Little is known about the vegetation, forests, useful plants and their patterns of use at the gradients of climate, geography and culture in Baitadi and Darchula districts, far western Nepal. The interactions among plants-people-places were analyzed using data from phyto-sociological studies, community interviews, and literature. Ecological sampling, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and informal discussions were held between February and September 2017. We compared plant collection, use and management of two culturally distinct groups (Baitadi and Darchula), who inhabit different physiographic regions, yet share the same ecological landscape, environmental resources and livelihood challenges. We hypothesized that the salient (visible, apparent and accessible) plants and places are likely to be more frequently foraged than the non-salient ones. We also hypothesized that the elderly, native and traditional healers living in rural and remote physiographic conditions possess more diverse and detailed knowledge of plant use and conservation than young, non-native and non-healer people. A total of 18 forest types including eight from the study districts showed that the study area is rich in forests and plants. A total of 975 plant species including 82 new species records and 23 new use reports to Baitadi and Darchula districts were recorded. There were 305 (31%) useful plant species including 122 useful reported in the present study. The people of study area showed a large repertoire of knowledge that helps them execute different strategies of plant use suited to their environment and geography. The knowledge of plant use follows a pattern according to ecological conditions (availability) as well as the cultural significance (transhumance, settlement) of the landscape. However, the latter prevails. Predominate foraging by the agro-pastoral communities from the remote undisturbed forests for quality products and medicines in Darchula district was divergent from the collections from ruderal areas in Baitadi district by generalist collectors for ritual purposes. The extensive usage of plants for socio-economic reasons, livelihood and rituals indicates that the plants and culture are inseparable. Conservation measures with acknowledgement of human, cultural, geographical and environmental variables, are therefore encouraged for sustainable management of the natural resources and traditional knowledge of the Baitadi and Darchula districts. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

by Lo Hau Man. / Thesis (M.Mus.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Chapter 1 --- Programme notes of Requiem --- p.1-1 / Text of Requiem --- p.1-3 / Programme notes of Dream --- p.1-7 / Chapter 2 --- Requiem --- p.2-i / Instrumentation --- p.2-ii / Note and Directions --- p.2-iii / Chapter (I) --- Requiem Aeternam --- p.2-1 / Chapter (II) --- Dies Irae 2- --- p.24 / Chapter (III) --- Offertorio --- p.2-108 / Chapter (IV) --- Sanctus --- p.2-122 / Chapter (V) --- Agnus Dei --- p.2-137 / Chapter (VI) --- Libera Me --- p.2-147 / Chapter 3 --- Dream - Ballet Suite --- p.3-i / "Instrumentation, Note & Direction" --- p.3-ii / Chapter (I) --- Allemande --- p.3-1 / Chapter (II) --- Air --- p.3-6 / Chapter (III) --- Gigue --- p.3-11

O trabalho propõe uma investigação da relação entre a política e a religião. Como pano de fundo dessa indagação, inicialmente, duas abordagens são realizadas: uma antropológica e outra histórica. Ambas conduzem ao essencial: que a natureza do político é sagrada e, portanto, a intrincada relação entre a política e a religião deve ser pensada a partir da primazia do religioso sobre o político. Em confirmação a centralidade do religioso faz-se uma leitura de um momento chave da história do pensamento político moderno - o século XVII inglês, em específico e de modo representativo a teoria política de Thomas Hobbes - na qual procura-se demonstrar que não há dessacralização alguma do poder, pelo contrário, o elemento religioso é permanente e comanda toda a argumentação proposta por Hobbes que, de modo manifesto, estabelece a anteposição da religião no entendimento da política. / This thesis submits to examination the relationship between politics and religion. As a back-cloth of this investigation, at first, two approaches are going to be done: one anthropological and other historical. Both conduct to the essential: that the political nature is sacred and therefore, the intricate relation between politics and religion must be thought starting from the primacy of religious upon the politic. As a confirmation on centrality of religious is done a reading of a key moment of the History of the modern political thought - the XVII English century, specifically and in a representative way the political theory of Thomas Hobbes - in witch it-s going to be search that there isn\'t any desecularization of power, on the contrary, the religious element is permanent and rules all the argumentation proposed by Hobbes that in a explicit way settles that religion comes first in the understanding of politics.

