Social Practices and Cultural Contexts

2021 ◽  
pp. 33-48
Author(s):  
Nancy T. Ammerman
Keyword(s):  
Religious Practice ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Multidimensional Analysis ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Internal Dynamics ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Spirituality And Religion ◽  
The World ◽  
Distinct Dimension ◽  
Micro Level

This chapter builds on the assertion that spirituality is best understood as one dimension of the larger phenomenon of lived religious practice, rather than as a phenomenon separate from or opposed to religion. Spirituality is situated in a multidimensional analysis that also includes embodiment, materiality, emotion, aesthetics, morality, and narrative. By analyzing spirituality as a distinct dimension of religious practice, we can see the internal dynamics among all the dimensions. Understanding spirituality and religion at this micro level is incomplete, however, without attention to the distinct legal and cultural contexts around the world. This chapter elaborates on four ideal-typical macrosocial contexts that each shape quite differently the practice of religion and its spiritual dimensions: entangled, established, institutionalized, and interstitial contexts. These contexts identify differences in modal expectations for the fields within which religious practices will be found and the modes of regulation that will constrain religious action.

scholarly journals A Sense of Presence: Mediating an American Apocalypse

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Rachel Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Religious Practice ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
To Come

Here I build upon Robert Orsi’s work by arguing that we can see presence—and the longing for it—at work beyond the obvious spaces of religious practice. Presence, I propose, is alive and well in mediated apocalypticism, in the intense imagination of the future that preoccupies those who consume its narratives in film, games, and role plays. Presence is a way of bringing worlds beyond into tangible form, of touching them and letting them touch you. It is, in this sense, that Michael Hoelzl and Graham Ward observe the “re-emergence” of religion with a “new visibility” that is much more than “simple re-emergence of something that has been in decline in the past but is now manifesting itself once more.” I propose that the “new awareness of religion” they posit includes the mediated worlds that enchant and empower us via deeply immersive fandoms. Whereas religious institutions today may be suspicious of presence, it lives on in the thick of media fandoms and their material manifestations, especially those forms that make ultimate promises about the world to come.

scholarly journals Immigration and Multiculturalism in Italy: The Religious Experience of the Peruvian Community in the Eternal City

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 478
Author(s):  
Verónica Roldán
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Roman Catholicism ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
The World ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Popular Religiosity

The present study on the religious experience of the Peruvian community in Rome belongs to the area of studies on immigration, multiculturalism, and religion in Italy. In this article, I analyze the devotion of the Peruvian community in Rome to “the Lord of Miracles”. This pious tradition, which venerates the image of Christ crucified—painted by an Angolan slave—began in 1651 in Lima, during the Viceroyalty of Peru. Today, the sacred image is venerated in countries all over the world that host Peruvian immigrant communities that have set up branches of the Confraternity of the Lord of Miracles. I examine, in particular, the cult of el Señor de los Milagros in Rome in terms of Peruvian popular religiosity and national identity experienced within a transnational context. This essay serves two purposes: The first is to analyze the significance that this religious experience acquires in a foreign environment while maintaining links with its country of origin and its cultural traditions in a multilocal environment. The second aim is to examine the integration of the Peruvian community into Italian society, beginning with religious practice, in this case Roman Catholicism. This kind of religiosity seems not only to favor the encounter between the two cultures but also to render Italian Roman Catholicism multicultural.

Nanocomposites: Retrospecr and Prospect

1992 ◽  
Vol 286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rustum Roy
Keyword(s):  
Major Part ◽  
Size Range ◽  
Nanocomposite Materials ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Infinite Class ◽  
Materials Synthesis ◽  
The World ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Nanometer Size Range

ABSTRACTIn this paper we make clear distinctions from the terms nanophase, nanocrystalline and deal only with nanocomposites defined as an interacting mixture of two phases, one of which is in the nanometer size range in at least one dimension. The author's origins of development of the idea that nanocomposites are a virtually infinite class of new materials are described.Then we refer to the results of our extensive studies of nanocomposites derived by solution-solgel techniques to illustrate the properties of such materials in the area of chemical and thermal reactivity.Finally it is pointed out that in the last few years nanocomposite materials have become a major part of new materials synthesis all over the world for applications ranging from mechanical to optical, to magnetic to dielectric.

Puccini's La Bohème

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Music Drama ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
La Boheme ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
The Many ◽  
The City

La bohème is one of the most frequently performed operas in the world. But how did it come to be so adored? Drawing on an extremely broad range of sources, Alexandra Wilson traces the opera’s rise to global fame. Although the work has been subjected to many hostile critiques, it swiftly achieved popular success through stage performances, recordings, and filmed versions. Wilson demonstrates how La bohème acquired even greater cultural influence as its music and dramatic themes began to be incorporated into pop songs, film soundtracks, musicals, and more. In this cultural history of Puccini’s opera, Wilson offers a fresh reading of a familiar work. La bohème was strikingly modern for the 1890s, she argues, in its approach to musical and dramatic realism and in flouting many of the conventions of the Italian operatic tradition. Considering the work within the context of the aesthetic, social, and political debates of its time, Wilson explores Puccini’s treatment of themes including gender, poverty, and nostalgia. She pays particular attention to La bohème’s representation of Paris, arguing that the opera was not only influenced by romantic mythologies surrounding the city but also helped shape them. Wilson concludes with a consideration of the many and varied approaches directors have taken to the staging of Puccini’s opera, including some that have reinvented the opera for a new age. This book is essential reading for anyone who has seen La bohème and wants to know more about its music, drama, and cultural contexts.

