scholarly journals Memory in Sacred Places: The Revitalization Process of the Muisca Community

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Andrea Sánchez-Castañeda

The Muisca community of Suba, located in Bogota, Colombia, is a place-based community whose epistemology is rooted in what is now an urban environment. After enduring over five centuries of segregation, marginalization, displacement, and near cultural obliteration, the Muisca community has thrived to the present day and is currently undertaking the task of re-indigenization through the revitalization of their traditional knowledge and the process of ethnogenesis. The effects of urbanization on the Muisca have not only changed the physical spaces which they inhabit, but it has also disrupted the relational patterns between the community and their sacred places. This severing of the community from their sacred places has had the effect of further invisibilizing the Muisca’s ethnic identity in the national social imaginary. As a form of resistance to their marginality, the Muisca are engaging in symbolic practices, in both public and private spaces, as a means of cultivating ideological resistance, memory revitalization, and generating new meanings of their collective identity. This article, based on an ethnographic case study, seeks to examine how the Muisca community is symbolically re-appropriating their sacred places in this urban context to mend the social fabric of the Muisca community. As such, this revitalization project represents an attempt to reconstruct a forgotten indigenous identity by rewriting the historical memory of a community that disappeared from the national discourse.

Humanities ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Dibyadyuti Roy

Cultural constructions of passive motherhood, especially within domestic spaces, gained currency in India and Ireland due to their shared colonial history, as well as the influence of anti-colonial masculinist nationalism on the social imaginary of these two nations. However, beginning from the latter half of the nineteenth century, postcolonial literary voices have not only challenged the traditional gendering of public and private spaces but also interrogated docile constructions of womanhood, particularly essentialized representations of maternity. Domestic spaces have been critical narrative motifs in these postcolonial texts through simultaneously embodying patriarchal domination but also as sites where feminist resistance can be actualized by “transgress(ing) traditional views of … the home, as a static immobile place of oppression”. This paper, through a comparative analysis of maternal characters in Edna O’Brien’s The Love Object and Jhumpa Lahiri’s Hell-Heaven, argues that socially disapproved/illicit relationships in these two representative postcolonial Irish and Indian narratives function as matricentric feminist tactics that subvert limiting notions of both domestic spaces and gendered liminal postcolonial subjectivities. I highlight that within the context of male-centered colonial and nationalist literature, the trope of maternity configures the domestic-space as the “rightful place” for the existence of the feminine entity. Thus, when postcolonial feminist fiction reverses this tradition through constructing the “home and the female-body” as sites of possible resistance, it is a counter against dual oppression: both colonialism and patriarchy. My intervention further underscores the need for sustained conversations between the literary output of India and Ireland, within Postcolonial Literary Studies, with a particular acknowledgement for space and gender as pivotal categories in the “cultural analysis of empire”.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannis Kallianos

The article explores the recent social and political transformations in Greece through events of collective action in the public space of Athens. Drawing on Richard Sennet’s notion of the ‘myth of the purified community’ it is argued that these events demonstrate a gradual disintegration of the social imaginary of the idea of community in various scales (national, local, etc). This argument builds on the indistinction between public and private as reflected in these events in Athens. By providing ethnographic examples from both before and after the economic collapse, the article explains crisis as a long process of contesting the sovereignty of the state and institutions in Greece and how these previously downplayed contestations were rendered visible in the Greek public sphere. This visibility shakes the foundations of the notion of a homogeneous community as it is established by the ‘social contract’.


Classical and modern theories of identity, such as E. Giddens concept of self-identity, social identity of I. Hoffmann, non-reflective identity of M. Foucault, the theory of recognition and social imaginary of C. Taylor, the concept of imaginary communities of B. Anderson, the theory of «using the Other» and the exclusive identity of I. Neumann are analyzed. As a result of the analysis, methodological benchmark principles for the conceptualization of identity phenomenonare defined. It is suggested to consider the phenomenon of identity as a multi-level construct, also, the principles of identity typology are developed. According to this typology, ontological (personal identity) and social (collective identity) dimensions of the phenomenon are distinguished. It is admitted that personal identity, in addition to being directly connected with emotions, is the result of an individual’s personal experience. Meanwhile collective identity is a phenomenon of a social level, mental awareness of the existence of a community that shares common for an individual interests/values. As types of personal identity, the reflective, when the individual asks himself «whom I relate to/ want to relate myselfto?», and non-reflective – the individual unconsciously reproduces certain practices, patterns of behavior –forms of the phenomenon are analyzed. Within the framework of collective identity, it is suggested to distinguish between identities according to the institutional level (regional/local or national/state), as well as according to the attributes of a social group (ethnic, racial, linguistic, gender, etc.). The attention is drawn to the further perspective of the social identity study precisely through the prism of the institutional level. In particular, the following research question is identified as an important aspect of the further research: how the features of the reproduction of certain formal and informal practices affect the formation and «renewal»/reconstitution of regional and national identities.


