This thesis is my directorial narrative of a production of A Princess' Drum performed the Newdick Theatre in Shafer Street Playhouse at Virginia Commonwealth University on May 5-7, 2006. This thesis is the exploration of physical non-verbal theatre through adapting and directing Korean playwright, In-Hun Choi's Doong-Doong-Nangrang-Doong. Chapter one of this .thesis examines shamanistic ritual in the pre-production. Chapter two explores movement and voice centered physical work in the production process. Chapter three covers reflections of the process after the performance.

Thesis topic "Witch cults and alternative treatment methods in equatorial Africa" deals with the problems of shamanism and treatment methods in Africa, mainly in the equatorial area. Introduces witchcraft and compares it to shamanism, healing and other methods of the African aboriginal tribes and specific healing methods which are practised by shamans, medicine men and healers. At the same time it compares these methods to the quality of the medical services which are available in the given area. Practical part shows research solutions analysing the relations of the citizens from an Ugandan village Nyakyera and surrounding areas to healthcare and their attitude towards the shaman healers.

Adam Bobbette Cultures of Forecasting: Volatile and Vulnerable Nature, Knowledge, and the Future of Uncertainty Summary This dissertation is a cultural history and ethnography of volatile nature forecasting. It looks at the ways that the future of nature is known in highly unpredictable contexts through a broad history of modernist nature forecasting and an ethnography of state scientists, shamans, and a sultans retinue on the active volcano, Mount Merapi, Indonesia. The project aims to understand how practices of forecasting generate futures, mobilize, and organise anticipation, how time is known, and populations governed. It looks at the way that publics emerge through forecasting technologies, and how futures and nature-culture relations are contested. It follows the practices of scientists in volcano and tsunami observatories, in planes tracking tropical storms, and bunkers dug into active volcanoes; at how instruments and technologies such as seismographs, windows, globes, speakers, and electrical tomography, mediate and transform relations with nature, the future, and governance. It considers too, the role of architecture, shamanism, and the state in appropriating and governing uncertainty. By following the fieldwork of geophysicists and volcanologists in observatories and the edge of the caldera of Mount Merapi, as well as spirit possession practices, and the ritual offerings of a sultan, I demonstrate how practices of forecasting are making contested futures lived in the present, and forging infrastructures and tools for their longevity. Forecasting, I demonstrate, is a cultural technique that negotiates the porous borders between the human, nature, and the future.

In this work, you get drawn into a different and distant world than the one we are usedto. You get to know what shamanism is, in a basic and understandable way, easy to lookupon for a newcomer to this gigantic subject. The world of raging spirits and meddlingshamans with the belief of three worlds where spirits roam will be compared toreligions that we might know better, with big focus on the Aesir Faith. Oden and otherwell-known characters from this belief are in a historical way looked upon and relatedto beliefs, storys and findings.The archaic belief of the humans are intriguing and exciting, and I hope you find outthat yourself, when you dig in to this essay

