scholarly journals Musical Body of the Universe: the one and many in an Amazonian cosmology

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Wright
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Interethnic Relations ◽  
The World ◽  
Spirit World ◽  
History Of ◽  
One And Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Spiritual Body ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Universe

Resumo Este trabalho explora os significados de “Corpo” e “Espírito” em relação a um dos mais importantes personagens na cosmologia Hohodene, o espírito “Guardião da Doença e da Magia”, chamado Kuwai [“Yurupary”, em língua geral]. Este Grande Espírito é uma síntese extraordinariamente complexa da visão Hohodene (e de outros Baniwa, povos falantes do Arawak setentrional). Ele é o “coração/ alma” do seu pai, o Criador Nhiaperikuli, o que implica que ele não é um ser material. O corpo de seu “Espírito” é permeado por buracos, por onde a respiração de sua alma produz uma grande variação de sons, melodias e canções. Todos esses sons, eventualmente, se tornaram canções ancestrais primordiais produzidas por flautas; muitos deles referentes a animais primordiais, peixes ou cantos de pássaros intrinsecamente conectados aos valores e processos reproduzidos pela sociedade Hohodene: parentesco vs afins, feitiçaria contra curandeiros, os primeiros antepassados (que ainda não estavam plenamente humanos) e suas relações. De maneira geral, o Corpo-espírito de Kuwai, depois transformado pelo Pai Criador Nhiaperikuli em flautas e trompetes musicais e sacros, pode ser entendido como os meios de reproduzir a “sociedade” e o “universo”. Além do mais, este trabalho explora “o corpo musical do universo” dos Hohodene. Som e visão são propositalmente conectados como os principais geradores de vida os quais dão princípio e eternamente reproduzirão o mundo. Em minha interpretação, eu busco desvelar as múltiplas camadas de significados relacionadas a esta figura ao utilizar de exegeses nativas que conectam narrativas, representações gráficas (incluindo petroglifos), curas xamânicas e visões, geografia sagrada e cantos sacros. Eu espero mostrar que as noções Hohodene de Self, Cosmos, Ontologia e História estão entrelaçadas em uma abrangente multiplicidade de seres vivos em um ínico material e espiritual “Corpo”. O corpo de Kuwai é considerado o corpo do universo, em que os mundos material e espiritual estão intimamente entrelaçados. Assim, as relações com o mundo espiritual, como as relações com o mundo dos brancos, ou as relações com a categoria de estranhos dentro da sociedade (ou seja, os feiticeiros) são igualmente partes da historicidade indígena no sentido mais básico da palavra, que é a reprodução da sociedade e cosmos no tempo e no espaço. Sociedade não consiste apenas em parentelas (neste caso, fratrias exogâmicas), mas também “outros grupos”, a alteridade, povos fora do círculo de parentelas. A história sagrada para os Baniwa, como lembrado em narrativas e pinturas rupestres, confunde-se com os processos reais e eventos, tais como relações interétnicas com os brancos, e a história das acusações de feitiçaria que deram origem a movimentos proféticos desde o século XIX.  Abstract This paper explores the meanings of “Body” and “Spirit” in relation to one of the most important personages in Hohodene cosmology, the spirit “Owner of Sickness and Sorcery”, named Kuwai. {“Yurupary” in general language] This Great Spirit is an extraordinarily complex synthesis of the Hohodene (and other Baniwa, northern Arawak-speaking peoples) worldview. He is the “heart/ soul” of his father, the Creator Nhiaperikuli, implying that he was not a material being. His spirit “Body” was full of holes from which the breath of his soul produced a very large range of sounds, melodies, and song. All of these sounds eventually became primordial ancestral songs produced by material flutes; many of them refer to primor- dial animal, fish, or birdsongs intrinsically connected to core values and processes reproduced in Hohodene society: kinship vs affines, sorcery vs healers, the first ancestors (who were not yet fully human) and their relations. Taken as a who- le, the spirit-Body of Kuwai, later transformed by the Creator Father Nhiaperikuli into sacred musi- cal flutes and trumpets, can be understood as the means for reproducing ‘society’ and the ‘universe’. Thus, this paper explores the Hohodene “musical body of the universe”. Sound and vision are purposefully connected as the principal life-forces that gave rise to, and will eternally reproduce the world. In my interpretation, I seek to unravel multiple layers of meaning related to this figure by utilizing native exegeses that connect narratives, graphic representations (including petroglyphs), shamanic cures and visions, sacred geography, and sacred chants. I hope to show that Hohode- ne notions of Self, Cosmos, Ontology, and History are intertwined in an all-encompassing multiplicity of living entities into one material and spiritual “Body”. The body of Kuwai is considered the body of the universe, in which the material and spiritual worlds are inextricably interwoven. Thus, relations with the spirit-world, like relations with the world of white men, or relations with the category of outsiders within society (i.e., the sorcerers) are all equally parts of indigenous historicity in the most basic sense of the word, that is, the reproduction of society and cosmos in time and space. Society consists not only of kingroups, (in this case, exogamous phratries), but also, “other groups”, alterity, peoples outside the circle of kingroups. Sacred history for the Baniwa, as remembered in narratives and petroglyphs, is intertwined with actual processes and events such as interethnic relations with the Whites, and the history of sorcery accusations which have given rise to prophet movements ever since the 19th century.   

