scholarly journals Crossing Merfolk Narratives of the Sacred: Nalo Hopkinson’s The New Moon’s Arms and Gabrielle Tesfaye’s The Water Will Carry Us Home

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jalondra Davis
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Music ◽  
Black Atlantic ◽  
Short Film ◽  
Middle Passage ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
African Religions ◽  
African People ◽  
Combine Water ◽  
Critical Attention

This article defines what I call the ‘crossing merfolk’ narrative, the idea that African people who jumped or were cast overboard during the Middle Passage became water-dwelling beings. While critical attention has been increasing for 1990s’ electronic music duo Drexciya, whose sonic fiction contains the most well-known example of this narrative, this is actually a recurring tradition in Black oral and artistic culture that can be traced to West and Central African religions. I focus particularly on what I call ‘crossing merfolk narratives of the sacred’, M. Jacqui Alexander’s term for African diasporic religious traditions anchored in West and Central African cosmologies. Analysing the role of the sacred in two crossing merfolk narratives, Nalo Hopkinson’s 2007 novel The New Moon’s Arms and Gabrielle Tesfaye’s short film The Water Will Carry Us Home (2018), I argue that these texts expand the Black Atlantic imaginary and transform mermaid lore. I develop the term ‘diasporic collage’ to describe the ways in which Hopkinson and Tesfaye reference and combine water spirits and ritual practices from multiple African diasporic traditions into narratives that intersect mermaids and the Middle Passage.

Pater's Parerga: Framing the Imaginary Portraits

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-135
Author(s):  
Giles Whiteley
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Liminal Space ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
Similar Operation ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
The Relationship

Walter Pater's late-nineteenth-century literary genre of the imaginary portrait has received relatively little critical attention. Conceived of as something of a continuum between his role as an art critic and his fictional pursuits, this essay probes the liminal space of the imaginary portraits, focusing on the role of the parergon, or frame, in his portraits. Guided by Pater's reading of Kant, who distinguishes between the work (ergon) and that which lies outside of the work (the parergon), between inside and outside, and contextualised alongside the analysis of Derrida, who shows how such distinctions have always already deconstructed themselves, I demonstrate a similar operation at work in the portraits. By closely analysing the parerga of two of Pater's portraits, ‘Duke Carl of Rosenmold’ (1887) and ‘Apollo in Picardy’ (1893), focusing on his partial quotation of Goethe in the former, and his playful autocitation and impersonation of Heine in the latter, I argue that Pater's parerga seek to destabilise the relationship between text and context so that the parerga do not lie outside the text but are implicated throughout in their reading, changing the portraits constitutively. As such, the formal structure of the parergon in Pater's portraits is also a theoretical fulcrum in his aesthetic criticism and marks that space where the limits of, and distinctions between, art and life become blurred.

Choosing to be the Hero, the Joker, the Villain: An Interview with Arthur Dong

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-46
Author(s):  
Oliver Wang
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Short Film ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
West Hollywood

Oliver Wang interviews documentary filmmaker Arthur Dong. Originally from San Francisco, Dong began his career as a student filmmaker in the 1970s before releasing the Oscar-nominated short film, Sewing Woman in 1982. Since then, his films have focused on the role of Chinese and Asian Americans in entertainment industries as well as on anti-LGBQ discrimination. In the interview, Wang and Dong discuss Dong's beginnings as a high school filmmaker, his decision to turn the story of his seamstress mother into Sewing Woman, his struggle to bring together the Asian American and queer film communities and his recent experience in staging a “Hollywood Chinese” exhibit inside a renovated bar in West Hollywood.

Editor’s Corner: Critics or Caretakers?

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-39
Author(s):  
Philip Tite
Keyword(s):  
Religious Studies ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Short Piece ◽  
Short Essay ◽  
Academic Study

A short essay, in responding to an online roundtable (the Religious Studies Project), explores the role of progressive ideology in the academic study of religion, specifically with a focus on debates over Russell McCutcheon's distinction between scholars functioning as cultural critics or caretakers of religious traditions. This short piece is part of the "Editor's Corner" (an occasional section of the Bulletin where the editors offer provocative musings on theoretical challenges facing the discipline).

