As steps are taken towards the end of apartheid and a new political future in South Africa the theme of religion and politics is both topical and urgent. Religion plays and will play a large part in South Africa, as the experiences of Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Namibia already show. The contributions from an interdisciplinary seminar held in Uppsala, Sweden, offer both sceptical, self-critical, hopeful and cautious perspectives from a variety of viewpoints.
The appearance of J. R. Oldfield's study, Popular politics and British anti-slavery, first published by Manchester University Press in 1995, now in paperback and therefore available for a student market, is much to be welcomed. The book is already well established in its field. As James Walvin writes in his preface, 'Oldfield's research serves to clinch a simple but critical issue, namely that in the attack on the slave trade, popular revulsion was crucial' (p. vi). Building on the work of earlier scholars, notably Seymour Drescher, Hugh Honour and Clare Midgley, Oldfield has demonstrated the ways in which the abolition movement turned to mobilizing public opinion after 1787 against the slave trade. At the centre of his investigation are the petition campaigns of 1788 and 1792. In analysing anti-slavery sentiment he successfully brings together approaches which focus on the eighteenth century as a period of expansion in commercial society and popular forms of politics with the agenda of historians of the slave trade and slavery. The abolition movement, he argues, provided the prototype for modern reforming organizations. It was peopled by practical middle-class men who understood the importance of the expansion of the market and consumer choice. It succeeded in capturing the imagination of those, predominantly middle-class men and women, who were increasingly interested in engaging in forms of public debate and who had the resources, both in terms of time and money, to do so. His book, he argues, is a piece of 'thick description' which offers 'fresh insights into the increasingly powerful role of the middle classes in influencing Parliamentary politics from outside the confines of Westminster'
To explore the question "How can someone create art now?," the essay first sketches a broad historical framework, and continues by peering through a lens made of two concepts: the center, and dissent. It explores the Greek influence (Plato the centrist, Socrates the dissenter; dissent as apartness, the center as control molded by dissent) and Christianity (dissent in Job, the Fall, and St. Francis). Whereas the dissent of Socrates was the mold filled by Plato's Center, in Christianity the omnipotent, omnipresent God is the mold, Sin and the Fall its negative, dissent molded by the Center: a double obverse. The essay talks about contemporary music and violence: the beat and the originary scene (Boulez), other strategies (Xenakis, Cage); commodification; rock promoting the ecstasy of identity and submission; Disneyfication. It explores feminism on violence; critical theory on the subject; the Deleuzian Body Without Organs and Kristeva's chora; and Judith Butler on subjectless agency, signification as a regulated process of repetition. Finally, the essay touches on the relations among dissent, autonomy, agency; superfaciality; insignification; theory as praxis as art as life; and intimate apartness built into the Sichselbstgleichheit of the work of art.
Malta became a British colony in 1800 and its function was that of a fortress within an imperial network. This influenced all that happened in the colony along the nineteenth century. Not least affected was the sphere of education where a main feature of Anglicisation was the forceful attempt to change Malta's everyday school language from Italian to English. This was no easy task as the Maltese pro-Italian party, the Nationalists, made every effort to impede and overturn any such British attempt. To add to the tension, the British were religiously Protestant and this clashed with the sentiments of the predominantly Roman Catholic native population. Thus the vigilant Catholic Church viewed with suspicion all that was attempted in education by the colonial Government. There was a continuous concern that the British would use schools to convert the Maltese to Protestantism. In such an atmosphere life in schools was by no means easygoing. Teachers bore the brunt of contrasts and concerns without having the space to show their distress. ; peer-reviewed
This article reviews geographical research on religion in the 1990s, and highlights work from neighbouring disciplines where relevant. Contrary to views that the field is incoherent, I suggest that much of the literature pays attention to several key themes, particularly, the politics and poetics of religious place, identity and community. I illustrate the key issues, arguments and conceptualizations in these areas, and suggest various ways forward. These 'new' geographies emphasize different sites of religious practice beyond the 'officially sacred'; different sensuous sacred geographies; different religions in different historical and place-specific contexts; different geographical scales of analysis; different constitutions of population and their experience of and effect on religious place, identity and community; different dialectics (sociospatial, public-private, politics-poetics); and different moralities.