The thesis sets out to discuss the Bronze Age cosmology in Scandinavia, based on the results from the investigations at Nibble outside Enköping in Uppland. The excavations were carried out in 2007 and revealed extensive remains of a ritual place with burials, cult houses and food preparation areas. In addition, hundreds of cupmarks and two ship rock carvings were found. The cult place was constructed by moving stones around, gathering them into stone settings, stone walls and heaps of fire-cracked stones. The importance of the stones as cosmological entities is established through this special and deliberate treatment. Nature is transformed into culture. The cult place was established in connection with the construction of a large stone setting at the top of a hillock. Cremated and crushed bones of a man had been placed centrally in the construction, and close by, several cult houses had been erected, complemented by a food preparation area, where sacrificial meals were prepared and eaten.   In many cases, stone settings and heaps of fire-cracked stones are used in similar manners. At a settlement site close to the cult place, there was a heap of fire-cracked stones that contained the cremated bones of a young woman. It had been specially constructed for her burial and contained layers of coal and fire-cracked stones from several cremation pyres. The border between what is a burial and what is not is hard to define. The burnt bones of the dead were handled in much the same way as the burnt stone. They were burnt and crushed, ground to a powder, and restored to the earth. The use of stones in connection with fire and water (and smoke) suggests the existence of a system built on the four elements: stone (earth), fire, water and air. In addition, the existence of a tripartite universe is suggested. Stone settings (and some of the heaps of fire-cracked stones) were constructed as portals to the underground, and the smoke from the funeral pyres was the means of transport to the heaven above.  During the Early Bronze Age, the functions of the warrior and the shaman were often carried out by the same individual. During the Late Bronze Age, however, the functions of the warrior and the shaman seem to have been separated.   The separation of the ritual functions show that a change in ritual practice and cosmology occurred some time in the middle of the Bronze Age. A complete cosmological change was probably not involved, and many older rituals were still carried out in the Late Bronze Age. The relationship between the four elements remained the same, and the treatment of stone in particular remained unchanged. The connection between stone and bone still prevailed, as did the crushing and grinding.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur tidigare religionsforskare har analyserat, tolkat och beskrivit fornskandinavisk völva respektive samisk nåjd, utifrån ett forskningshistoriskt respektive ett genusvetenskapligt perspektiv, med fokus på likheter och skillnader i deras religiösa verksamheter, om de baserat sina tolkningar vid låne- eller arvsteori, samt deras tolkningar av funktionärernas genusaspekter. Studien bygger på Håkan Rydvings framförda låne- och arvsteorier, och hur tidigare religionsforskning använt sig av dessa för att studera völvan och nåjden. Resultatet visar att de studerade religionsforskarna baserat sin respektive forskning på låneteorin, men skiljer sig åt i sin framställning av völvan och nåjdens likheter och skillnader, och dess genusaspekter. Den skillnad i hur funktionärerna framställs bygger på forskarnas skilda perspektiv, exempelvis Sundqvist vars analys bygger på samhällskontexter.

The target of this thesis is to derermine the quality of the aluminium base alloy and size of aluminium plates used for mountain bike equipment. Furthermore the thesis assigns one provider of this material for Shaman Racing company. There were chosen methods of multicriteria evaluation of alternatives to fulfill the target. These methods are ORESTE, TOPSIS and ELECTRE I. The thesis also proves the possibilities of practical application of determined methods and analyzes possible problems that could occur during handling the input data and process of selecting the "best" alternative.

<p>This essay is a work on Mircea Eliades's interpretation of the religious human understood as "homo religiosus" and the role of the shaman from the Eliade perspective. In Eliade human existence consists of a dichotomy between the sacred and the profane. The question is whether one can understand the concept of Eliades “axis mundi”, center of the universe? Can we create an understanding of human existence with Eliade? Can one use  phenomenology of religion as perspective for the exploration of “reality”? Furthermore, this paper aims to understand the role of the shaman has religious worldviews. Shamaism  is through an ecstatic technique traveling to other cosmic plane, in order to gain knowledge that would otherwise not be reached. Two short chapters also show examples of Swedish religious phenomenological research by Ake Hultkrantz and Carl Johan Gurt.</p><p>The key issues are: What is Shamanism? How can we understand  Eliades philosophical exposition of man as <em>homo religosus</em>? Are Eliades theories (by Hultrantz and Gurt) represented in the Swedish scientific research? And, what is today's religion phenomenological research (by Gurt)?</p><p> </p> / <p>Denna uppsats är ett arbete om Mircea Eliades tolkning av den religiösa människan förstådd som <em>homo religiosus </em>och shamanens roll hos Eliade. Hos Eliade är den mänskliga existensen uppdelad i en dikotomi mellan det heliga och det profana. Kan vi skapa en förståelse av människans existens med Eliade och hur kan vi använda religionsfenomenologin som utgångspunkt för utforskandet av ”verkligheten”?  Uppsatsens vidare syfte är att förstå vilken roll shamanen har för religiösa världsbilder. Shamanens verksamhet och centrala uppgift  är att genom en extasteknik färdas till andra kosmiska plan, för att där få kunskap som annars inte kan nås. Två korta kapitel visar även  exempel på svensk religionsfenomenologisk forskning genom Åke Hultkrantz och Carl Johan Gurt.</p><p>De centrala frågorna är: Vad är shamanism? Hur ser Eliades filosofiska utläggning om människan ut? Finns Eliades teorier (genom Hultrantz och Gurt) förankrade/representerade i svensk religionsvetenskaplig forskning? Och, hur ser dagens religionsfenomenologiska forskning ut (genom Gurt)?</p>