Gandhi’s Metaphysics as Encountering the 'Unreasonable'

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 31-54
Author(s):  
Michael Allen ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Growth ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Cultural Adaptations ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Moral Learning ◽  
Devotional Practices ◽  
Cultural Resonance ◽  
Conflict Resolutions

In this article, I reconsider Gandhi's relationship to liberal democracy. I argue that a properly Gandhian approach to this relationship should emphasize the role of the satyagrahi facilitating conflict resolutions and progress in truth. Above all, this approach calls upon courageous, exemplary individuals to pass over and join the viewpoints of 'unreasonables' marginalized by the liberal state. However, I also argue that contemporary Gandhians should explore cultural adaptations of the satyagrahi-role appropriate to highly materialistic, multicultural liberal-democracies. In these societies, the traditional figure of the ascetic or saint may lack popular cultural resonance. Moreover, moral learning and spiritual insight often derives from popular culture and entertainment as much as religious traditions, or devotional practices. Contemporary Gandhi’s scholars should thus consider the prospects for 'alternative satyagrahis' embracing some materialist values and cultural motifs, as appropriate sources spiritual growth and soul-force.

scholarly journals Japanese Concepts of Angels: Analyzing Depictions of Celestial Beings in the shōjo Manga Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dunja Sharbat Dar
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
The Other ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Cultural Perspectives ◽  
Christian Religion ◽  
Hermeneutic Approach ◽  
Shojo Manga ◽  
Insight Into

White wings, long hair, 'pure' faces: the appearance of angels frequently follows similar aesthetics connected to Christian imagery. Angels and Christian religion also are popular themes in manga, Japanese comics, often intermingled with Buddhist or Shinto notions. Since imagery in popular culture resonates and shapes vernacular and cultural perspectives, manga like Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne (KKJ) provide an important insight into the conceptualization of angels in Japan. This article therefore analyzes the contrary role of angels in KKJ as the Other, the mysterious, serene one, while simultaneously angels are depicted as part of the circle of life every creature undergoes in Buddhist cosmology. Based on a visual hermeneutic approach, this article demonstrates how the intermix of both visual and religious traditions in Japan shape the depiction of angels in Japanese popcultural media.

scholarly journals Peranan Tuan Guru Ormas Islam Nahdlatul Wathan di Lombok Wadah Ajaran Keagamaan dan Sosial (Islam)

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Jun Mawalidin
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Religious Expression ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Library Research ◽  
Mass Organization ◽  
Very High ◽  
High Place

<p class="05Abstrak">Abstract</p><p class="06IsiAbstrak">The teachings of Islam for the Sasak people get a very high place in carrying out their daily religious life in accordance with the teachings of their religion. The purpose of this study is to analyze theoretical analysis on Islamic religious traditions that have existed in the Sasak community since the beginning of their entry, placing more emphasis on strengthening religious practices or rituals that at a glance place great importance on religious expression. This research method uses the library research method about the role of the Nahdlatul Wathan Islamic mass organization figure in Lombok. The results showed that Nahdlatul Wathan focused on three areas of development, namely education, social and da'wah. The presence of Tuan Guru on the island of a thousand mosques gives a different feel. Bahklan is a characteristic of society, its influence can be felt in various fields, not only in the field of education, in politics but also in the executive field. </p><p class="06IsiAbstrak"><strong>Keywords:</strong> Tuan Guru, Community, Lombok, Nahdlatul Wathan.</p><p class="061AbstrakIndonesia">Abstrak</p><p class="061IsiAbstrakIndoneia">Ajaran Islam bagi masyarakat sasak mendapatkan tempat yang sangat tinggi dalam menjalankan kehidupan keagamaannya sehari-hari sesuai dengan ajaran agama yang dianut. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah melakukan telaah teori analisis pada Tradisi keagamaan Islam yang terdapat di masyarakat Sasak sejak awal masuknya, lebih menekankan pada penguatan-penguatan amalan atau ritual keagamaan yang secara sepintas sangat mementingkan ekspresi keagamaan. Metode penelitian ini menggunakan metode <em>library research</em> tentang peranan tokoh ormas islam nahdlatul wathan yang ada di lombok. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Nahdlatul Wathan fokus pada tiga bidang pembangunan, yaitu pendidikan, sosial dan dakwah. Kehadiran Tuan Guru di pulau seribu masjid memberikan nuansa yang berbeda. Bahklan merupakan ciri khas masyarakat, pengaruhnya dapat dirasakan di berbagai bidang, tidak hanya di bidang pendidikan, di bidang politik tetapi juga di bidang eksekutif.  </p><p class="05Abstrak"><strong>Kata kunci:</strong> Tuan Guru,<em> </em>Masyarakat, Lombok, Nahdlatul Wathan.</p>

Before Kṛṣṇa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanika Kishore Saxena
Keyword(s):  
Historical Data ◽  
Religious History ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
Coherent Picture