Ana Brito. ; Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995. ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-126). ; INTRODUCTION --- p.1 ; Research Object and Methodology --- p.1 ; Definition of the Main Concepts --- p.4 ; Religion and Ideology --- p.8 ; Macao ´ةs Historical Background --- p.10 ; Relevance of the Historical Contextualization --- p.13 ; Macao ´ةs Present Situation --- p.15 ; Chapter PART 1 - --- CATHOLIC RELIGION --- p.18 ; Chapter 1 --- Church and Government --- p.19 ; Government and Catholic Religion-Changing Strategy --- p.24 ; Chapter 2 --- Church and Ethnic Groups --- p.26 ; Diocese versus Congregations --- p.26 ; Ethnic Differentiation within the Church --- p.29 ; Localization of the Church --- p.31 ; Chapter 3 --- Conversion and Ethnic Identity --- p.36 ; Patterns of Conversion --- p.36 ; Why and How Conversion Patterns have Changed ? --- p.41 ; Catholic Religion and the different Ethnic Groups --- p.45 ; Chapter PART 2 - --- CHINESE POPULAR RELIGION --- p.50 ; Chapter 4 --- Chinese Popular Religion and the Political Power --- p.51 ; Chinese Popular Religion and the Colonial Government --- p.51 ; Chinese Popular Religion and Chinese Authorities --- p.58 ; Chapter 5 --- Analysis of Two Temples --- p.64 ; Kun Iam Ku Miu´ؤa Decaying Neighborhood Temple --- p.64 ; Kun Iam Tong´ؤa Flourishing Temple --- p.69 ; Chapter 6 --- "Kun Iam : Worshippers, History and Belief" --- p.78 ; Kun Iam Tong Worshippers --- p.78 ; Kun Iam: History and Belief --- p.82 ; Chapter 7 --- Relevance of Ritual Practices in Reinforcing Ethnic Identity --- p.87 ; CONCLUSION --- p.93 ; Religion and Ethnic Identity in Macao: Past and Present --- p.93 ; Religious Policy in the People 's Republic of China --- p.95 ; Macao1999 --- p.97 ; NOTES --- p.99 ; APPENDICES --- p.104 ; BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.118 ; GLOSSARY --- p.127
Emphasizes the importance of sacred places in India and its relation to the conflicts between Sikhs and Hindus and between Hindus and Muslims. Sense of insecurity in some of the religious groups; Need for religious groups to assert their identity; Secularity of the Indian nation-state.
Fuller Theological Seminary instituted the Payton Lectures in 1948, providing for a series of divinity lectures by a notable scholar outside the regular faculty. The lectureship is named for Dr. John E. and Mrs. Eliza Payton, parents of the late Mrs. Grace Fuller, wife of seminary founder Charles E. Fuller. El Seminario Teológico de Fuller instituyó las Conferencias Payton en 1948, proveyendo una serie de conferencias en divinidades por una persona erudita de renombre fuera de la facultad regular. Las conferencias llevan el nombre del Dr. John E. y la Sra. Eliza Payton, padres de la fallecida Sra. Grace Fuller, esposa del fundador del seminario Charles E. Fuller. 풀러신학대학원은 1948년 페이튼 강좌를 개설하여 정규 교수진 외에 저명한 학자의 신학 강연을 제공해왔습니다. 강좌의 명칭은 학교 설립자 찰스 풀러 (Charles E. Fuller)의 아내인 그레이스 풀러 (Grace Fuller) 부인의 양친 존 페이튼 (John E. Payton) 박사와 엘리자 페이튼 (Eliza Payton) 부인의 이름을 따라 붙여졌습니다.
From "Centre for Mediterranean Studies", published by the Joint Working Group of the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences of Gazi University & the Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University. ; It is a well known fact that religion is one of the substantial and major determinants which shapes or at least influences human behaviour. As an institution religion is something intensely personal but also unavoidably social at the same time. In other words religion is one of the basic socialization institutions or agents that reflects people's patterned social experiences. Therefore religion or religiously patterned human behaviours, which are closely interwoven with other social phenomenas, are the important field of inquiry for social scientists, whether they are sociologists, anthropologists, economists or political scientists. ; N/A
This paper examines the relationship between religion, ethnicity and politics in Cyprus during the Turkocratia (1571–1878), the period of Ottoman rule. Its major thesis is that in the pre-industrial framework of Ottoman rule in Cyprus neither religion nor ethnicity were major sources of conflict in a society composed of two ethnic groups (Greeks and Turks) and following two monotheistic faiths(Christianity and Islam) in marked contrast to the recent history of Cyprus. In broad outline it closely parallels Gellner's thesis (1983) that nationalism is a by-product of industrialization, extensive education literacy and geographical and social mobility, and it seeks to show that the major cleavages in Cyprus were mainly intraethnic rather than interethnic. ; peer-reviewed
Bibliography: leaves 124-129. ; The concept of religion in South Africa has been distorted by religious and racial prejuidices. This problem is particularly evident in public schools South African schools have taught Christianity as the only authentic religion, in fact as the only truth. Black parents have not been given a choice of religion for their children. The white government has decided for them Based on the assumption that Christianity is the only legitimate religion, the state has suppressed African indigenous religion at every level of society, but especially in the schools. The thesis examines the indigenous beliefs and practices of the black people in South Africa which were suppressed by Western culture and Christianity. It reveals all the distortions about African Religion by the outside researchers in order to uproot the black people from their way of life so as to colonise them. As a result all the black children are taught to regard Christianity as a "Religion" and their own religion as "culture", the implication being that blacks had no religion until the white man came with Christianity. The thesis also investigates the feelings of the black people about recovering their indigenous religion by having it as a subject in schools. The results reveal that the majority of blacks never dissociated themselves with their religion. Although most are Christians in principle, deep down they practise their own religion. It has also been discovered that there are great lamentations amongst most blacks over the "loss" of some of the indigenous practices. Most have felt alienated from their heritage and identity. It is therefore the interest of the blacks in South Africa that African Religion be taught in schools.
Fuller Theological Seminary instituted the Payton Lectures in 1948, providing for a series of divinity lectures by a notable scholar outside the regular faculty. The lectureship is named for Dr. John E. and Mrs. Eliza Payton, parents of the late Mrs. Grace Fuller, wife of seminary founder Charles E. Fuller. El Seminario Teológico de Fuller instituyó las Conferencias Payton en 1948, proveyendo una serie de conferencias en divinidades por una persona erudita de renombre fuera de la facultad regular. Las conferencias llevan el nombre del Dr. John E. y la Sra. Eliza Payton, padres de la fallecida Sra. Grace Fuller, esposa del fundador del seminario Charles E. Fuller. 풀러신학대학원은 1948년 페이튼 강좌를 개설하여 정규 교수진 외에 저명한 학자의 신학 강연을 제공해왔습니다. 강좌의 명칭은 학교 설립자 찰스 풀러 (Charles E. Fuller)의 아내인 그레이스 풀러 (Grace Fuller) 부인의 양친 존 페이튼 (John E. Payton) 박사와 엘리자 페이튼 (Eliza Payton) 부인의 이름을 따라 붙여졌습니다.
Il est souvent dit que religion, politique et économie s'allient. Emmanuel Orobator, dans son essai, tente de soutenir la thèse suivante: la religion fut le principal instrument qui permit d'asseoir les intérêts politique et économiques britanniques entre 1841 et 1885 dans la région qui, plus tard, se nommera Nigeria. Même si les missionnaires ne sont pas toujours considères comme agents de colonisation, il s'avère que leur collaboration fut largement bénéfique aux colons.
Prior to British annexation in 1896, Chinram was an independent country ruled by traditional tribal and local chiefs. Annexation saw the land divided between India and Burma and Chin society abruptly transformed, not least by the arrival of Christian missionaries. The conversion of the Chin to Christianity from traditional locally based Chin religion had unintended consequences as the Chin became involved in Burmese independence movements. They began to articulate their own Christian traditions of democracy and assert a burgeoning self-awareness of their own national identity. Moreover, the church has taken a key role in the struggle of Chin liberation movements in Burma and India. Just how Christianity has provided the Chin people with a means of preserving their national identity in the midst of multi-ethnic and multi-religious environments is the main focus of this study. Written by an exiled former Secretary General of the Chin National League for Democracy, this study contains valuable data on the Chin and their role in the history of Burma, and provides a clear analysis of the close relationship between religion, ethnicity and nationalism.
The present paper deals with rituals in a political discourse, namely the rituals employed by the right wing, Hindu nationalist movement, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), in its campaign for a Rama temple in the north Indian town of Ayodhya. As is probably well-known, VHP is part of a group of organizations known as the Sangh Parivar, or sangh family, which also includes the presently ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the ultranationalistic organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS. The rituals of VHP are instruments of the construction of an ideal Hindu society and part of an encounter between Hindu-nationalist tenets and the secular, political establishment. However, the rituals employed by VHP can not be said to represent a separate ritual genre, since they are not different from similar, traditional Hindu rituals. What makes them different is their context and their motives, the fact that they do not serve ordinary material, eschatological, or soteriological aims, but rather political aims, as well as the fact that the ritual agents in this case do not seem to have a satisfactory juridical legitimacy to perform the rituals.