ABSTRACT MOTIVATION American life is increasingly fragmented, leading to a sense of restlessness and disconnection. Much of that fragmentation can be traced to our pattern of architectural and sociological development, namely, the rise of the automobile suburbs in the 1950s and 60s and the abandonment of densely populated, human- scaled environments like that of the small town or city center (Oldenberg, 1999). PROBLEM Large numbers of architecturally significant buildings have fallen into disrepair over the years following the “white flight” of the 1960s and 70s, during which significant segments of investment dollars left city centers and followed to the suburbs (Kunstler, 1994). Specifically, older church buildings have fallen victim to a dilemma of sociological change. Many of the congregations that inhabit historic church buildings do not have the vitality, vision, and sometimes funds to maintain their buildings. While there are many newer congregations that do have the vision and vitality to maintain an older building, they often do not have the funds to do so. As a result, an increasing number of community treasures, buildings built at a dense urban and human scale, are being lost to neglect and misuse. METHODS In order to gain a clearer and more specific understanding of the issues involved in revitalizing and maintaining historic sacred spaces for the benefit of their communities, a course of study was undertaken which included readings of books and articles on urban revitalization such as “The Past and Future City” by Stephanie Meeks, those on third place like Ray Oldenberg’s classic, “The Great Good Place”, and some on the integration of the arts in community centers and shared space. Case studies of successful adaptive reuse projects of church and synagogue buildings, such as Maison de la Littérature in Quebec City and those undertaken by Partners for Sacred Places in Philadelphia, were investigated. Interviews were conducted with leaders from both older and newer urban congregations, and with directors of local community centers and for-profit businesses. RESULTS According to studies completed by The National Trust, historic buildings help a city to maintain its urban vitality, and maintaining stock of old buildings must be an important component of any serious conversation about sustainability in the built environment (Meeks, 2016). At the same time, many historic and architecturally significant buildings which were constructed at a time when church attendance was a larger part of the American cultural experience are falling into disrepair because the congregations that inhabit them are often unable to generate the energy, vitality, and funding that is necessary to maintain them. REFLECTIONS/CONCLUSIONS This project will explore the development of a community center for education and the performing arts in an historic church building. The program will include a small cafe, rentable studio space, a library/ reading room, a performance venue, and event space. Research will support development of a third place model, successful adaptive reuse of sacred space, and will explore options for cost-effective renovation of an historic space.

This study explores how women’s perceptions of safety is impacted by participating in a program aimed at preventing violent extremism (PVE). The theoretical framework mainly draws on literature on women and conflict prevention, sacred values and human security studies. In combining theoretical arguments from these fields, I hypothesize that women’s perception of safety will be negatively impacted by participating in PVE-programs. That is because their participation will challenge sacred gender norms by taking up leadership roles in the community that usually belong to men. As a result, hostile reactions from community members will follow, i.e. from those whose sacred values are challenged, which in turn is expected to impact women’s perception of safety negatively. This thesis applies qualitative methods and to compare between two groups of women who participate in a PVE-program through different roles, and one group of non-PVE-participating women. Semi-structured interviews were held with two PVE-participating groups (female religious leaders and female economic leaders) as well as with non-PVE-participating women in Indonesia. The purpose of this case selection is twofold. First, to examine whether the PVE-participation in itself has an effect on women’s perceptions of safety. Second, to explore whether to explore whether certain roles that women take in a PVE-program challenge sacred gender norms more than others, and as such, leads to more negative perceptions of safety. The results indicate that PVE-participants challenge sacred norms, however, these norms do not always have a gendered underpinning, but are more religious in nature than anticipated. Contrary to my hypotheses, women’s perception of safety is not necessarily negatively impacted by participating in PVE-programs. The results rather indicate that women’s perception of safety can be both positively and negatively impacted by their participation, mainly depending on how their participation is understood by others. Additionally, PVE-participating women mainly challenge gender norms before they begin their participation, instead of during its active phase. As such, the results suggest that time aspects are important to fully understand women’s perception of safety.

My research focuses on the emotional experience of the unearthing of ancestral bones for local Māori of Matata. The coastal town of Matata in the Eastern Bay of Plenty provides a central case study location as it is a town that is facing the pressure of coastal residential development as well the added strain of dealing with the 2005 flood which has compounded issues over local waahi tapu. Local iwi have continued to actively advocate for the protection of these sites especially with regard to the ongoing discovery of ancestral bones. Cultural and emotional geographies provide the theoretical framework for this research. This framework has been particularly useful as it encourages reflexive commentary and alternative ways of approaching and thinking about, and understanding knowledge. I have incorporated the research paradigm of kaupapa Māori which complements my theoretical framework by producing a research design that is organised and shaped according to tikanga Māori while (in) advertently critiquing and challenging traditional ways of conducting research. The overall aim is to explore the current issues surrounding the discovery of ancestral bones through korero with local iwi members. It is through their perspectives, stories, beliefs and opinions that provide a better understanding of the meanings attributed to waahi tapu and the influence of certain events such as the 2005 flood. I examine, critically the relationship between power, sacred sites, bones and the body. It is from these objectives that I contribute to an area of scholarship that has been largely left out from geographical enquiry. I suggest that the importance of sacredness and spirituality has been relatively overlooked as an influential factor in people's perceptions of the world around them. This thesis is intended to demonstrate the value of indigenous perspectives of bones, the body and sacredness as a way of better understanding some of the complexities that can arise when cross-cultural approaches collide in environmental planning. There are three main themes that have emerged from this research. The first theme has to do with competing knowledges. To Māori, the location and knowledge of ancestral bones is culturally important and is in its self sacred, therefore certain tikanga is applied as a means of a protection mechanism. However this ideologically clashes with traditional scientific western approaches which are privileged over other alternative ways of understanding knowledge, in this case Māori knowledge. The second related theme concerns the process of boundary making and cross-cultural ways of perceiving 'sacred' and 'everyday' spaces. To better understand these perspectives involves acknowledging the embodied and emotional experience of wāhi tapu to Māori, and the active role of kaitiaki in the protection and careful management of these culturally important spaces.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Jeffrery Kite-Powell, Florida State University, College of Music. Includes biographical sketch. Includes bibliographical references.

