The Intimacy of Belonging: Literacy and the Experience of Sunjata in Mali

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 103-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Jansen
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Local People ◽  
Historical Imagination ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Literacy is a personally acquired skill, and the way it is taught to a person changes how that person thinks. Thanks to David Henige historians of Africa are much more aware of how literacy influences memory and historical imagination, and particularly how literacy systems introduce linear concepts of time and space. This essay will deal with these two aspects in relation to Africa's most famous epic: Sunjata. This epic has gained a major literary status worldwide—text editions are taught as part of undergraduate courses at universities all over the world—but there has been little extensive field research into the epic. The present essay focuses on an even less studied aspect of Sunjata, namely how Sunjata is experienced by local people.Central to my argument is an idea put forward by Peter Geschiere, who links the upheaval of autochthony claims in Africa (and beyond) to issues of citizenship and processes of exclusion. He analyzes these as the product of feelings of “belonging.” Geschiere argues that issues of belonging should be studied at a local level if we are to understand how individuals experience autochthony. Analytically, Geschiere proposes shifting away from ”identity” by drawing from Birgit Meyer's work ideas on the aesthetics of religious experience and emotion; Meyer's ideas are useful to explain “how some (religious) images can convince, while other do not.”

Understanding Suicide Terrorism

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (04) ◽  
pp. 245-250
Author(s):  
A. Speckhard
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Suicide Terrorism ◽  
Terrorist Organizations ◽  
Global Migration ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Single Region ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
The World ◽  
Terrorist Groups

SummaryAs a terror tactic, suicide terrorism is one of the most lethal as it relies on a human being to deliver and detonate the device. Suicide terrorism is not confined to a single region or religion. On the contrary, it has a global appeal, and in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan it has come to represent an almost daily reality as it has become the weapon of choice for some of the most dreaded terrorist organizations in the world, such as ISIS and al-Qaeda. Drawing on over two decades of extensive field research in five distinct world regions, specifically the Middle East, Western Europe, North America, Russia, and the Balkans, the author discusses the origins of modern day suicide terrorism, motivational factors behind suicide terrorism, its global migration, and its appeal to modern-day terrorist groups to embrace it as a tactic.

World Visions in Swahili Literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-144
Author(s):  
Xavier Garnier
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Epic Poetry ◽  
Art Of Living ◽  
Literary Forms ◽  
Crime Novel ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Abstract Probably because of its relationship with a coastal culture, Swahili literature seems very aware of its position in the world. Through a reading of Swahili poems and novels across a range of genres, this paper explores the ways in which Swahili writers have engaged in a dialogue with the whole world, from the colonial period to the contemporary era. The evolution of well-identified literary forms such as epic poetry, ethnographic novel or crime novel will also pave the way for identifying the specificities of a Swahili cosmopolitanism anxious to cultivate an art of living in the age of a kind of globalization whose effects are often harshly felt at the local level. Because it has long developed an awareness of the world, Swahili literature has often pioneered the invention of literary forms that are able to translate locally the movements of the world.

Professional Wrestling

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Mazer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
American Dream ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Professional Wrestling ◽  
Performance Practices ◽  
The Real ◽  
Current State ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Professional wrestling is one of the most popular performance practices in the United States and around the world, drawing millions of spectators to live events and televised broadcasts. The displays of violence, simulated and actual, may be the obvious appeal, but that is just the beginning. Fans debate performance choices with as much energy as they argue about their favorite wrestlers. The ongoing scenarios and presentations of manly and not so-manly characters—from the flamboyantly feminine to the hypermasculine—simultaneously celebrate and critique, parody and affirm, the American dream and the masculine ideal. Sharon Mazer looks at the world of professional wrestling from a fan’s-eye-view high in the stands and from ringside in the wrestlers’ gym. She investigates how performances are constructed and sold to spectators, both on a local level and in the “big leagues” of the WWF/E. She shares a close-up view of a group of wrestlers as they work out, get their faces pushed to the mat as part of their initiation into the fraternity of the ring, and dream of stardom. In later chapters, Mazer explores professional wrestling’s carnivalesque presentation of masculinities ranging from the cute to the brute, as well as the way in which the performances of women wrestlers often enter into the realm of pornographic. Finally, she explores the question of the “real” and the “fake” as the fans themselves confront it. First published in 1998, this new edition of Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle both preserves the original’s snapshot of the wrestling scene of the 1980s and 1990s and features an up-to-date perspective on the current state of play.

