Japanese divine light in Kinshasa transcultural resonance and critique in the religiously multiple city

2021 ◽  
pp. 205030322098698
Author(s):  
Peter Lambertz

The Japanese “new religions” ( Shin Shūkyō) active in Kinshasa (DR Congo) nearly all perform healing through the channeling of invisible divine light. In the case of Sekai Kyūseikyō (Church of World Messianity), the light of Johrei cannot be visually apprehended, but is worn as an invisible aura on the practitioner’s body. This article discusses the trans-cultural resonances between Japan and Central Africa regarding the ontology of spiritual force, regimes of subjectivity, and the gradual embodiment of Johrei divine light as a protection against (suspicions of) witchcraft. Meanwhile, I argue that religious multiplicity in urban Africa encourages cultural reflexivity about concepts of health and healing, self-responsibility, and Pentecostal suspicion-mongering of occult sciences. Thus, Johrei divine light not only feeds into a longstanding local tradition of spiritual healing; within the religiously multiple city, it is also a discursive space for, and an experience and performance of, emic critique.

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Ngursangzeli Behera

The Mizos of northeast India have their own unique culture and society with indigenous religious beliefs that were closely linked with their everyday needs and their world-views. For the Mizos the world was inhabited by spirits, some benevolent and some evil. The evil spirits were believed to cause all kinds of illnesses and misfortunes, and in order to recover from such illnesses the evil spirits had to be placated by sacrifices known as inthawina which can be understood as ‘ceremonial cures’. The Mizos lived in fear, always afraid of evil spirits, and their religious energies were centred on propitiating these evil spirits through frequent sacrifices. The Puithiams (priests) would officiate at such events. Christianity brought inevitable change in the Mizos' religious and world-views. Nevertheless, many of the existing pre-Christian beliefs of Mizo society were adopted or modified by missionaries to help the Mizos to understand more fully Christian concepts and beliefs, especially with reference to the concepts of health and healing. It can also be argued that pre-Christian social, religious and cultural beliefs carried in them ‘theologies of life’ which were adopted by missionaries or those spreading the gospel message, thus allowing these practices, as well as Christian doctrines themselves, to be seen in a new light.


1996 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 127-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Tawah ◽  
J. E. O. Rege

SUMMARYThe paper reviews information on the White Fulani cattle under the headings: origin, classification, distribution, population statistics, ecological settings, utility, husbandry practices, physical characteristics, special genetic characteristics, adaptive attributes and performance characteristics. It was concluded that the breed is economically important for several local communities in many West and Central African countries. The population of the breed is substantial. However, introgression from exotic cattle breeds as well as interbreeding with local breeds represent the major threat to the breed. The review identified a lack of programmes to develop the breed as being inimical to its long-term existence.


1982 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 299-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Mews

‘How are your healing groups going?’ the present archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, enquired rhetorically in a charge to service chaplains in 1979. ‘The renewal of the Church’s ministry of healing’ the bishop of Selby has even more recently written, ‘is one hard obstinate fact that future historians will be unable to ignore when examining the Christian scene in the present century.’ The bishop, who is co-chairman of the Churches’ Council for Health and Healing, particularly singled out for praise the pioneers of this renewal: ‘individuals like James Moore Hickson, George Bennett and Dorothy Kerin’ as well as such later contributors as Leslie Weatherhead from the free churches, and more recently Cameron Peddie in Scotland and the American Dominican, Francis MacNutt. The bishop has further argued that ‘these powerful initiatives given to the healing movement by individual leaders were matched by the leadership of the Churches’, an assertion which is backed by citing the discussions devoted to the subject at the Lambeth conferences of 1908, 1920, 1930 and 1958. The first two of these conferences were presided over by archbishop Randall Davidson, who in the bishop of Selby’s book is presented as a crypto-champion of spiritual healing.


Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4571 (4) ◽  
pp. 451
Author(s):  
KYU-TEK PARK ◽  
WILLY DE PRINS