Plotinus and Posidonius

1930 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 198-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Witt
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
History Of Thought ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Theory Of Ideas ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Platonic Theory

Probably no philosopher of antiquity has occasioned more daring speculations and the expression of graver doubts than Posidonius. On the one hand it has been argued that he was purely a man of science and hardly a Stoic philosopher at all. On the other hand he has been called the first and greatest Stoic mystic who under Oriental influence spurned the body as vile and earthly. Reinhardt has of late years resolutely maintained that the importance of Posidonius in the history of thought lies in his having originated a completely new Vitalism, and that his conception of the world is one in which ‘Subjekt und Objekt, Geist und Wissen, Mensch und Gott, νος und ζω durch eine im Bewusstsein neu erwachte Kraft sich einen und durchdringen: durch die “Sympathie.”’ Among other German scholars Geffcken holds that Plotinus borrowed much from Posidonius, and Jaeger roundly declares that if Posidonius had but found a place for the Platonic Ideas, there would have been nothing left for Plotinus to find. Schmekel and Bréhier have both stated that modifying the Platonic Theory of Ideas Posidonius established an identification between the Ideas and the Spermatic Logoi of Stoicism.

World Ages and the Body Politic

1961 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 131-140
Author(s):  
H. J. Rose
Keyword(s):  
Body Politic ◽  
Early Period ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Wide Spread ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
The One ◽  
The Universe

When, at an unknown but manifestly early period, speculation regarding the duration and destiny of the world began, the thinkers of those days had two analogies to guide them, and consequently two divergent conclusions were reached. The first was the recurrent cycle of the seasons; the second, the growth, maturity, decay and death of the human and all other animal bodies. Reasoning from the one, some arrived at the conclusion that the world, at least the earth and mankind, had passed and would always continue to pass through a series of epochs, limited in number, which when they had ended would recommence, and so on indefinitely. From the other datum the result was reached that as a man dies and does not come to life again (for even the fairly wide-spread and early doctrine of reincarnation supposed only that the soul would be given a new earthly body of some kind, not that the whole individual would return), so the earth, or the universe generally, would grow old and die and that would be the end of it. It is the purpose of this paper to examine these two ideas and one or two offshoots of them as they are known to have appeared in the two classical civilizations of Europe, and especially in Greece, and if possible to draw some tentative conclusions as to which, if either, can be found more characteristic of native thought.

scholarly journals Memory about the Arab Slave Trade in Modern-Day Tanzania: Between Family Trauma and State-Planted Tolerance

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (44) ◽  
pp. 83-113
Author(s):  
Anastasia Banshchikova ◽  
Oxana Ivanchenko
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Field Research ◽  
The Other ◽  
Interethnic Relations ◽  
Family Trauma ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
The 19Th Century

