Making the New Holy, and the Holy New?

”Place” is the basic concern in this paper. Opposed to the concept of globalization and space, place is usually endowed with negative indication and regarded as a dead sticking state. The spatial relationship emphasized in globalization is open and fluid; moreover, the arising of spatial theory lays on the counteraction toward the fluidity of time. As a result, place tends to be located on the reverse against progressive discourse. In ”Place-based Imagination: Globalism and the Politics of Place,” Arif Dirilk points out the threat and impediment to judge the global and local as antithetic discourse. In addition, he proclaims the interrelationship, instead of antagonism, between the global and the regional.This thesis focuses on Siaman Rampogan, who contributes to the literary expression about Orchid Island. As a homing indigenous intellectual, Siaman, through the practice of ritual participation, historical trace, tribal labor experience and traditional tales collection, recreates and deepens the tribal identity of his people. While establishing the indigenous cultural space, Siaman, not only counting on his fertile creativity, inherits and communicates with his tribal cultural tradition. The relationship within is dialectic, a both retrospective and prospective journey in practice.How does Siaman manipulate the local resources to make the dialogue with the larger-scale globalization discourse as the external modernity invades Orchid Island? What kind of signal landscape does his perspective offer? In my opinion, Siaman does not reject exclusively the progression under modern civilization, nor does he blindly adhere to the sense of place or stress on the heterogeneous. In his writing, he draws more attention to the occurrence, after assimilating and sediment, of hybridity and local empowerment.

Kuria people, who straddle both sides of the Kenya–Tanzania border, have experienced interminable intra- and inter-ethnic warfare emanating from cattle rustling. The Kuria people are stereotypically described as cantankerous and indisposed to compromise or forgiveness when they have been wronged. But on the contrary, archival and secondary information as well as oral interviews conducted in the region demonstrate that through participation in different ritual forms, the Kuria people themselves have been responsible for maintaining harmony and serenity with their neighbours. Kuria who abide by their cultural beliefs, social norms, and respect for traditional leadership, do forgive, regularly initiate reconciliations, and actively maintain peaceful relations through participation in various ritual forms. It is evident that rituals constitute an integral part of the customary process of conflict resolution and peace building among the Kuria. Especially those rituals related to the prevention of cattle rustling have gained recognition and formal support of the central states on both sides of the border, to the extent that the powers embodied in these traditional Kuria rituals have sometimes overridden the jurisdiction of modern courts established in the Kuria areas.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze: (1) the author's mental journey from advocating animal rights to female rights in Buddhism, (2) the situational background against which the movement was initiated, (3) strategic thinking about movement building, (4) the assessment of the strategy and action plan's effectiveness, and (5) bottlenecks to the development of the movement.In my previous papers, I stated that ”the Eight Special Rules” (Ațțha Garudhammā) legitimizing gender discrimination were not formulated by the Buddha. In this paper, based on the current situation in Buddhist communities, I would like to further point out the fact that not only have the rules twisted the healthy relationship between men and women in daily interactions and rituals, but also the minds of practitioners. That is, by enforcing the rules, a mixed sense of inferiority and superiority was elicited through them, and the emotions of jealousy and superciliousness also evolved.Additionally, ”the Eight Special Rules” also frame a far-reaching and inescapable so-called ”gender order” that manifests in various forms of rituals and gatherings in Buddhism. This draws Buddhism towards becoming an obsolete religion that extremely discriminates against females.However, words alone are not enough. To effect change, we need to take action! Thus I weighed the entire situation and realized that, in order to deconstruct Buddhist male chauvinism, I must start at ”the Abolishment of the Eight Special Rules”. Furthermore, I decided that I would not let this dispute develop into a tempest in a teapot engineered by Buddhists alone. I believed that if an appropriate amount of public pressure was brought to bear on the Buddhist community, then the mental state of the male chauvinists in the entire community could be pressed to transform and evolve.At the end of March 2001, I took advantage of an opportune situation, as the Dalai Lama visiting Taiwan, to initiate the movement of abolishing ”the Eight Special Rules”, and appealed to him to restore the bhiksuni ordination lineage for Tibetan nuns. The Buddhist Feminist Movement turned out to be a hot topic in the media at that time. Not only did it receive strong support from public opinion, but also gave a great shock to the male chauvinists in the Buddhist community, which really taught them a good lesson as expected.

In this article we analyze ritual and ceremony in a residential social model program for women alcoholics and addicts. This social model program, “Twelve Willows,” relies on certain forms of ritual in treatment. Qualitative data were collected by a team of ethnographers, and our analysis is informed by anthropological analyses of ritual, ritual symbolism, and ceremony (Ortner, 1990; Turner, 1967) and by research on ritual practices in families with histories of alcoholism (Bennett, Wolin, Reiss et al., 1987; Wolin and Bennett, 1984). Following Ortner's (1990) lead, we argue that analysis of the rituals and ceremony at Twelve Willows may “open” or make available to outsiders the culture and social life of the program, providing a window on important values and structures of this particular social model program. We also propose that the practice of rituals at Twelve Willows may facilitate the recovery process and offer instructive models for the treatment community as a whole.