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Καλλιόπη ΜΑΥΡΟΜΜΑΤΗ

<p style="line-height: 15pt; text-indent: 21.25pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; vertical-align: middle" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: MgOldTimesUCPolNormal; color: black; font-size: 11pt">THE <em>CATECHISMS</em> OF MICHAEL CHONIATES. DATING AND HISTORICAL APPROACH </span></font></p><p style="line-height: 15pt; text-indent: 21.25pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; vertical-align: middle" class="MsoNormal"> </p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: MgOldTimesUCPolNormal; color: black; font-size: 11pt">The </span><em><span style="font-family: MgOldTimesUCPolItalic; color: black; font-size: 11pt">Catechisms</span></em><span style="font-family: MgOldTimesUCPolNormal; color: black; font-size: 11pt"> of Michael Choniates, archbishop of Athens, are included in Spyridon Lampros’ Archive, who first studied the sources in 1906 and transcribed the texts from the manuscript Mosquensis Synodalis 218 (olim 230) and 219 (olim 262). Although he prepared a critical edition, he did not proceed with publishing. Eventually, his work has been digitized and the researcher can visit the Archive online through the website of the Laboratory of Digital Recording of the Public and Private Life of the Byzantines of the University of Athens (http://<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none"><u>lamprosarcheio.arch.uoa.gr</u></span></span>).<span>   </span></span></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: MgOldTimesUCPolNormal; color: black; font-size: 11pt">The </span><em><span style="font-family: MgOldTimesUCPolItalic; color: black; font-size: 11pt">Catechisms</span></em><span style="font-family: MgOldTimesUCPolNormal; color: black; font-size: 11pt"> are mainly, yet not exclusively, works of religious ethics; they also address the socioeconomic issues of the city of Athens at the end of the 12th century, and thus can be used as a supplementary source for this period. Indeed, the </span><em><span style="font-family: MgOldTimesUCPolItalic; color: black; font-size: 11pt">Catechisms</span></em><span style="font-family: MgOldTimesUCPolNormal; color: black; font-size: 11pt"> offer a comprehensive account of the burdens endured by the Athenians, caused by the exploitative activities of state tax officers, usurers and pirates. On a different perspective, Choniates argues how adverse social conditions, such as poverty, immigration, and land tresspassing, modulate the social fabric and interpersonal relations. Although many of these issues are omitted or very briefly mentioned in other texts, they are clarified in the </span><em><span style="font-family: MgOldTimesUCPolItalic; color: black; font-size: 11pt">Catechisms</span></em><span style="font-family: MgOldTimesUCPolNormal; color: black; font-size: 11pt">.</span></font></p>


1998 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-18
Author(s):  
Kathryn C. Oleson ◽  
Robert M. Arkin
Keyword(s):  

Professare ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Claudemir Aparecido Lopes