Mathura is famous for its association with Vāsudeva‒Kṛṣṇa, an important deity of the Hindu pantheon. However, apart from the sanctity attached to this place by Hindus, it has also provided conditions for the nurturing of Buddhist, Jaina, nāga and yakṣa traditions. This book engages in a wide range of epigraphic, archaeological and art historical data from the various sites in the Mathura area and weaves this to present a coherent picture of the variegated religious history of the area from c.600 CE to c.1000 CE, which witnessed various religions/cults/sects competing for attention and patronage. The chapters in this book have been divided according to religious traditions, namely, Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism, along with the Kṛṣṇa, yakṣa, nāga, and mātṛkā cults. It raises many important issues related to Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism as well as older cults of the yakṣas and nāgas. The objects of donation ranged from images, stūpas, temples to tanks and gardens. Donations by monks and nuns; together with laity from different locations within and beyond Mathura, amply reflect on the social mosaic of the time. The role of monastics and laity, the nature of patronage, and the social and political underpinnings of the religious history are also examined, all within a long, diachronic frame. This book reveals the complexity of the religious history of Mathura to provide the reader a taste of its diversity and plurality.

Celebrity

2017 ◽  
pp. 71-104
Author(s):  
Gian Maria Annovi
Keyword(s):  
Culture Industry ◽  
The Other ◽  
Short Film ◽  
Symbolic Form ◽  
Orson Welles ◽  
Celebrity Culture ◽  
The Media ◽  
Marilyn Monroe

Chapter Three discusses the conditions for the strategic branding of Pasolini’s authorship in the Italian media during the 60s, and his attitude to celebrity culture. In this chapter, I consider the idea of performing authorship in the terms of self-fictionalization and masquerade. In particular, in his short film La ricotta (The Ricotta, 1964), which represents the first example of the spectacularization of Pasolini’s authorship, he projects his authorial self onto the figure of American star director Orson Welles. An outsider of the studio system, Welles furnishes Pasolini a model for an auteur who persistently seeks out a performative mode, putting himself in play as the author alongside the other characters. At the same time, through the figure of this star director, Pasolini also expresses his uncompromising attitude toward celebrity culture and culture industry. In La rabbia (The Rage, 1963)—created through montages of unused film footage from a film archive—Pasolini uses another international star, Marilyn Monroe, to stage his ambivalence towards the role of his own representation in the media. For Pasolini, Monroe’s death becomes a tragic, symbolic form of subjective resistance and a protest against the conformist system of celebrity that they both confronted.

Psytrance Influences on Touchless Interactive Experiences

2015 ◽  
pp. 146-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo César Teles ◽  
Aidan Boyle
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Electronic Music ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Technological Equipment ◽  
Human Being ◽  
New Media Art ◽  
Art And Technology ◽  
Innovative Behaviour ◽  
And Control

In the fields of new media, art, and technology, we live and evolve together with multimedia interactivedigital technology. This symbiosis has made it possible to develop novel works that dialogue with theexploratory nature of the human being when confronted with unfamiliar technological equipment. The electronic music scenario brought us some elements that inspired and provoked us in this quest. The Psytrance style in particular made us realize that once a minimal simple harmony was supported by a solid rhythm, the audience could interact and control many of the sound clusters available, solely with their body movement. In this chapter we report experimental results and analysis, which point towards an approach for composing electronic music through the distinct and innovative behaviour of the participants, turning them into real performers, as well as transforming the role of the DJ/VJ by engaging them in a two-way dialogue with their audience.

Nones

2019 ◽  
pp. 140-162
Author(s):  
Tim Clydesdale ◽  
Kathleen Garces-Foley
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
National Study ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Popular Press ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Growing Population

Relying on in-depth interviews and the National Study of American Twentysomethings, this chapter describes the heterogeneous young adults who are religious unaffiliated. Known in the popular press as the Nones, most of these young adults were raised in a Christian religious tradition, which they now reject, but that does not mean they have no interest in religion. Some are anti-religious and many are disinterested, but others hold traditional beliefs in a personal God and in an afterlife while rejecting religious institutions. Still others create an eclectic spirituality that draws from many religious traditions. The chapter provides estimated proportions of Nones who are philosophical secularists, indifferent secularists, spiritual eclectics, and unaffiliated believers. This chapter examines the role of context in the fluid religious, spiritual, and secular identities of twentysomething Nones and reports on the values, behaviors, and confidence in social institutions of this growing population.

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