scholarly journals The Construction of Transnational Remembrance in the War Cemeteries of the Twentieth Century

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-169
Author(s):  
Kate Clarke Lemay
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
World War ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
War Memory ◽  
Construction Design ◽  
Memory Work ◽  
The World

In the anniversary years of 2018 and 2019, it is important to take a close look at the war cemeteries commemorating the world war conflicts. These sites are crucial places for sustaining and even creating transnational, collective memory. By studying the memory work the war cemeteries accomplish, scholars have increased their knowledge of and understanding about these driving, foundational power structures. The following essays focus on the construction, design and reception of war cemeteries, and together the essays reveal complex layering of social, political and cultural contexts of these crucial sites of war memory.

Foreign-owned firms around the world: A comparative analysis of wages and employment at the micro-level

2013 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 170-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Hijzen ◽  
Pedro S. Martins ◽  
Thorsten Schank ◽  
Richard Upward
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Micro Level

scholarly journals Design Education for Local Development

Artifact ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Pernille Askerud ◽  
Barbara Adler
Keyword(s):  
Design Education ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
The World ◽  
Training Activities ◽  
Typical Design

In the western part of the world, the concept of design is increasingly perceived as a central means of how we organize the world and imbue it with (cultural) meaning, rather than a quality attached to material objects. In this article we are interested in what concept of design is implied in typical design training activities in different cultural contexts (Morocco, India, Thailand, Mexico, and Singapore).Inspired by the questions that have arisen in connection with project experience and research done by the authors in many countries, this survey outlines approaches and efforts to establish design competence with a particular paradigm to the fostering of sustainable economic and cultural development in local communities. Having worked with development projects involving various aspects of design, we have chosen to study projects with clear design goals as examples of how diverse the interpretation of the concept of design can be.  These observations may stimulate an awareness of the important impact of notions of design in terms of innovation and cultural diversity and may even give rise to more research into these issues.

scholarly journals Eastern Orthodox Church and modern religious processes in the world

2012 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-441
Author(s):  
Miroljub Jevtic
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Orthodox Christianity ◽  
The World ◽  
Collapse Of Communism ◽  
Society Today

The majority of the Christian world today is affected by weakening adherence to principles of religious practice. The reverse is the case in the countries of predominantly Orthodox tradition. After the collapse of communism, all types of human freedom were revived, including the religious one. The consequence is the revival of the Orthodox Christianity. It is reflected in the influence of the Orthodox Church on the society. Today, the most respected institutions in Russia and Serbia are the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Church, respectively. Considering the decline of the Western Christianity, the revival of the Orthodox Church has raised hopes that the Western Christianity can be revived, too. Important Christian denominations, therefore, show great interest in including the Orthodox Church in the general Christian project. It is particularly evident in the Roman Catholic Church foreign policy. The Roman Catholic Church is attempting to restore relations with Orthodox churches. In this sense, the most important churches are the Russian and the Serbian Church. But, establishing relations with these two is for Vatican both a great challenge and a project of great significance.

scholarly journals Reply to Doing Indigenous Epistemology: Internal Debates About Inside Knowledge in Māori Society’, by Toon Van Meilj

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Sissons
Keyword(s):  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Indigenous Epistemology ◽  
The World ◽  
Ontological Turn ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ways Of Being

Van Meijl is right to insist that epistemology must be about active, socially contested ‘ways of knowing’ and that understanding the relationship between such ways and their products is as much an ethnographic problem as it is a philosophical one. Ways of knowing, as social practices, are also, more generally, ways of being or becoming and so are not, in my view, radically distinct from the ontologies they produce and reproduce. Phillipe Descola argues strongly that his four ‘ontologies’ are also schemas of practice, fundamental ways that people know, experience and inhabit the world. I think Van Meijl is mistaken, therefore, when he characterises the ontological turn in anthropology as being about different relations between mind and matter. For me, it is most significantly about the different ways that personhood or subjectivity can be understood and embodied.<br>

scholarly journals Affect, Belief, and the Arts

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rami Gabriel
Keyword(s):  
Social Practices ◽  
Direct Perception ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Cooperative Groups ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Self Knowledge

The cultural project is a therapeutic melding of emotion, symbols, and knowledge. In this paper, I describe how spiritual emotions engendered through encounters in imaginative culture enable fixation of metaphysical beliefs. Evolved affective systems are domesticated through the social practices of imaginative culture so as to adapt people to live in culturally defined cooperative groups. Conditioning, as well as tertiary-level cognitive capacities such as symbols and language are enlisted to bond groups through the imaginative formats of myth and participatory ritual. These cultural materializations can be shared by communities both synchronically and diachronically in works of art. Art is thus a form of self-knowledge that equips us with a motivated understanding of ourselves in the world. In the sacred state produced through the arts and in religious acts, the sense of meaning becomes noetically distinct because affect infuses the experience of immanence, and one's memory of it, with salience. The quality imbued thereby makes humans attentive to subtle signs and broad “truths.” Saturated by emotions and the experience of alterity in the immanent encounter of imaginative culture, information made salient in the sacred experience can become the basis for belief fixation. Using examples drawn from mimetic arts and arts of immanence, I put forward a theory about how sensible affective knowledge is mediated through affective systems, direct perception, and the imagination.

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