The article discusses the results of field research conducted in Tanzania from August 24 to September 14, 2018, which focused on the historical memory of the Arab slave trade in East Africa and the Indian Ocean in the 19th century, as well as its influence on the interethnic relations in the country today. Structured and nonstructured interviews (mostly in-depth) were conducted in Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo and Zanzibar. In general, opinions were almost equally divided: half of the respondents were convinced that the relations were good overall, while the other half believed that there are some tensions. Since both positions are well-argued and substantiated, it is possible to trace a number of patterns in the people’s perception. The history of the Arab slave trade lies between family trauma on the one hand, and tolerance, non-discrimination imposed by the state, on the other. Two ways of reproducing the historical memory largely oppose each other: the school system places the blame on Europeans, promoting peaceful interethnic relations, presenting the slave trade as an essential part of colonialism, and subsequently emphasizing the story of overcoming the colonial past; meanwhile, the oral tradition censors nothing and tells the history of the ancestors’ suffering in its entirety. Thus, bearers of the oral tradition with a low level of education turn to be the most vulnerable category; they become the least tolerant to the Arab-Tanzanian part of the country’s population.

scholarly journals Foki Szumejowego podróże do źródeł. Pępek ziemi w ujęciu Stanisława Vincenza

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 179-196
Author(s):  
Jakub Żmidziński
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Temporal Dimension ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Dead ◽  
History Of Culture ◽  
The One ◽  
The Universe

FOKA SZUMEJOWY'S JOURNEYS TO THE SOURCE. THE NAVEL OF THE EARTH AS PRESENTED BY STANISŁAW VINCENZContinuing Jacek Kolbuszewski’s exegesis of the spatial orders in Stanisław Vincenz’s Na wysokiej połoninie On the High Mountain Pastures, the author of the article attempts to recreate the “philosophy of space” as formulated by the Homer of the Hutsuls. He carries out a detailed analysis of two fragments of the Hutsul epic: Maksym the seer’s story of a rock church from Barwinkowy wianek Periwinkle Wreath and Foka Szumejowy’s expedition to the navel of the earth described in Zwada Squabble. In both case inspirations from Dante’s Divine Comedy can be seen primarily in the expansion of space: on the one hand to include the world of the dead and on the other — the universe understood in Platonic terms. Both journeys also have many characteristics testifying to their initiation-related nature. Particularly important in this respect is the expedition undertaken by Foka and his friends to the source of the Cheremosh River deep inside the Palenica Mountain, on top of which Wincenty Pol placed the point where the borders of three countries — Poland, Hungary and Romania — met. Although in the light of modern research such a location of the old border between the three states is wrong, this is precisely where Vincenz places the navel of the earth. It appear as a distant echo of the omphalos stone from Delphi; a mystical place marked by extraordinarily dense symbolism: centre of the world, bringing together the heavenly and the earthly orders, the living and the dead, and annihilating the temporal dimension. The interpretation of the symbolism of Vincenz’s navel of the world is complemented by Klucz Key, which opens Zwada and in which the author suggests a universal dimension of the history of culture, and, at the same time, mystery-like nature of art, especially literature.]]>

scholarly journals La propaganda comercial como transmisora de elementos identitarios: Algunos ejemplos de la ephemera murciana a principios del siglo XX

Imafronte ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
José Miguel López Castillo
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of Art ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Siglo Xix ◽  
The One ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Siglo Xx