scholarly journals The Soft Embodiment of Culture

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 824-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela K.-y. Leung ◽  
Dov Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Asian American ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Cultural Assumptions ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Cultural assumptions about one's relation to others and one's place in the world can be literally embodied in the way one cognitively maps out one's position and motion in time and space. In three experiments, we examined the psychological perspective that Asian American and Euro-American participants embodied as they both comprehended and produced narratives and mapped out metaphors of time and space. In social situations, Euro-American participants were more likely to embody their own perspective and a sense of their own motion (rather than those of a friend), whereas Asian American participants were more likely to embody a friend's perspective and sense of motion (rather than their own). We discuss how these psychological perspectives represent the soft embodiment of culture by implicitly instantiating cultural injunctions (a) to think about how you look to others and to harmonize with them or (b) to know yourself, trust yourself, and act with confidence.

Narratives and International Reconciliation

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-247
Author(s):  
Jennifer Lind
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
South Korea ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
World War ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
The World ◽  
Historical Memories ◽  
The Way

Abstract In relations between Japan and South Korea, as well as between other former adversaries, observers frequently argue that “history stands in the way” of better relations. They expect that hostile historical narratives will prevent leaders from pursuing potentially advantageous cooperation. To evaluate this claim, in this article I define narratives and their elements, noting that they range from more hostile to more friendly. I outline and theoretically develop two perspectives: the view of history as an obstacle, and a view more optimistic about the potential for cooperation and narrative transformation. Evidence from Franco-German relations after World War II, as well as other cases across time and space, supports the latter, more optimistic, view. Finally, I hypothesize different strategic and domestic conditions that make cooperation and narrative change more or less likely. Ultimately, I argue that observers have exaggerated the constraining power of narratives and thus underestimated the potential for cooperation between former enemies. This has important implications for relations between longtime rivals all over the world, and particularly in East Asia, where a conventional wisdom expects historical memories to impede balancing against China's rise.

Images of Animals in Rock Art

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
The World ◽  
Rock Shelters ◽  
The Way

Images of animals are among the most frequent marks people made on rock surfaces. They occur around the world in more than 100 countries, in caves, rock shelters, and in open air. They were made as early as about 40,000 years ago until very recently. Between those dates and across those regions, there is much variation in the way images of animals have come down to us. Determining how to interpret images of animals is complicated by that fact that most ethnographic accounts of attitudes to animals and to making images depend on knowledge of the expressed views of the present-day people. It is hazardous to attempt to infer the meanings from the images alone, at least in part because of variation through time and space. Nevertheless, it seems likely that differences between sets of images imply different worldviews, although similarities do not in themselves necessarily signify similar worldviews.

Contested Reproduction and Cultural Change: The Case of Odisha

Social Change ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 565-581
Author(s):  
Subhasis Sahoo ◽  
Sital Mohanty
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Childless Woman ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Art Practices ◽  
Academic Debate

Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) in India intersect with issues of gender, technology, kinship, commerce and politics and therefore have generated considerable public, ethical and academic debate. Sociologists play a significant role in understanding ways in which this technologically-mediated reproduction has been variously interpreted in these debates; whether it represents progress, promise or pressure. The article demonstrates how diverse cultural settings mediate the experiences of those engaging with ART, both as ‘users’ and ‘providers’. In India, ART involves the reconfiguration of individual, familial and social identities: for instance, when the agony of a childless woman gets negotiated through this ‘hope technology’. We look at the development of ART practices and how they encounter its seekers at the local level. The study also looks at ways in which infertile women deal with ART and use it to achieve, potentially, an ‘identity’. The study, focusing on diverse geographic locations in Odisha, is based on theoretical insights gained from extensive field research comprising interviews with users and providers covering a period from 2011–2014.

scholarly journals Contributions to a semiotics of religion: the semiosis from sign to meaning

2021 ◽  
pp. 181-200
Author(s):  
Paulo Barroso
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Cultural Construction ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Religious Experiences ◽  
Symbolic Action ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

