Includes bibliographical references (leaves 317-341) An ethnography of fakirs' mystical mastery based on fieldwork at the thirteenth century Muslim shrine of Nizamuddin Auliya.

PhD (African Studies) / Centre for African Studies / Sacred sites are the preferred space for ritual performances and identity construction from which the issue of sensitive structures, distinctive features, individual interpretations, and symbol and meaning emanates. The history and importance of Motouleng, Mautse and Mantsopa caves (Eastern Free State, SA) for different religious persuasions, indigenous knowledge and ancestral veneration of Africans and traditional healers, were investigated apropos of the following: namely, how sacred sites are exemplifications of African indigenous religion; why they form locations of cultural and spiritual expression, and why they may be regarded as pertinent nodes of identity construction in a vibrant, changing, South African society. This study explored the way in which interpersonal experiences of the cave dwellers shape their sense of self, and the conflict they encounter in the context of interaction, in which identities are constructed and deconstructed in various ways. African religion, landscape and social identity theories are the basis of all theoretical claims utilised here. An interpretative phenomenological analysis research method was explored, to provide a detailed personal experience and examination of the participant’s life world on various issues pertaining to contestation and identity construction at the sacred space of the Eastern Free State. The existence of these sites poses a number of challenges to cave dwellers, land owners, heritage practitioners, and to continued preservation, management and restoration of the said sites. Crucial to this debate is how these sites may be protected both physically and legally. The study used qualitative findings to discover new ideas on identity construction and adjunct belief systems. The study also used thematic analysis to evaluate the research findings and make predictions on the effects on protest and contestation by cave dwellers around sacred spaces. / NRF

Constamment habité au cours des siècles, le territoire de l’Attique comporte des couches denses et pleines de trouvailles qui furent conservées ou réintégrées dans les nouvelles réalités naissantes d’une époque à l’autre. On risque toutefois de ne pas pouvoir discerner les étapes en raison de la procédure complexe et longue par laquelle l’espace se structure, une ville se construit et une cité prend sa forme. L’espace athénien s’articule à l’époque où la ville se transforme en centre civique pour le territoire de l’Attique. Nous nous appuyons sur l’examen des dispositifs rituels des VIIe et VIe s. non seulement les temples et les sanctuaires, mais aussi tout aménagement voué aux cultes et aux rites. L’histoire de la topographie cultuelle d’Athènes et de l’Attique nous permet d’étudier l’urbanisation de la ville. Nous proposons ainsi de répondre à de nombreuses questions ayant trait à la localisation, la datation et l’identification des sites comme le Pelargikon, l’Agora archaïque, le Brauronion de l’Acropole, etc. Les indices archéologiques nous amènent à formuler l’hypothèse que l’ensemble du territoire consiste en des unités géographiques secondaires, qui se développent d’une manière indépendante – comme Éleusis et Sounion – et qui se rattachent progressivement à l’espace athénien selon une volonté politique de centralisation, mise en œuvre seulement à partir de l’époque de Clisthène. Enfin, l’étude des sources littéraires permet de déconstruire les représentations spatiales et les revendications ethniques, comme on le constate à propos d’Éleuthère et des confins nord de l’Attique./<p>Attica offers a variety of significant archaeological findings in dense layers that were preserved or reused from one generation to the next, which contributed to form new social realities. However, we may not be able to discern these successive stages because they have been obscured by the complex and lengthy process, both in the physical and political senses, through which the territory and its city center have been built. The Athenian control over Attica took form at a time when the city was becoming a civic urban center for the whole region; this evolution is the result of a long process. This study examines the religious patterns of the archaic period, temples, shrines and any place dedicated to cults and rituals. The history of the cult topography of Athens and Attica in the seventh and sixth century gives us the key to an interpretation of the urban structure. We propose to review several topographical questions of localization and the identification of sites, such as the Pelargikon, the archaic agora, the Brauronion on the Acropolis, and so on. The archaeological evidence leads us to argue that the territory as a whole consisted in secondary geographical units, like Eleusis and Sounion, and was gradually connected to Athens, following the politically motivated centralization, that took place at the time of Cleisthenes. The study of literary sources, mythology and iconography finally leads us to carry out a deconstruction of the spatial and ethnic representations, as we show, concerning Eleutherai and the Northern frontiers of Attica. / Doctorat en Histoire, art et archéologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished