Relocating the Prophet’s Image: Narrative Motifs and Local Appropriation of the Zarathustra Legend in Pre- and Early Islamic Iran (Part II - North-West Iran)

From the very beginning of Iranian disciplinary studies, the material concerning Zarathustra’s biography has been analysed in depth, firstly to identify the homeland of the Prophet and then to discuss the historical reality of this authoritative figure. Despite the divergences of opinion, emphasis has always been placed on the reconstruction of the figure of Zarathustra and much less on the socio-cultural context in which the image of the Prophet was cultivated. The present paper represents the second part of a larger work (see Terribili 2020) that aims to reverse this perspective and emphasize those data, which link up narrative variations and extensions with local identities. In fact, variations in geographical setting reveal processes of acculturation through which social groups reinvented the influential image of the Prophet within a familiar horizon. In this respect, the Sasanian period proved pivotal in the formation of both Zoroastrian and Iranian communal identities. In the wake of the first work, this second paper approaches aspects connected to the North-West Iran and Ādurbādagān tradition.

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Relocating the Prophet’s Image: Narrative Motifs and Local Appropriation of the Zarathustra Legend in Pre- and Early Islamic Iran (Part I – East Iran)

Iran and the Caucasus ◽

10.1163/1573384x-20200102 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 1-16

Author(s):

Gianfilippo Terribili

Keyword(s):

Cultural Context ◽

Social Groups ◽

Historical Reality ◽

Local Identities ◽

Early Islamic

From the very beginning of Iranian disciplinary studies, the material concerning Zarathustra’s biography has been analysed in depth, firstly to identify the homeland of the Prophet and then to discuss the historical reality of this authoritative figure. Despite the divergences of opinion, emphasis has always been placed on the reconstruction of the figure of Zarathustra and much less on the socio-cultural context in which the image of the Prophet was cultivated. The present paper represents the first part of a larger work that aims to reverse this perspective and emphasise those data, which link up narrative variations and extensions with local identities. In fact, variations in geographical setting reveal processes of acculturation through which social groups reinvented the influential image of the Prophet within a familiar horizon. In this respect, the Sasanian period proved pivotal in the formation of both Zoroastrian and Iranian communal identities, while this first work will analyses aspects connected to East Iran and the Khorāsān tradition.

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Peripherialisation as a Result and Driving Force of Territorial Mobility in Post-Socialist Romania

European Spatial Research and Policy ◽

10.1515/esrp-2017-0008 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 39-57 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Aura Moldovan

Keyword(s):

Statistical Analysis ◽

Driving Force ◽

Spatial Configuration ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Social Groups ◽

North West ◽

The Past ◽

The North ◽

West Region ◽

Different Levels

Over the past two and a half decades, the transition from a centralised to a market economy has affected Romania’s spatial configuration by re-widening the gap between cores and peripheries at a regional scale. Through a statistical analysis carried out for the North-West Region (NUTS 2), my contribution focuses on one of the mechanisms interrelated with peripheralisation, namely territorial mobility. The aim is twofold. First, to show how increasing core-periphery disparities impact mobility flows by offering different levels of structural (dis)advantages. Second, to exemplify how various social groups can influence these (dis)advantages by choosing their place of residence and work.

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Social Support Experiences of Spousally Bereaved Individuals in a South African Township Community: The Botho/Ubuntu Perspective

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.604987 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Tsholofelo Angela Thomas

Keyword(s):

Social Support ◽

South African ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Family Members ◽