The type specimens of Lecithoceridae which are deposited in the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), Tervuren, Belgium (five species of Lecithocera Herrich-Schäffer and two of Homaloxestis Meyrick) were re-examined. The results are: 1) two species of Lecithocera are transferred to Thubdora Park and Torodora Meyrick respectively, with new combinations: Thubdora barbata (Meyrick, 1933), comb. nov. and Torodora semnodora (Meyrick, 1933), comb. nov.; 2) six species which were misidentified as L. barbata are described as new species in the genus Thubdora: T. ealeaensis sp. nov., T. ghesquierei sp. nov., T. gladiator sp. nov., T. kapangaensis sp. nov., T. neobarbata sp. nov. and T. seydeli sp. nov.; 3) four species which were misidentified as L. semnodora are described as new species in the genus Torodora: T. amplignathosa sp. nov. , T. lichanosa sp. nov., T. planusa sp. nov. and T. triloba sp. nov.; 4) L. schoutedeniella Ghesquière is transferred to Dichomeris Hübner of the family Gelechiidae; 5) Homaloxestis pancrocopa Meyrick does not belong to Homaloxestis nor to Lecithoceridae, and should be transferred to a different family of Gelechioidea; 6) a lectotype is designated for Lecithocera semnodora Meyrick, 1933; 7) the species names of Lecithocera eugenopa Meyrick and Homaloxestes chloromorpha Meyrick based on the type-labels under two specimens are revealed as unpublished manuscript names. Illustrations of the adults and their genitalia of all the types are provided. 


10.34690/209 ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 166-175
Author(s):  
Евгения Анатольевна Склярова

Статья посвящена исследованию некоторых аспектов исполнительского стиля русских старожилов северных районов Удмуртской Республики на примере песенных жанров, включенных в календарную обрядность (песни святочных гаданий «Илею», колядки, хороводные, лирические песни). Экспедиционные материалы показывают, что темброво-тесситурные особенности и исполнительские приемы приобретают значение типичных элементов песенного стиля исследуемого ареала, свидетельствуя о единстве музыкального фольклора русских старожилов наряду с самобытными чертами местных локальных традиций. В статье указываются способы фиксации фольклорно-этнографического материала в экспедиционных условиях, которые дают возможность воссоздать фольклорные записи, представить звучащие песни включенными в определенный контекст, с учетом особенностей их функционирования; раскрываются сведения о том, кем, когда, в каком пространстве и как исполнялись колядки, песни святочных гаданий «Илею», хороводные и лирические песни. Эти сведения позволяют сделать вывод о некогда активном бытовании перечисленных жанров, об их значимости в местной традиции. Певческие приемы («петь на ростяг», «скольжения-переходы», взятия и сбросы дыхания), темброво-тесситурные, динамические особенности песенных форм, точные высказывания носителей традиции о звучании различных жанров музыкального фольклора углубляют знания об исследуемой культуре, позволяют воссоздать ее своеобразный звуковой облик, а также выявить музыкально-выразительные средства, характерные и для других песенных традиций. Article is devoted to the study of some aspects of the performing style of Russian old-timers in the Northern regions of the Udmurt Republic on the example of genres included in the calendar rites (songs of YuLe divination “ILeyu,” Christmas carols, round dance and Lyrical songs). The expedition materials show that timbre and tessitura indicators and performance techniques are becoming typicaL elements of the performing styLe in the studied areas. They point to the unity of the Russian old-timers musical folklore along with the original features of LocaL traditions. The articLe reveaLs the ways to record foLkLore and ethnographic materiaL in expeditions. It aLLows us to recreate foLkLore texts, imagine sounding songs incLuded in a certain context, taking into account the pecuLiarities of their functioning. This work provides detaiLed answers to the questions of who was performing the caroLs, songs of YuLe divination “Ileyu,” round dance and LyricaL songs, testifying to the once active existence of the Listed genres, their importance in the Local tradition. Singing techniques (singing “narostyag” (“stretching” signing), sLiding transitions, taking and resetting breath), timbre and tessitura, as weLL as dynamic features of song forms, accurate expressions of the bearers of tradition about the sounding of various genres of musical folklore deepen knowLedge about the cuLture under study, aLLow us to recreate its originaL sound appearance and identify musical and expressive means characteristic of other song traditions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-105
Author(s):  
Muhamed Riyaz Chenganakkattil

Abstract This article is an addition to the culture of 'debate as performance' in the Indian subcontinent as a research on the theological arguments through texts and performances on the existence of invisible creatures. It locates the space of the debates in Malabar, which has a long history of argumentative tradition. This article suggests that (in)visibility is the central point of contestation when one analyses the debating culture on Jinns. Textual representation of arguments and performance on the stage are two spaces where we can analytically explore the cases. The Jinn debate has undergone transitions in its development towards a core ideological point in Malabar. How do proponents and opponents corroborate their arguments based on texts or the logical understanding? When has this practice begun? Who were the leading Jinn debaters in Malabar? Malabar, as a discursive space for debates, has contributed to the making and unmaking of Jinns in the region. It is obvious that these debates were performative events, as a performance of the pure religion, and as a performative moment for distinctions for each ideology from the other.


Author(s):  
Gerrye Mubungu ◽  
Prince Makay ◽  
Bouchra Boujemla ◽  
Stephane Yanda ◽  
Jennifer E. Posey ◽  
...  

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