<p>This dissertation examines the adaptability of civic cults during the Hellenistic period. Faced with shifting populations, increasing social tensions, economic changes, and political pressures, Hellenistic communities devised a number of strategies aimed at negotiating the tension between maintenance of traditional religious practices and adaptive, context-specific change. Through the lens of inscribed Greek sacred laws we see communities balancing the twin requirements of innovation and tradition. The epigraphic record shows significant changes to the choreography of religious experience in response to demographic change; experimentation in funding mechanisms, in what appear to be responses to economic and cultural changes; ambitious attempts to redefine the configuration of sacred space both inside the city and out; savvy rhetorical and ritual framing of innovation in the face of cults that had had failed or else were on the brink of doing so. </p><p>Through a series of case studies I elucidate the legislative strategies with which communities dealt with these challenges. In chapter 1, I investigate legal strategies aimed at maintaining traditional oracular procedures as more visitors were coming to iatromantic shrines. I focus on the shrine of Apollo Coropeius in Thessaly where the civic authority at Demetrias passed a law reevaluating the administrative and ritual procedures for consultation. In chapter 2, I analyze the changing obligations of sacred personnel to perform rites in the city at large, i.e. before festivals, in the face of shifting socioeconomic norms. Communities frequently experimented with alternative mechanisms to fund religious activities. A sacred law from Halicarnassus forms the backbone of this analysis. I argue that cultural pressures may have helped shape these mechanisms. Chapter 3 concerns legislative strategies for the reconfiguration of sacred space, particularly the moving or refactoring of sanctuaries. Here I analyze a third-century decree from Tanagra that regulates the transfer of a sanctuary of Demeter and Kore. Other laws, particularly from Anaphe and Peparethus, provide crucial details for the rearrangement of important cult structures. In these cases, we see the concerted efforts to provide for private and public and sacred and secular interests in order to ensure the perpetuation of traditional religious practices. The fourth chapter investigates the reinvention of cult caused by political and ideological interests. Communities employed rhetorical strategies to justify or mask the reinvention or renewal of traditional rites that had lapsed or were on the brink of doing so. I focus on two case studies that illustrate the complexities of legislating ritual reinvention. A second-century Athenian law details the rites for the revived Thargelia whereas a decree from Magnesia-on-the-Maeander details the expansion of the cult of Artemis Leukophryene with a new festival commemorating the goddess' new temple. In both cases, we can see rhetorical strategies of augmentation and renewal reflected in the writings of Anaximines of Lampsacus. The concluding chapter provides a view of the other side of the coin: what happens when communities fail to adapt to the challenges that threatened their cults? Polybius, Pausanias, and Plutarch shed much light on our most pressing questions. For instance, what did failed cults look like? How did Greeks envisage dilapidated sanctuaries and defunct cults? Overall, the case studies based on sacred laws present a Greek view of religious change that finds strength in change, continuity in adaptation, commonality in variation, stability in the shifting sands of historical change. The portrait of Greek religion that emerges from this study is one in which tradition and innovation form two sides of the same coin, rather than opposing forces</p> / Dissertation

Many scholars have recognized the communicative and emotive power of singing as a ritual performance, and some have argued that hymn singing has played a significant role as a medium of cultural and religious communication and exchange. To better understand how and why singing might facilitate such exchange, this essay explores as a case study, the role of hymn singing in the cultural contact between the Cherokees and the missionaries at Brainerd, near Chattanooga, TN. By examining accounts of ritual singing recorded by both missionaries and Cherokees, the project illuminates how these communities, respectively, may have understood the role of singing in ritual practice. From these different perceptions of ritual singing, one can better understand how the Cherokees may have experienced resonances with the missionaries’ practices, which would encourage cultural assimilation and exchange. In turn, this study contributes to a larger conversation about music and religious expression.

No description available.