right-leaning party of all the parliamentary parties when it comes to economic issues. Simultaneously, the very idea behind the broad middle is to establish wider cooperation across block boundaries but exclude the parliamentary parties The Left Party and The Sweden Democrats due to their respective outer edge position. As a matter of concrete policy, the broad middle is an enigma. While the phenomenon does not allow itself to be understood particularly well from a concrete political perspective, the present thesis argues that it can be better understood based on its symbolic meaning. The broad middle is thus analysed as an instance of secular religion. Through interviews with members of The Centre Party, a religious meaning system is mapped which is based on; (1) a sacred ideal of a non-extreme political character in the form of the middle; (2) a moral community that defends the ideal by protecting it from all sorts of experienced extremism, but whose interest lies more in its contempt for The Sweden Democrats and (3) experiences of how rituals surrounding the antagonism towards The Sweden Democrats and self-sacrifice for the ideal offers salvation from the sin of being associated with The Sweden Democrats trough a Right-wing identity. The function of the religion is interpreted as regulating the discrepancy between The Centre Party’s identity and practise through rituals and moral arguments that triumphs over factual problems with the antagonism towards The Sweden Democrats as the convincing mechanism. The middle is further identified as the perfect cover for a lost Right-wing identity and for the successes that the antagonism towards The Sweden Democrats brings the party, since opposition to both the outer-edge parties allows The Centre Party to assert itself as the middle and thus attract the larger group of voters who are located there. The antagonism towards The Sweden Democrats is in turn identified as the primal driving force behind the phenomenon the broad middle, a driving force that is not only based on successes in term of increased voters but also on an experienced benevolence, a hidden hope for an alternative and independent Right-wing community as well as on an opportunity for redemption with The Centre Party’s own history of xenophobia.

This research journey investigated the ways in which (1) the lives of adolescents have been influenced by parental divorce and subsequent remarriage, (2) exploring the relationships participants have with biological, nonresidential fathers and (3) to collaboratively present ways of doing family in alternative. Four adolescent girls took part in group conversations where they could were empowered to have their voices heard in a society where they are usually marginalized and silenced. As a result of these conversations a family game, FunFam, was developed that aimed to assist families in expanding communication within the family. Normalizing prescriptive discourses about divorce and remarriage were deconstructed to offer participants the opportunity to re-author their stories about their families. The second part of the research journey explored the problem-saturated stories that these four participants had with their biological, nonresidential fathers. They deconstructed the discourses that influenced this relationship and redefined the relationship to suit their expectations and wishes. / Practical Theology / M.Th.

This research journey investigated the ways in which (1) the lives of adolescents have been influenced by parental divorce and subsequent remarriage, (2) exploring the relationships participants have with biological, nonresidential fathers and (3) to collaboratively present ways of doing family in alternative. Four adolescent girls took part in group conversations where they could were empowered to have their voices heard in a society where they are usually marginalized and silenced. As a result of these conversations a family game, FunFam, was developed that aimed to assist families in expanding communication within the family. Normalizing prescriptive discourses about divorce and remarriage were deconstructed to offer participants the opportunity to re-author their stories about their families. The second part of the research journey explored the problem-saturated stories that these four participants had with their biological, nonresidential fathers. They deconstructed the discourses that influenced this relationship and redefined the relationship to suit their expectations and wishes. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th.

Dissertation .. The approaches towards death and burial in different historical epochs of mankind dealing with a view of death in intellectual conceptions during the history. People have been engaged in the question of life and deaths for ages. It is one of the oldest, the hardests and the most fundamental questions which are asked. We can think of the death in two levels: a general and a personal. The comprehension of deaths was developing in history. Thesis traces, what affected and how it is possible, that the today`s subject of personal death states taboo, even if masmedia floods us with death of others. For understanding, the thesis goes throught history. From the methodological aspects it follows the time line, divides the history into ancient world, the Middle Ages and modern period, as well as on horizontal line following individually nations and their intellectual directions.

This study offers a comparative analysis of Rosario Castellanos' Balún-Canán and Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima, novels that provide examples on how children construct their identity in hybrid communities in southeastern Mexico and the U.S. southwest. The protagonists grow and develop in a context where they need to build bridges between their European and Amerindian roots in the middle of external influences that complicate the construction of a new mestizo consciousness. In order to attain that consciousness and free themselves from their divided selves, these children receive the aid of an indigenous mentor who teaches them how to establish a dialogue with their past, nature, and their social reality. The protagonists undertake that negotiation by transgressing the rituals of a society immersed in colonial dual thinking. They also create mechanisms to re-interpret their past and tradition in order to create an image of themselves that is not imposed by the status quo. In both novels, the protagonists have to undergo similar processes to overcome their identity crises, including transculturation, the creation of sites of memory, and a transition from orality to writing. Each of them resorts to creative writing and becomes a sort of shaman who pulls together the "spirits" from the past, selects them, and organizes them in a narration of childhood that is undertaken from adulthood. The results of this enterprise are completely different in the cases of both protagonists because the historical and social contexts vary. The boy in Bless Me, Ultima can harmoniously gather the elements to construct his identity, while the girl in Balún-Canán fails because of the pressures of a male-centered and highly racist society.