Ritual practice is a basic feature in the religious life of a Muslim. Therefore, students in elementary schools are invited to practice religious rituals in learning the religion of Islam. Islamic Religious Education teachers try to teach students how to express their religion through rituals because ritual practice is a form of ritual communication. This study aims to describe and interpret the forms of religious rituals carried out in elementary schools, as well as communication models of religious rituals in building multicultural awareness. This study uses a qualitative-phenomenological approach. Data was collected by interviewing 18 informants in depth. Informants consisted of principals, religious teachers, parents and students. In addition, data were also obtained from several school documents. The research location is Setia Budhi Elementary School, East Java. Data analysis was carried out in three stages; data condensation, data display and conclusion drawing. The results showed that the communication of religious rituals that were expressed through Islamic Religious Education learning contained social messages from childhood. It can function as multicultural learning because the ritual communication is not only intended as a religious expression but as an expression of harmony and togetherness because they can cooperate with each other in celebrating their respective religious rituals. Although there is an exclusive side of a religion, such as prayer, fasting and others, in other rituals, they are able to communicate well, so that it contains learning content to respect each other.

Aim/Purpose: This study examines the kind of community value companies should provide when strengthening the relationship between customers and brands through the establishment of an online brand community, and how this kind of community value promotes customers’ sense of community engagement and willingness to spread brand reputation. The paper also discusses how an enterprise’s brand symbolism affects the relationship between community value and customers’ engagement in online brand community. This study explored the important role of brand symbolism in the establishment of an online brand community. Background: Many companies want to create online brand communities to strengthen their relationships with consumers as well as to provide better service and value to consumers, for example, Huawei’s Huafen community (club.huawei.com), Apple’s support community (support.apple.com/zh-cn), and Samsung’s Galaxy community (samsungmembers.cn). However, these brand communities may have different interests and consumer engagement about the kind of community value to offer to their customers. Methodology: This study uses data collection from questionnaire surveys to design a quantitative research method. An online questionnaire survey of mobile phone users in China was conducted to collect data on social value, cognitive value, brand symbolism, customer community engagement, and brand recommendation. The brands of mobile phone include Apple, Huawei, Samsung, OPPO, VIVO, MI, and Meizu. The researcher purchased a sample service of WJX, an online survey company (www.wjx.cn), and WJX company distributed the questionnaire to research participants. The WJX company randomly selected 240 subjects from their sample database and then sent the questionnaire link to research participants’ mobile phones. Among the 240 research participants, the researcher excluded participants who lacked online brand community experience or had invalid data to qualify for data collection. After the researcher excluded participants who did not qualify for data collection, only 203 qualified questionnaire surveys advanced to the data collection and analysis phase, which was the questionnaire recovery rate of 84.58%. For the model analysis and hypotheses testing, the researcher used statistical software IBM SPSS Statistics and AMOS 21 and Smartpls3. Contribution: This study deepens the body of literature knowledge by combining online brand community value and brand symbolic value to explore issues that companies should consider when establishing an online brand community for their products and services. This study confirms that brands with high symbolic value establish communities and strengthen social values in the online brand community rather than reducing brand symbolism. Online brand community involves a horizontal interaction (peer interaction) among peers, which can have an effect on the symbolic value of brand (social distance). Findings: First, online brand community value (both cognitive and social value) has a positive impact on customer community engagement. Second, customer community engagement has a positive impact on customers’ brand recommend intention. Third, the customer community engagement is a mediator between the online brand community value and the customer brand recommend intention. Most importantly, fourth, the symbolic value of the brand controls the relationship between community value and customer community engagement. For brands with high symbolic value, the community value should emphasize cognitive value rather than social value. For brands with a low symbolic value, the community provides cognitive or social value, which is not affected by the symbolism of the brand. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners can share best practices with the corporate sectors. Brand owners can work with researchers to explore the characteristics of their online brand communities. On this basis, brand owners and researchers can jointly build and manage online brand communities. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers can explore different perspectives and factors of brand symbolism that involve brand owners when establishing an online brand community to advance consumer engagement, community value, and brand symbolism. Impact on Society: Online brand community is relevant for brand owners to establish brand symbolism, community value, and customer engagement. Readers of this paper can gain an understanding that cognitive and social values are two important drivers of individual participation in online brand communities. The discussion of these two factors can give readers and brand owners the perception to gain more understanding on social and behavior activities in online brand communities. Future Research: Practitioners and researchers could follow-up in the future with a study to provide more understanding and updated research information from different perspectives of research samples and hypotheses on online brand community.