This essay is a work on Mircea Eliades's interpretation of the religious human understood as "homo religiosus" and the role of the shaman from the Eliade perspective. In Eliade human existence consists of a dichotomy between the sacred and the profane. The question is whether one can understand the concept of Eliades “axis mundi”, center of the universe? Can we create an understanding of human existence with Eliade? Can one use  phenomenology of religion as perspective for the exploration of “reality”? Furthermore, this paper aims to understand the role of the shaman has religious worldviews. Shamaism  is through an ecstatic technique traveling to other cosmic plane, in order to gain knowledge that would otherwise not be reached. Two short chapters also show examples of Swedish religious phenomenological research by Ake Hultkrantz and Carl Johan Gurt. The key issues are: What is Shamanism? How can we understand  Eliades philosophical exposition of man as homo religosus? Are Eliades theories (by Hultrantz and Gurt) represented in the Swedish scientific research? And, what is today's religion phenomenological research (by Gurt)? / Denna uppsats är ett arbete om Mircea Eliades tolkning av den religiösa människan förstådd som homo religiosus och shamanens roll hos Eliade. Hos Eliade är den mänskliga existensen uppdelad i en dikotomi mellan det heliga och det profana. Kan vi skapa en förståelse av människans existens med Eliade och hur kan vi använda religionsfenomenologin som utgångspunkt för utforskandet av ”verkligheten”?  Uppsatsens vidare syfte är att förstå vilken roll shamanen har för religiösa världsbilder. Shamanens verksamhet och centrala uppgift  är att genom en extasteknik färdas till andra kosmiska plan, för att där få kunskap som annars inte kan nås. Två korta kapitel visar även  exempel på svensk religionsfenomenologisk forskning genom Åke Hultkrantz och Carl Johan Gurt. De centrala frågorna är: Vad är shamanism? Hur ser Eliades filosofiska utläggning om människan ut? Finns Eliades teorier (genom Hultrantz och Gurt) förankrade/representerade i svensk religionsvetenskaplig forskning? Och, hur ser dagens religionsfenomenologiska forskning ut (genom Gurt)?

本論文以人類學的田野調查方式，企圖對臺灣當代新興宗教現象會靈山，做一個全面性的田野與歷史探查。以民族誌書寫的方式，結合臺灣歷史的脈絡，勾勒出會靈山在臺灣當代民間宗教信仰中的重要位置，及其全面性之輪廓。以說明，會靈山是臺灣民間宗教信仰，第一次以通靈的方式，來呈現個人對愛的心理區位與精神動力之宗教現象，且打破傳統漢人男性為主的民間宗教信仰結構，所逐漸醞釀崛起的一個新興宗教之靈性運動。文中輔以三位女靈乩為研究個案對象，並以精神分析的取向進行分析—通靈者在靈性的追求上之內在心理機制。並從中發現精神分析的侷限性，與西方理論對於東方宗教的文化內涵，有其認知上的匱乏。因此筆者在此情況之下，援引東方開悟者大師--奧修(Osho)對諸多宗教核心的內在闡述，來作為田野現象與個案分析之依據，補足西方心理學或精神分析對東方宗教研究中的未盡之處。 / In this paper, anthropological fieldwork manner, attempting to contemporary new religious phenomenon in Taiwan Will-Lingshan(會靈山), do a comprehensive history of fields and exploration. Writing Ethnography way to combining Taiwan's historical context, and sketched out an important position Will-Lingshan in Contemporary Folk religion in Taiwan, and comprehensiveness of the outline. In explanation, it Will- Lingshan Taiwan folk religion, the first time psychic way to present personal religious phenomenon of love psychological and spiritual power of the location, and break the traditional male-dominated Han Chinese folk religion structure, which gradually brewing rise of a new religious spirituality movement. Text supplemented by three female spirit mediums case study of object orientation and psychoanalysis were analyzed - psychic in the pursuit of spiritual inner psychological mechanism. And discover the limitations of psychoanalysis, and Western theories of cultural connotation of Eastern religions, there is lack of awareness on their. Oriental religious studies Osho internal elaboration of many religious core, as a basis of case studies and field phenomenon, complement Western psychology or psychoanalysis - so I Under such circumstances, citing the East enlightened Masters The deficiencies of the Department.