Nautical Symbolism in Christian Maori Architecture

<p><b>It is well known that many Maori cultural traditions and cosmological beliefs are anchored in a sea of knowledge associated with seafaring, navigation and the oceanic environment. Despite the loss of deep-sea voyaging, this thesis explores how nautical reflexes were still very influential on various modes of expression in Christian Maori architecture of three distinct Maori religious movements from the colonial and post-colonial periods. During this investigation, this thesis also identifies a relationship that can be found between the appropriation of nautical symbolism in Christian and Maori architecture.</b></p> <p>This relationship is examined on two levels: One, in terms of how Christian and Maori iconography has latent nautical meaning and secondly, how nautical symbolism in Christian Maori architecture is more signal than sculptural. The latter identifies the more powerful, metaphysical symbols in Maori architecture and spirituality which make Christian Maori architecture uniquely different from European Christian architecture. This thesis links these qualities in symbolic Christian maori architecture to the psychic and symbolic territories known to the navigator. In doing so, this thesis discovers how nautical symbols occupy a middle ground, an in-between area bridging the known with the unknown and examines their role as mediators between the present and the past; the individual and the collective.</p> <p>This thesis finally presents an architectural design which explores specific aspects of research. In doing so, the use of nautical symbolism and water-based pragmatism through architecture explores how such methods and expressions can influence and transform Western notions of knowledge or conventional notions of contemporary (terrestrial) architecture in New Zealand. To achieve this, nautical concepts from case study material are applied to a contemporary design project in order to open up architecture to its metaphysical dimension rather than focussing on the object (sculptural) that is frozen in time. As a result, this design also celebrates and revives the nautical instinct of Maori in terms of how it can offer new and meaningful ways to design architecture in oceania and New Zealand.</p>

Nautical Symbolism in Christian Maori Architecture

<p><b>It is well known that many Maori cultural traditions and cosmological beliefs are anchored in a sea of knowledge associated with seafaring, navigation and the oceanic environment. Despite the loss of deep-sea voyaging, this thesis explores how nautical reflexes were still very influential on various modes of expression in Christian Maori architecture of three distinct Maori religious movements from the colonial and post-colonial periods. During this investigation, this thesis also identifies a relationship that can be found between the appropriation of nautical symbolism in Christian and Maori architecture.</b></p> <p>This relationship is examined on two levels: One, in terms of how Christian and Maori iconography has latent nautical meaning and secondly, how nautical symbolism in Christian Maori architecture is more signal than sculptural. The latter identifies the more powerful, metaphysical symbols in Maori architecture and spirituality which make Christian Maori architecture uniquely different from European Christian architecture. This thesis links these qualities in symbolic Christian maori architecture to the psychic and symbolic territories known to the navigator. In doing so, this thesis discovers how nautical symbols occupy a middle ground, an in-between area bridging the known with the unknown and examines their role as mediators between the present and the past; the individual and the collective.</p> <p>This thesis finally presents an architectural design which explores specific aspects of research. In doing so, the use of nautical symbolism and water-based pragmatism through architecture explores how such methods and expressions can influence and transform Western notions of knowledge or conventional notions of contemporary (terrestrial) architecture in New Zealand. To achieve this, nautical concepts from case study material are applied to a contemporary design project in order to open up architecture to its metaphysical dimension rather than focussing on the object (sculptural) that is frozen in time. As a result, this design also celebrates and revives the nautical instinct of Maori in terms of how it can offer new and meaningful ways to design architecture in oceania and New Zealand.</p>

Resuscitating the African Oral Artistic Tradition: Towards a Re-enactment of Storytelling for Moral Rebirth among the Nigerian Youth

The study was conducted to examine the role of storytelling in the moral upbringing of the Nigerian youth. Storytelling is one of the important subgenres of the prose form of oral literature. Being a verbal art used in traditional African society for entertainment and didacticism, its usefulness in inculcating in children values, mores and cosmological beliefs of traditional African society cannot be downplayed. In recent times, however, the art seems to have suffered atrophy since it is rarely told by parents to their children. One factor responsible for this is the creeping pace of the poor economic climate currently ravaging many African countries. Suffice it to state that, a poor economy has continually forced many parents to scout for the fleeting means of survival which prevents them from spending quality time with their children. As it appears presently, storytelling seems to be threatened in Nigeria, and by extension the entire Africa, by the overbearing influence of the cyber age. Undoubtedly, the cyber culture heralds the age of technological revolution which manifests in the overwhelming use of the Internet and social media. However, the age has witnessed the evolution of several devices that ostensibly render the art of storytelling preposterous. Nevertheless, while social media is fast spreading a subversion of African traditions, it becomes increasingly important to counterbalance this trend with the art of storytelling. Consequently, this study was conducted with a view to reiterating the significance of storytelling as a veritable conduit for moral regeneration of youth and children in the quest for national development. Iwo and Evbologun, two traditionally oriented Yoruba and Bini communities acclaimed for their folkloristic enterprises, were chosen for the study. Given their cultural inclinations, the choice of these communities was informed by the need to re-evaluate the practice or otherwise of the storytelling art there. The study is anchored in structuralism to explain that cultural elements operate in an interrelated manner. Interestingly, it found that oral narrative (storytelling) is ostensibly declining among most Nigerians, though some people understand its usefulness and want it to be resuscitated.

The Syncretic Revelation of John of Gaza

This paper suggests that John of Gaza’s poem Tabula Mundi which is in general considered to be an ekphrasis of a real picture that had once adorned winter baths in Gaza or Antioch, actually reflects the author’s personal cosmological beliefs and is an ekphrasis in form only. In the poem there are parallels both with the mystical narratives of the ascent to heaven, and with Christian apocalyptic teachings. However, John of Gaza’s ʻrevelationʼ is not about the end of the world, but about its infinity and wise structure. The form of ekphrasis may have been chosen for the sake of disguise, since in the time when John lived, the views reflected in his poem may have been considered heretical.

Ulysses’ journey home to Ithaca: a new metaphor for understanding the General Theory

This paper argues that in order to remedy the lack of alternative methods in current macroeconomics it is necessary to clarify the ontology of Keynes’s General Theory. One of the reasons why Keynes lost his generality battle is that he left many gaping holes in the ‘correct’ articulation of his research programme—especially in terms of the specification of hard-core ‘cosmological’ beliefs concerning stability, value and aggregate behaviour—yet to be filled by the post-Keynesian literature. In order to start filling the gaps, this paper proposes a new agenda called ‘The General Theory 4.0’ based on the new ‘Ulysses’ journey’ metaphor, which, it shows, is better than alternative ones, such as Farmer’s ‘windy boat’ and Akerlof and Shiller’s ‘rollercoaster’, for improving understanding of Keynes’s book.

IDEOLOGICAL CONCEPTS AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE PRISULAK TRIBES IN THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE

The article is devoted to the study of ideological concepts and the social structure of the population of one of the archaeological formations of the North-Eastern Caucasus of the Middle Bronze Age - the Prisulak culture. The work is based on the analysis of burial and religious monuments, the study of which allows revealing various religious concepts and rituals of the cult nature of the local population of the Middle Bronze Age. Examination of the burial structures and the rite of the early group of burials of the burial mounds of the Prisulak district testifies to the diversity of the burial structures and the great diversity of the funerary rites. Ground pits, stone tombs, small stone boxes were revealed: with stretched, seated and crouched bones oriented in the east, southeast, south and south-west directions. In the funeral rite of the early group of burials, along with ancient and local elements, features characteristic of the tribes of the North Caucasus and the steppes of Southeast Europe are noted. A comprehensive study of the burial structures and rituals, as well as cult objects of the Prisulak culture during the Middle Bronze Age, made it possible to highlight many of the problems associated with ideological concepts and social organization of society, to find out the genesis of culture and the ethnocultural contacts of the local population with adjacent tribes. A study of the materials of the Prisulak monuments made it possible to get an idea of the spiritual culture of the population of the region in question: to reveal that the tribes of the Middle Sulak basin in the Middle Bronze Age had complex and diverse beliefs, among which ideas about the “soul”, “afterlife”, magical and protective practices, animal and nature cults, and other cosmological beliefs were of a great significance.

The Connections between Huashan Rock Art Site of China and Ancient Egypt

The Huashan rock art site may be considered to be one of the most impressive pre-Historic painted panels of the world. The site is located in the Zuojiang River valley of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a border area of south-west China, neighbouring Vietnam. This article tries to explore the possible connection between the landscape of the Huashan rock art site , cosmological beliefs of the Luo Yue people and ancient Egypt’s the Valley of the Kings, cosmological beliefs of the ancient Egyptian.

A New Look at Old Temples

Among the most interesting features of the provincial Roman veteran colony of Augusta Raurica (present-day Switzerland) are its sanctuaries, which were constructed during a period of profound cultural transformation. The current study examines the temples within their surrounding landscape and skyscape, to explore the possibility that their locations and orientations may bear testimony to the cosmological beliefs of the colony's inhabitants. The findings suggest that alignments with the star cluster of the Pleiades and the constellation Orion constituted a connective element between earth and sky and were used by the Gallo-Roman elites to reconcile agricultural work and seasonal festivities with new socio-political and religious requirements.

Knowth passage-grave in Ireland: An instrument of precision astronomy?

Knowth is one of three large monuments at the Neolithic complex in the bend of the River Boyne in County Meath, Ireland. The others are Newgrange and Dowth. All three have obvious solar alignments but whereas the alignment to the winter solstice sunrise at Newgrange has been extensively researched and interpreted, little has been attempted regarding the way that astronomy functions at Knowth and Dowth. This paper treats the evidence for solar and lunar alignments at Knowth. Knowth has two internal passages with entrances at the east and west. The paper draws on new surveys as well as interpretations of the evidence at Knowth that includes rock art engraved on kerbstones around the circumference. Particular engravings on kerbstone K52 are interpreted as depicting astronomical cycles. It is argued that, while Knowth’s passages function in relation to the equinoxes, they are not internally orientated to match exactly the equinoctial directions. Rather, it seems that they may have been constructed and used to facilitate the harmonisation of the solar and lunar cycles - much in the same way as does the equinoctial Judeo-Christian festival of Easter. The paper concludes by suggesting that like Newgrange, Knowth may be an astronomical instrument that enabled its builders and users to construct accurate calendars and counting systems, which in turn facilitated calculated planning and was a fundamental structuring principle for their ritual lives and cosmological beliefs.

Building by Stone and Bone: Handling Cremated Remains in Late Bronze Age Sweden

The practice of cremation is very familiar, and yet alien to us today. For roughly half a century it has been the predominant method of disposal of the dead in the Scandinavian countries. An increasingly secular society has embraced its hygienic and space-saving properties and as a result cremation lawn cemeteries and memory groves are now found in both cities and countryside. The process of acceptance of cremation has, since the late nineteenth century (when cremation was first introduced in the modern era into Scandinavia), been made possible by several factors, one of them being architectural references to antiquity. The spatiality of memory groves, citing pre-Christian cultural landscapes, places the modern cremated dead in a setting perfectly logical, in connection with a consoling eternity (Williams 2011a, 2012). However, the predeposition act of cremation itself is now, unlike in prehistoric times, completely hidden from the view of the bereaved. It is not spoken of; it is handled by professionals, in stark contrast to its prehistoric open-air equivalent where sensory experiences of cremations must have been common experiences, witnessed, heard, smelled, by many people (Williams 2004a; Bille and Sørensen 2008; Back Danielsson 2009). This paradoxical fact—the familiarity, and the distance from cremation practices—certainly affects our archaeological understanding of the remains of prehistoric cremations. The images of peaceful churchyards, with individual resting places and monuments all influence our preconceptions of what a grave is, and projects them onto interpretations of past burials. Archaeologists have tackled this problem by analogical reasoning and ethnographical examples, to bring to the surface the experience of cremation which now has become hidden. Key themes in recent studies include the search for prehistoric eschatological and cosmological beliefs, including discussions of the transformative properties of the cremation act (Bille and Sørensen 2008; Goldhahn 2007; Kaliff 1997, 2005a, 2007; Kaliff and Oestigaard 2013; Oestigaard 1999, 2000). What happens after cremation—the deposition of the burnt bones in sites that are archeologically labelled prehistoric burial grounds—is somewhat less frequently discussed (see however Arcini et al. 2007; Arcini and Lönn 2009). The burial ground as an archaeological category still suffers from lack of discussion, and the image of a peaceful resting place for the ancestors still lingers.