The development of maritime tourism in Central Lombok is still dependent on Bali tourism. The natural beauty and socio-cultural values of the coastal communities in Mandalika, differs from Bali, and has the potential of being developed into an attractive centre for tourists. One of the disruptive innovations in coastal areas in Mandalika is the increase in online travel centres which provides cheap and easy traveling packages. However, this system only prioritizes economic aspects, and fails to take into account the ecological sustainability aspects. This research, therefore, aims to identify the types and meanings of maritime culture in the form of rituals and traditions of coastal communities which is developed to increase and estimate Mandalika’s economy. Data collection was carried out using in-depth interviews and questionnaires, with the descriptive analysis of multiplier effects used for analysis. The results showed that the rituals and traditions such as the Bau Nyale tradition, Madak Mare, and the Ruwah Segara developed in Central Lombok are packaged into maritime culture-based tourism centre. This also requires the support of all stakeholders and the readiness of the local community. The type of business which grows in the presence of marine tourism includes hotel businesses, cafes, restaurants, and souvenir shops, while the direct, indirect, and continued economic impacts are estimated to be around IDR 8 M per year. This tends to have a multiplier effect on employment and economic growth in Central Lombok.

This paper discusses the kutau martial ritual in the people of Suro Village, Muara Beliti District, Musi Rawas Regency. Kutau is one of the ancestral heritage where there are rituals in practice that are carried out. Kutau is in the form of a traditional martial art that developed within the people of Suro Village. Using a qualitative approach, the purpose of this study was to find out the forms of rituals in kutau self-defense and the functions of the kutau rituals in the Suro community. Research data was collected from observation, interviews, and documentation. The data obtained was then analyzed using a ritual approach by Victor Turner and function by Talcot Parsons. The results of the study show that the kutau martial arts ritual is a communication medium for the kutau group and the ancestors who inherited the kutau knowledge, which is related to the beliefs of the Suro people. The sustainability of kutau is due to the achievement of the latency function of the kutau group, so that the system built is able to survive and adapt in society.

The faunal material that is the subject of this archaeozoological project comes from archaeological research on a Neo-Eneolithic settlement located on the border of Parţa village (Timiş County). The settlement represents one of the most important Neolithic settlements in northern Banat, and is believed to have been one of the region’s major settlements in the late Neolithic period.The numerous archaeological research campaigns have determined numerous data related to the spiritual life of the prehistoric communities in Parța, highlighted by the research of the two sanctuaries and the observations about ritual practices outside the shrines (house altars, ritual deposits, etc.). In most cases, these communities expressed in various ritual forms their veneration and gratitude to the gods, using animals or parts of them to perform these rituals.In this paper we want to address those issues related to the usage of animals (or animal parts) in ritual practices, insisting on the identified taxa and the distribution of animal remains in ritual complexes, continuing with the interpretation of the data obtained. Finally, we want to discuss possible hypotheses related to ritual practices, argued by paleofaunal data.

This article draws on qualitative fieldwork to analyze the relation between symbolical discourses and ritual practice in the Norwegian new religious movement Asatru. Drawing on the work of Seligman and others a distinction is made between an indicative as-is and a subjunctive as-if mode of relating to religious matters. Adherents of Asatru can be shown to maintain a large set of theological explanations on the gods and goddesses, many of them incommensurable. This symbolical as-is discourse is consistently subverted in preference for an as-if approach able to include the ambiguity and limits of human experience. The data reveals that the ritual sacrifice, the blót, is what keeps the community together: it is its reason for existence. With its nondiscursive openendedness this ritual creates an alternative community. Not only that, this form of ritual, not propositional discourse, is what enables autonomy and personal development.

In this provocative book Eric Rebillard challenges many long-held assumptions about early burial customs. For decades scholars of early Christianity have argued that the Church owned and operated burial grounds for Christians as early as the third century. Through a careful reading of primary sources including legal codes, theological works, epigraphical inscriptions, and sermons, Rebillard shows that there is little evidence to suggest that Christians occupied exclusive or isolated burial grounds in this early period. In fact, as late as the fourth and fifth centuries the Church did not impose on the faithful specific rituals for laying the dead to rest. In the preparation of Christians for burial, it was usually next of kin and not representatives of the Church who were responsible for what form of rite would be celebrated, and evidence from inscriptions and tombstones shows that for the most part Christians didn't separate themselves from non-Christians when burying their dead. According to Rebillard it would not be until the early Middle Ages that the Church gained control over burial practices and that Christian cemeteries became common. In this translation of Religion et Sepulture: L'eglise, les vivants et les morts dans l'Antiquite tardive, Rebillard fundamentally changes our understanding of early Christianity. The Care of the Dead in Late Antiquity will force scholars of the period to rethink their assumptions about early Christians as separate from their pagan contemporaries in daily life and ritual practice.