This article approaches theoretically the religious experience in toto. Considering the semiotics applied to religion, contributions to understand and recognize the relevance of this discipline are proposed. Such approach to the semiotics of religion justifies the aim of the article: to understand the meaning structures of religious experiences. These experiences are diverse, intimate, subjective, but all have an idea of the “transcendent” as a referent and they are based on structures of meaning, expressions, and representations of the sacred, forms, uses and interpretations of religious signs, systems of collective thought and symbolic action. It is intended to advocate that: 1) the semiotics of religion is an interdisciplinary branch of social sciences and humanities and a sort of semiotics of culture; religion is a form of culture, as well communication and social meaning; 2) religion is a semiotic phenomenon; it is sustained by signs, representations, processes of signification and cultural construction of the world, without which there could be no religion. This is followed by a conceptual, theoretical strategy of critical discussion of the structures of meaning on which manifest culture is based through what we say or do, the way we behave and the attitude we have towards signs.

scholarly journals PENGARUH KECERDASAN INTELEKTUAL, KECERDASAN EMOSIONAL, DAN KECERDASAN SPIRITUAL TERHADAP KINERJA WIRAUSAHA MUSLIM DI KABUPATEN PURWAKARTA

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-18
Author(s):  
Ismail Ludin ◽  
H. Suherman Saleh ◽  
Dedeng Abdul Gani Amruloh
Keyword(s):  
Field Research ◽  
Islamic Perspective ◽  
Emotional Quotient ◽  
Analysis Instrument ◽  
The World ◽  
Main Factor ◽  
The Way

Islam is a comprehensive religion. Islam is not only discussing about the dimension of ukhrowi (hereafter) but also world. One of that dimension is practicing of entrepreneur. Practicing of entrepreneur is one of the way to get a performance’s successful. In Islamic perspective, the success of muslimpreneur performance is associated in word of Al falah. Al falah is a success concept for muslimpreneur in the world and hereafter. There are many factors that affect the success of muslimpreneur performance. Human intelligent as the main factor surrounding of that. According to the phenomenon, this research aims to examine the effect of intellectual, emotional, and spiritual quotient toward the muslimpreneur performance. This research used descriptive analityc method. The population of this research is the Islamic small entreprise in Purwakarta regent with 86 number of samples. Double-linier-regression is used as analysis instrument. Library and field research as the dimension of research through questionnaire. The result of this research indicates first, partially, the muslimpreneur performance is insignificantly affected by intellectual and emotional quotient variable. Only the spiritual quotient that significantly affects toward the muslimpreneur perfomance. Second, simultanously, the muslimpreneur performance is significantly affected by the variable of intellectual, emotional, and spiritual quotient. This research is limited in independend variable. Exploring the most essential independen variable should be done in order to get better result. Keywords : Intelellectul quotient, emotional quotient, spiritual quotient, muslimpreneur performance, and Al falah.

scholarly journals DEWORMING DELUSIONS? MASS DRUG ADMINISTRATION IN EAST AFRICAN SCHOOLS

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (S1) ◽  
pp. S116-S147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Allen ◽  
Melissa Parker
Keyword(s):  
Drug Administration ◽  
Mass Drug Administration ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Field Research ◽  
World Health ◽  
Parasitic Infections ◽  
Curative Therapy ◽  
School Based ◽  
The World

SummaryRecent debates about deworming school-aged children in East Africa have been described as the ‘Worm Wars’. The stakes are high. Deworming has become one of the top priorities in the fight against infectious diseases. Staff at the World Health Organization, the Gates Foundation and the World Bank (among other institutions) have endorsed the approach, and school-based treatments are a key component of large-scale mass drug administration programmes. Drawing on field research in Uganda and Tanzania, and engaging with both biological and social evidence, this article shows that assertions about the effects of school-based deworming are over-optimistic. The results of a much-cited study on deworming Kenyan school children, which has been used to promote the intervention, are flawed, and a systematic review of randomized controlled trials demonstrates that deworming is unlikely to improve overall public health. Also, confusions arise by applying the term deworming to a variety of very different helminth infections and to different treatment regimes, while local-level research in schools reveals that drug coverage usually falls below target levels. In most places where data exist, infection levels remain disappointingly high. Without indefinite free deworming, any declines in endemicity are likely to be reversed. Moreover, there are social problems arising from mass drug administration that have generally been ignored. Notably, there are serious ethical and practical issues arising from the widespread practice of giving tablets to children without actively consulting parents. There is no doubt that curative therapy for children infected with debilitating parasitic infections is appropriate, but overly positive evaluations of indiscriminate deworming are counter-productive.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document