<p class="resumoabstract">O professor Giorgio Agamben tem elaborado críticas à engenhosa estrutura política ocidental moderna. Avalia os mecanismos de controle estatal, nos quais os denomina ‘dispositivos’, cuja força está na imbricação às normas jurídico-teológicas com seus similares ritos e liturgias. Suas ocorrências e legitimidade preponderam no tecido social cuja organização sistêmica se põe quase como elemento natural e não cultural. O texto tem por objetivo explorar a concepção política de Agamben sobre a política contemporânea, especialmente considerando seu livro: ‘Estado de Exceção’, cuja investigação apresenta a possibilidade de atenuação dos direitos de cidadania e o enfraquecimento da prática da liberdade política e o processo de relação dos indivíduos no meio social através da redução das subjetividades ‘autênticas’. Analisamos ainda a transferência do mundo sacro elaborado pelos teólogos católicos presente na modernidade à política cuja democracia moderna faz do homem (sujeito) tornar-se objeto do poder político. Faz também, reflexão dos conceitos de subjetivação e dessubjetivação relacionando-os às implicações políticas do homem moderno. A pesquisa é bibliográfica com ênfase na análise dos conceitos elaborados por Agamben, especialmente quanto ao ‘dispositivo’. Conclui que o indivíduo ocidental, de modo geral, sofre o processo de dessubjetivação e está ‘nu’, indefeso e alienado politicamente. Ele precisa voltar-se ao processo de ‘profanação’ dos dispositivos para libertar-se das vinculações orientadoras que forçosamente o descaracteriza enquanto ser ativo e livre.</p><p class="resumoabstract"><strong>Palavras-chave</strong>: Política. Liberdade. Subjetivação.</p><h3>ABSTRACT</h3><p class="resumoabstract">Professor Giorgio Agamben has been criticizing the ingenious modern Western political structure. It evaluates the mechanisms of state control, in which it calls them 'devices', whose strength lies in the overlap with legal-theological norms with their similar rites and liturgies. Its occurrences and legitimacy preponderate in the social fabric whose systemic organization is almost as a natural and not a cultural element. The text aims to explore Agamben's political conception of contemporary politics, especially considering his book 'State of Exception', whose research presents the possibility of attenuating citizenship rights and weakening the practice of political freedom and the individuals in the social environment through the reduction of 'authentic' subjectivities. We also analyze the transfer of the sacred world elaborated by the Catholic theologians present in the modernity to the politics whose modern democracy makes of the man - subject - to become object of the political power. It also reflects on the concepts of subjectivation and desubjectivation, relating them to the political implications of modern man. The research is bibliographical with emphasis in the analysis of the concepts elaborated by Agamben, especially with regard to the 'device'. He concludes that the Western individual, in general, suffers the process of desubjectivation and is 'naked', defenseless and politically alienated. He must turn to the process of 'desecration' of devices to free himself from the guiding bindings that forcibly demeanes him while being active and free.</p><p class="resumoabstract"><strong>Keywords</strong>: Politics. Freedom. Subjectivity. </p><p> </p>


Hypatia ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-118
Author(s):  
Alice Pechriggl

2020 ◽  
pp. 129-148
Author(s):  
Halyna Маtsyuk

The article is devoted to the formation of a linguistic interpretation of the interaction of language and culture of the Polish-Ukrainian border territories. The material for the analysis includes nomic systems of Ukrainian and Polish languages, which are considered as a cultural product of interpersonal and interethnic communication and an element of the language system, as well as invariant scientific theory created in the works of Polish onomastics (according to key theoretical concepts, tradition of analysis, and continuity in linguistic knowledge). The analysis performed in the article allows us to single out the linguistic indicators of the interaction of language and culture typical for the subject field of sociolinguistics. These are connections and concepts: language-territory, language-social strata, language-gender, language-ethnicity, social functions of the Polish language, and non-standardized spelling systems. Linguistic indicators reveal the peculiar mechanisms of the border in the historical memory and collective consciousness, marking the role of languages in these areas as a factor of space and cultural marker and bringing us closer to understanding the social relations of native speakers in the fifteenth-nineteenth centuries.


Author(s):  
Ieva Rodiņa

The aim of the research “Historical Memory in the Works of the New Generation of Latvian Theater Artists: The Example of “The Flea Market of the Souls” is to focus on the current but at the same time little discussed topic in Latvian theater – the change of generations and the social processes connected to it, that are expressed on the level of world views, experiences, intergenerational relationships. Most directly, these changes are reflected in the phenomenon of historical memory. The concept of “postmemory” was defined by German professor Marianne Hirsch in 1992, suggesting that future generations are closely related to the personal and collective cultural traumas of previous generations, which are passing on the past experience through historical memory, thus affecting the present. Grotesque, self-irony, and focusing on socio-political, provocative questions and themes are the connecting point of the generation of young Latvian playwrights born in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including such personalities as Jānis Balodis, Rasa Bugavičute-Pēce, Matīss Gricmanis, Justīne Kļava, etc. However, unlike Matīss Gricmanis or Janis Balodis who represent the aesthetics of political theater, in Justīne Kļava’s works, sociopolitical processes become the background of a generally humanistic study of the relationships between generations. This theme is represented not only in “The Flea Market of the Souls”, but also in other plays, like “Jubilee ‘98” and “Club “Paradise””. The tendency to investigate the traces left by the Soviet heritage allows to define these works as autobiographical researches of the identity of the post-Soviet generation, analyzing life in today's Latvia in terms of historical memory. Using the semiotic, hermeneutic, phenomenological approach, the play “The Flea Market of the Souls” and its production in Dirty Deal Teatro (2017) are analyzed as one of the most vivid works reflecting the phenomenon of historical memory in recent Latvian original drama.


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