Este artículo examina cómo las excavaciones arqueológicas configuran una suerte de ritual que produce lo arqueológico. Dado que el arqueólogo debe seguir ciertos protocolos para acceder al registro, estos se consideran formas rituales que no se diferencian de otras prácticas de excavación, que también buscan “cosas” dentro de la tierra. Para demostrar que hay otras formas de excavación, incluida la arqueología, se analizan y discuten algunos ejemplos etnográficos.* Nota del editor: la evaluación por pares ciegos del artículo de Wilhelm Londoño develó un interesante debate de orden epistemológico, tanto como político. En Maguaré decidimos dar a conocer parte del debate pidiéndoles a los evaluadores que preparasen sus conceptos en breve espacio y al autor que escribiese respuestas a estas posturas. Uno de los evaluadores prefirió no participar. Sí lo hicieron Franz Flórez y Cristóbal Gnecco. El resultado podrá ser juzgado por nuestros lectores.

The way of the Celestial Masters, as the initial form of Daoism, did not offer appropriate funeral rituals in its early stage of establishment. In the face of sickness and adversities deemed to arise from ancestral sins and suffered by the offspring, exorcism was the most common method adopted by the way of the Celestial Masters. Rituals of relief to the dead were hardly offered, and salvation for the dead was rather neglected. In the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Ling-bao School, developing in the Jiangnan area, not only inherited the traditional concepts of ”Celestial Writing” and the sutra chanting of Buddhism, but also combined the two holy texts as the source of salvation for the dead. This study, adopting three of the Ling-bao Scriptures as its source material, aims to explore how the issue with regard to salvation for the dead developed, and then how the issue evolved to become the core merit of the Ling-bao Scriptures. First of all, the study, by discussing the Yuanshi Wulao Chishu Yupian Zhenwen Tianshu Jing, will not only explain the effect of salvation for the dead namely, returning the spirit back to its dead body and reviving the dead, but it also explains how the Yuanshi Wulao Chishu Yupian Zhenwen Tianshu Jing was practically applied and established as the basis of salvation for the dead for future Daoist believers. Secondly, the study analyzes the Taishang Dongzuan Ling-bao Chishu Yujiue Miaojing, a work exploring the application of salvation, and explains how the ”merit concepts”, deriving from the Yuanshi Wulao Chishu Yupian Zhenwen Tianshu Jing, were extended to the further development of the practice of spiritual cultivation. Rising in the late years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the early years of the Southern Dynasties, the Ling-bao School developed with the two works mentioned above as its core. In addition, the Dongzuan Wuliang Duren Shangpin Miaojing, which was linked with the two works to some extent, creatively extended the core concepts of the two works in an effort to develop the concept of the salvation for the dead, then to achieve the prominent merit by means of sutra chanting. Such a merit was later applied to release the souls of Daoist priests who had passed away. It thus became the earliest form of Daoist funeral rituals. The concept of helping souls to travel to Nangong was later taken as the core of Daoist funeral rituals. From this perspective, the Duren Jing could be viewed as an initial result of the exploration on salvation in the early development of the Ling-bao Scriptures.

The study discusses the behaviour of elites performing pre-election political rituals. This behaviour was carried out in the sacred place in Malang Regency. Political traditions contain the belief that symbols followed by elites interpret religion and politics. In this case, the elite who follow the election is closely related to the various contests that are contested. The study uses a qualitative descriptive approach with databases sourced from informants in the field through the interview process and separating vital and additional informants. It was discovered that the elite’s practice of political rituals was formed by a series of processions at the site of kingdom relics. Political patterns attached to the elite have turned into a form of tradition from initially just a pilgrimage process. This form of ritual is divided into stages. First, understand the ritual conditions and symbols. Second, interpret the patterns performed. Third, transform patterns in the actions of the political elite. This paper shows that studying political culture sourced from the elite still needs to be explored as a social phenomenon ahead of elections in Indonesia.

This article investigates T. S. Eliot's use of metatheatre in his first verse drama, Sweeney Agonistes (1932). In Sweeney, Eliot crafts a drama that enacts his theory about the nature of theatre, which he locates in theatre's fundamental but obscured roots in ritual practice. Eliot composed a play that not only embodied this dramatic theory but that also sought to teach his contemporary audience how to engage with a ritual form that required heightened participation from spectators. As I argue, the characters Doris and, to a lesser extent, Dusty are both figures in the drama and an audience of it. They dramatize both the call to greater audience participation and the reluctance of the audience to do so. I also analyse the presentation of these metatheatrical cues in Rupert Doone's 1934 staging of Sweeney Agonistes and argue that Doone preserved Sweeney as metatheatre while also protecting the audience from the dramatic violence with which it is threatened in Eliot's script.