North West ◽

Black South African ◽

The North ◽

Patriarchal Ideology ◽

Withdrawal Of Support ◽

South African Township

Bereavement is a deeply personal experience that is also shaped by one’s socio-cultural context. This qualitative study explored the social support experiences and needs of spousally bereaved individuals in a South African township. The botho/ubuntu philosophical framework was used to interpret participants’ experiences in this regard. Six ethnically diverse, bereaved spouses aged 55–67years, residing in a predominantly Setswana-speaking township in the North West Province of South Africa, were interviewed. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. An indigenous knowledge consultant was interviewed to situate participant experiences pertaining to mourning rites and traditions within the indigenous socio-historical and contemporary cultural context. The following themes were identified: (i) Sources of social support during bereavement; (ii) Inadequate social support after spousal death; (iii) The need for grief counseling; and (iv) Social restrictions and systematic isolation during the traditional mourning period: “It is as if you smell.” Broadly, bereaved spouses drew on their support networks at various stages of their bereavement, which included family members, in-laws, friends, burial societies, their surrounding communities, and religious communities and figures. However, some experienced ostracization and stigmatization during the mourning period, which was invariably longer for the widows in this study, in line with conventions across Black South African cultures. Some participants reported withdrawal of support by their in-laws and harmful attitudes and assumptions rooted in patriarchal ideology by family members and in-laws. As pertaining to botho/ubuntu, the study also showed that communality or relationality entailed both positive and negative aspects, including support, co-operation, care, lack of support, stigmatization, and ostracization. Unlike conventional conceptualizations of botho/ubuntu, the study findings illustrate the human experience as comprising varying dimensions of relationality, ranging from harmony to disharmony. Findings regarding the negative aspects of communality are compatible with those relating to relational interdependence in African and East Asian settings. The findings also expand our understanding of the nature of disharmony alongside harmony in interdependent socio-cultural contexts.

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Hua Guofeng and the Village Drama Movement in the North-west Shanxi Base Area, 1943–45

The China Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s0305741000012601 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 84 ◽

pp. 669-693 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

David Holm

Keyword(s):

Cultural Policy ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Political Action ◽

Policy Formulation ◽

Chinese Society ◽

General Description ◽

North West ◽

The North ◽

Local Labour ◽

Close Relationship

It has long been recognized that there is a particularly close relationship between art and politics in post-1949 China. And indeed this is true. The relationship, however, has usually been viewed only in “macro” terms, as one in which the Party – or the Party through its agents – stifles dissent and makes demands on writers and artists for works reflecting “the Party line”. As a general description of course there may be more than a grain of truth in this, but put in this way nothing could be less interesting. A more complex and dialectical picture emerges when one focuses more sharply on the process of artistic production in its immediate social context. The study of village-level drama and song-and-dance is ideal for this kind of investigation, in spite of the fact that it is “mere propaganda”: not only does it allow us a closer look at the actual implementation and effects of cultural policy, rather than just policy formulation, but often evidence is sufficient for us to discern salient features of the local cultural context and the ways in which artistic form and content have been adapted to specific local issues and local personalities. At this level in Chinese society, where relationships between cadres, artists and their audiences are personalized and the deeds of local labour heroes re-enacted on stage, the distinction between art and reality is not all that clear, stage action mimics political action, and vice versa, and the roles of the Party cadre and stage director are intertwined.

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SEM and TEM observations of sperm development in the testis of the freshwater fish Oreochromis mossambicus

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100157838 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 58-59

Author(s):

Daryl A. Cornish ◽

George L. Smit

Keyword(s):

Morphological Characteristics ◽

Oreochromis Mossambicus ◽

Breeding Cycle ◽

Limited Information ◽

North West ◽

The North ◽

Sem And Tem ◽

Sperm Development ◽

Ultrastructural Characteristics ◽

The University

Oreochromis mossambicus is currently receiving much attention as a candidater species for aquaculture programs within Southern Africa. This has stimulated interest in its breeding cycle as well as the morphological characteristics of the gonads. Limited information is available on SEM and TEM observations of the male gonads. It is known that the testis of O. mossambicus is a paired, intra-abdominal structure of the lobular type, although further details of its characteristics are not known. Current investigations have shown that spermatids reach full maturity some two months after the female becomes gravid. Throughout the year, the testes contain spermatids at various stages of development although spermiogenesis appears to be maximal during November when spawning occurs. This paper describes the morphological and ultrastructural characteristics of the testes and spermatids.Specimens of this fish were collected at Syferkuil Dam, 8 km north- west of the University of the North over a twelve month period, sacrificed and the testes excised.

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