Uno de los apartados menos tratados de las representaciones visuales de Murcia ha sido el de la ephemera comercial. Por tal motivo, dado su uso limitado y efímero, en muchas ocasiones no se le ha considerado como un apartado estimable en la historia del arte. Pero lo cierto es que las etiquetas de fábricas de conservas, frutas, licores y otros establecimientos, desde los últimos años del siglo XIX y la primera mitad del XX, en base al diseño difundieron los elementos identitarios más significativos de este territorio por toda España y el resto del mundo. En la mayoría de casos, la marca publicitaria estaba basada en estampas e imágenes del Costumbrismo romántico murciano que ya se habían consolidado durante el ochocientos para la demanda social de esa corriente; en otros casos se fueron adaptando a los nuevos criterios estéticos del siglo XX. Finalmente, esta forma de publicitar cada producto ayudó a patentar la denominación de origen de diversas empresas de varios sectores, principalmente agroalimentarias, y al mismo tiempo a su asimilación con esta región levantina gracias a sus hitos arquitectónicos, la huerta o sus tipos populares. Esta última premisa es la que abordaremos dentro de este estudio al contrastarlas con otras representaciones anteriores. One of the less treated sections of the visual representations of Murcia has been the comercial ephemera. For this reason, given its limited and fleeting use, it has often not been considerated as a valvable section in the history of art. But the truth is that the labels of canning factories, fruits, liquors and other establishments, from the last years of the 19th century based on the design spread the most significant identity elements of this territory throughout Spain and the rest the world. In the majority of cases, the advertising brand was based on prints and images of Murcian romantic costums that had already been consolidated during the 19th century for the social demand of this currens, in other cases they were adapted to the new aesthetic criteria of the 20th century. Finally, this way of advertising each product helped to panted the denomination of origin of various companies, mainly agry-food, and at the same time to assimilate it with this southeast region thanks to its architectural landmarks, the orchard or its popular types. This last premise is the one we will address within this study when contrasting them other previous representations.

‘A pinch of unseen, unguarded dust’: The World and Self in Thomas Hardy's Poems

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Monika Szuba
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Phenomenological Philosophy ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Recurrent Theme ◽  
Body Subject

The essay discusses selected poems from Thomas Hardy's vast body of poetry, focusing on representations of the self and the world. Employing Maurice Merleau-Ponty's concepts such as the body-subject, wild being, flesh, and reversibility, the essay offers an analysis of Hardy's poems in the light of phenomenological philosophy. It argues that far from demonstrating ‘cosmic indifference’, Hardy's poetry offers a sympathetic vision of interrelations governing the universe. The attunement with voices of the Earth foregrounded in the poems enables the self's entanglement in the flesh of the world, a chiasmatic intertwining of beings inserted between the leaves of the world. The relation of the self with the world is established through the act of perception, mainly visual and aural, when the body becomes intertwined with the world, thus resulting in a powerful welding. Such moments of vision are brief and elusive, which enhances a sense of transitoriness, and, yet, they are also timeless as the self becomes immersed in the experience. As time is a recurrent theme in Hardy's poetry, this essay discusses it in the context of dwelling, the provisionality of which is demonstrated in the prevalent sense of temporality, marked by seasons and birdsong, which underline the rhythms of the world.

Myriad Aspects of Secular Thinking on Malayali Cuisine

GIS Business ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-206
Author(s):  
SAJITHA M
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Social Indicators ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Healthy Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Civilized Society

Food is one of the main requirements of human being. It is flattering for the preservation of wellbeing and nourishment of the body.  The food of a society exposes its custom, prosperity, status, habits as well as it help to develop a culture. Food is one of the most important social indicators of a society. History of food carries a dynamic character in the socio- economic, political, and cultural realm of a society. The food is one of the obligatory components in our daily life. It occupied an obvious atmosphere for the augmentation of healthy life and anticipation against the diseases.  The food also shows a significant character in establishing cultural distinctiveness, and it reflects who we are. Food also reflected as the symbol of individuality, generosity, social status and religious believes etc in a civilized society. Food is not a discriminating aspect. It is the part of a culture, habits, addiction, and identity of a civilization.Food plays a symbolic role in the social activities the world over. It’s a universal sign of hospitality.[1]

On the nature of chemistry

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric R. Scerri
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recent History ◽  
History Of Chemistry ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Fundamental Unity ◽  
The 19Th Century

