Depicted Lives

2020 ◽  
pp. 491-508
Author(s):  
Zahra Newby
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Literary Biographies

This chapter investigates the types of biographies which could be written through material objects, and the dynamic uses to which prominent figures could put the visual arts in their efforts at self-representation, using the Imperial Greek sophists as a case study. To what extent can one conceptualize these sorts of representation and self-representation as biography? From the perspective of the historian, physical monuments along with the texts inscribed upon them often allow one to write the life-histories of individuals who would otherwise remain unknown, omitted from the literary tradition. Yet the analogy also goes deeper. Monuments often work within the same sorts of categories and agenda which can also be seen in literary biographies. As with Favorinus’ statue, statues and their inscriptions could present individuals as exempla of particular sorts of values, designed to have a didactic function for their wider audience. The imagery chosen for portrait statues also situates these individuals within particular categories—as scholar, philosopher, or powerful civic notable.

The Sacrality of Things: An Inquiry into Divine Materiality in the Christian Middle Ages

2013 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Walker Bynum
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Comparative Religion ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Important Material ◽  
Art Historians ◽  
Western European

Students of comparative religion, cognitive scientists, art historians, and historians sometimes use paradigms from non-western religions to raise questions about the role of material objects in Christianity. Recently, such discussion has focused on images and controversies about them. This article argues that the most important material manifestation of the holy in the western European Middle Ages was the Eucharist and suggests both that understanding it is enhanced by the use of comparative material and that considering it as a case study of divine materiality leads to a more sophisticated formulation of comparative paradigms.

scholarly journals "Me and my students' smartphones in the classroom": A case study using arts-based methods

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Eleni Vakali ◽  
Alexios Brailas
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Education Research ◽  
Visual Arts ◽  
Emotional Response ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Arts Based Research ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Basic Features

There is a new area flourishing within qualitative research based on methods using all forms of art: music, theatre, visual arts, and literature. In this paper we present an overview of the basic features of arts-based research; emphasizing on their meaning on education research, on the freedom of expression given to the participants in the research, and on the method the researcher applies to evaluate the collected data. We then present an arts-based research case study where the research questions relate to teachers’ reactions to the use of smartphones by students in the classroom. In this case study, teachers, especially those working on secondary education, are invited to portray their thoughts, emotions, and images that respond to these questions by painting them on a paper using markers. The findings show that the majority of the teachers are negative about the children using their smartphone in the classroom, along with evidence for teachers’ emotional response and how to confront the phenomenon.

When Poetry And The Visual Arts Meet: A Case Study Of Jorie Graham’s Use Of Ekphrasis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
علاء أحمد عبدالله الجميلي ◽  
جاسم محمد جاسم الرفيعي
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts

Beyond Economics

2018 ◽  
pp. 123-144
Author(s):  
Florent Audy
Keyword(s):  
Life Histories ◽  
Viking Age ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Long Life ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Technical Features

In this chapter, the social, symbolic, and cultural attributes of Viking Age silver is addressed through an exploration of coin-pendants: coins taken out of circulation and suspended on necklaces to be worn as jewellery. Surveying material from a newly collated dataset, the chapter first outlines the key features of coin-pendants from across Scandinavia, including the rate of transformation of different coin types and their technical features. It then addresses the question: what made coin-pendants desirable? Discussion considers the aesthetic and bullion content of the pendants, as well as their value as exotic items and/or as items with long life histories. A case study is presented of an Arabic dirham-pendant, found in an inhumation grave at Birka, Sweden.

scholarly journals The Cult of the Underworld in Singapore: Mythology and Materiality

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 363
Author(s):  
Dean Koon Lee Wang
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
The Everyday

Myths provide hagiographic and iconographic accounts of the gods, which shape rituals that are performed in cults associated with these gods. In the realization of iconographies and ritualization of narratives in myths, material objects play an active role. This article examines the pattern of worship in the cult of the Ah Pehs, a group of Underworld gods whose efficacy lies in the promise of occult wealth, and focuses on the material aspects such as offerings and paraphernalia associated with these gods. Though ritual texts and scriptures are absent in the Ah Peh cult, symbols in the form of material objects play a crucial role. These objects are also considered as synecdoche for the gods in certain cases. The first part of this paper presents a case study of the autonomous ritual of “Burning Prosperity Money”, which reveals the cycle of occult exchange between gods and devotees. The second part involves an imagery analysis of the material objects central to the cult, and argues that in the system of reciprocity with the gods, material objects common to the everyday life are reinterpreted and enchanted with a capitalist turn, resulting in the development of occult economies within the local Chinese religious sphere.

scholarly journals The Conversion of Pachomius Revisited

Scrinium ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-43
Author(s):  
Christian Barthel
Keyword(s):  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Conversion Narrative ◽  
Military Career

Abstract The article seeks to reassess and contextualise the conversion narrative of the Egyptian monk Pachomius, the founder of coenobitic monasticism. It thereby offers a case study into how and why the Pachomian literary tradition was shaped, altered and abridged, while also challenging the traditional views associated with Pachomius’ military career.

The panacea of culture: the changing fortunes and careers of China’s Dongba priests

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 649-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Xie ◽  
Yochanan Altman
Keyword(s):  
Life Histories ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Tourist Industry ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Culture Heritage ◽  
Societal Changes ◽  
Business And Management

Purpose – On the background of China’s turn to a market economy and a consumer-driven society, the purpose of this paper is to recount the fortunes of the age-old religion of the Naxi people and their farmer-priests, the dongba. Design/methodology/approach – Detailed ethnography, including participant observation, the collection of life histories and interviews. Findings – The might of the tourist industry dominates the changes in the profession of the dongba priests, from a faith-based practice to a tourist-driven service; aided by a confluence of interests of relevant stakeholders: the Chinese state, the provincial governments, the Naxi elite. At the core is the transformation, in Chinese terms, from a superstitious religion to culture heritage. Research limitations/implications – Like all case studies and common to ethnographic-based research, the small scale of the research poses questions of generalizability. Practical implications – Shedding light on a little known aspect of the world’s largest economy is of high relevance to business and management scholars. Social implications – The transformation of the dongba demonstrates how major societal changes that happen within a couple of decades affect a society and its economy and a central career track within it. Originality/value – The case study testifies to the encounter of a major modern industry: tourism, with an archaic religion in a remote corner of China, and the transformation of the latter as result.

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