Society, Spatiality, and the Sacred

The Essay provides space for scholars to present peerreviewed research in a manner that uses data studies and critical reflection as occasions for advancing currents in the broader academic study of religion. In this issue, we have two contributions. Umur Ko?al revisits Jerusalem’s Western Wall and submits that a spatial approach can help scholars reconsider the complex relation of sites classified as sacred. And Matteo Di Placido takes yoga studies as an example of a Foucauldian discourse formation and considers the historical and political textures that appear when examined under the light of recent research in the discursive study of religion.

Religion & Theology with Gerhard van den Heever

Gerhard van den Heever presents the history of the journal Religion & Theology, from its start as an in-house theological journal for the University of South Africa to its current frame as an international publication for the transdisciplinary study of religion and theology as discourse formation. Van den Heever presents insights into the journal’s management and shares insights for those interested in submitting their research.

On the problem of renovation of socio-cultural constants that have constructive potential for development of regional communities

In the article, the authors, on the basis of a socio-technological approach, design step-by-step procedures for the renovation of sociocultural constants that have a constructive potential for the reproduction and development of regional communities. It is noted that the sociotechnological solution to the problem of the renovation of socio-cultural constants in the region presupposes the construction of this paper according to the model of an algorithm, which is the order of performing an exact sequence of actions that are clear to the executor, ensuring the achievement of the result. Proceeding from the nonlinearity of the constant renewal process, the authors substantiate the need to use a flexible algorithm, that is, an algorithm with branching, which assumes that the transition to subsequent procedures (actions) is carried out depending on the results of checking the performance of the previous procedure. In such an algorithm, reflection of completed procedures and, on the basis of it, the choice of possible further actions, which is quite adequate to the requirements of the socio-technological approach, acquires particular importance. In the algorithm for the renovation of sociocultural constants, the authors distinguish the following sequential procedures: initiation of the renovation of a constant or a system of constants; expert assessment of the validity of the choice; establishing the degree of complementarity of the constants to the dominant attitudes and orientations of the mass consciousness; establishing a normative interpretation of the content of a constant; decomposition of a constant in the form of a system of ideas, images, symbols, everyday ideas; the transformation of a constant into a permanent element of regional public discourse; formation of the “asset” constant; building a constant infrastructure. The basis for reflection at all stages of the constructed algorithm shall be the results of diagnostics (self-diagnostics).

A Study of the Narrative Discourse in Balinese Malay Language to Increase the Culture of Literation

The purpose of this study was to find the discourse system. By using observation methods, the data collected in the form of oral and written data by informants in the village of Loloan, Jembrana, Bali. The data obtained were processed through speech analyzer and analyzed based on discourse theory. This research was very important to be implemented because it can provide theoretical linguistic benefits in the field of discourse. The discourse studies will apply various concepts in the field of discourse, both variant and universal. The application of various concepts (theories) is seen in the discovery of unique characteristics of Balinese Malay language. These various findings are certainly very useful because they are a contribution to the treasures of Indonesian discourse theory and linguistics in general. For applied linguistics, this research is useful especially in terms of the application of discourse patterns in language teaching, both Malay and Indonesian. With the recognition of the Balinese Malay language discourse formation pattern, the teachers of Malay and Indonesian languages can develop discourse formation methods and discourse analysis, both in the form of lecture modules and in the form of textbooks. It is also related to the tradition of sharing partners, both oral and written. Thus, this study can improve the culture of literacy (read-write) in the Balinese Malay community.

Crossing Out Normative Boundaries in Psychosis

The coding function of semiotic-systems in literature is explored as an example of Umberto Eco’s real and fictional protocols in the play of discourse formation (lector in fabula). The intricate phenomenological levels of intersemiotic translation (apposition, opposition, chiasm, zeugma) are illustrated by analyzing a rhetorical passage (semiotic object) from Charles Dickens’ novel Bleak House. The passage on the logic of series (“lists”) allows us to explore fact/fiction, real/imaginary, normal/abnormal, sane/insane, neurotic/psychotic choices as discourse voice protocols (active, middle, passive) for the axiological interpretation (ethic, moral, aesthetic, politic, and rhetoric) of meaning formation (tropes) and signification function (figures). Models of discourse are drawn from Benveniste, Foucault, Greimas, Lévi-Strauss, and Wilden.