<span>The very nature of chemistry presents us with a tension. A tension between the exhilaration of diversity of substances and forms on the one hand and the safety of fundamental unity on the other. Even just the recent history of chemistry has been al1 about this tension, from the debates about Prout's hypothesis as to whether there is a primary matter in the 19th century to the more recent speculations as to whether computers will enable us to virtually dispense with experimental chemistry.</span>

Camus's Absurd and the World of Melville's Confidence-Man

PMLA ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-27
Author(s):  
Leon F. Seltzer
Keyword(s):  
Careful Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
Confidence Man ◽  
Ugly Duckling ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

In recent years, The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade, a difficult work and for long an unjustly neglected one, has begun to command increasingly greater critical attention and esteem. As more than one contemporary writer has noted, the verdict of the late Richard Chase in 1949, that the novel represents Melville's “second best achievement,” has served to prompt many to undertake a second reading (or at least a first) of the book. Before this time, the novel had traditionally been the one Melville readers have shied away from—as overly discursive, too rambling altogether, on the one hand, or as an unfortunate outgrowth of the author's morbidity on the other. Elizabeth Foster, in the admirably comprehensive introduction to her valuable edition of The Confidence-Man (1954), systematically traces the history of the book's reputation and observes that even with the Melville renaissance of the twenties, the work stands as the last piece of the author's fiction to be redeemed. Only lately, she comments, has it ceased to be regarded as “the ugly duckling” of Melville's creations. But recognition does not imply agreement, and it should not be thought that in the past fifteen years critics have reached any sort of unanimity on the novel's content. Since Mr. Chase's study, which approached the puzzling work as a satire on the American spirit—or, more specifically, as an attack on the liberalism of the day—and which speculated upon the novel's controlling folk and mythic figures, other critics, by now ready to assume that the book repaid careful analysis, have read the work in a variety of ways. It has been treated, among other things, as a religious allegory, as a philosophic satire on optimism, and as a Shandian comedy. One critic has conveniently summarized the prevailing situation by remarking that “the literary, philosophical, and cultural materials in this book are fused in so enigmatic a fashion that its interpreters have differed as to what the book is really about.”

Promoting astronomy in developing countries: an historical perspective

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (SPS5) ◽  
pp. 21-24
Author(s):  
Rajesh Kochhar
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Area ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Deficiency Syndrome ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mind Set ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Astronomical Instrument

AbstractAny international effort to promote astronomy world wide today must necessarily take into account its cultural and historical component. The past few decades have ushered in an age, which we may call the Age of Cultural Copernicanism. In analogy with the cosmological principle that the universe has no preferred location or direction, Cultural Copernicanism would imply that no cultural or geographical area, or ethnic or social group, can be deemed to constitute a superior entity or a benchmark for judging or evaluating others.In this framework, astronomy (as well as science in general) is perceived as a multi-stage civilizational cumulus where each stage builds on the knowledge gained in the previous stages and in turn leads to the next. This framework however is a recent development. The 19th century historiography consciously projected modern science as a characteristic product of the Western civilization decoupled from and superior to its antecedents, with the implication that all material and ideological benefits arising from modern science were reserved for the West.As a reaction to this, the orientalized East has often tended to view modern science as “their” science, distance itself from its intellectual aspects, and seek to defend, protect and reinvent “our” science and the alleged (anti-science) Eastern mode of thought. This defensive mind-set works against the propagation of modern astronomy in most of the non-Western countries. There is thus a need to construct a history of world astronomy that is truly universal and unselfconscious.Similarly, the planetarium programs, for use the world over, should be culturally sensitive. The IAU can help produce cultural-specific modules. Equipped with this paradigmatic background, we can now address the question of actual means to be adopted for the task at hand. Astronomical activity requires a certain minimum level of industrial activity support. Long-term maintenance of astronomical equipment is not a trivial task. There are any number of examples of an expensive facility falling victim to AIDS: Astronomical Instrument Deficiency Syndrome. The facilities planned in different parts of the world should be commensurate with the absorbing power of the acceptor rather than the level of the gifter.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document