Sacred Narratives Research Articles

Preserving cultural heritage: A community-centric approach to safeguarding the Khulubvi Traditional Temple Malawi

The study investigates cultural heritage conservation through community-based participatory research, focusing on preserving the Khulubvi Traditional Temple. It addresses challenges from religious, societal, and economic changes and the importance of integrating heritage into education. It emphasizes technology's role in maintaining sacred narratives. Qualitative methods, such as interviews and thematic analysis, reveal community efforts and modern challenges. The study concludes with a call to embed heritage in formal education and highlights the community's crucial role in cultural legacy, contributing to the discourse on heritage preservation.

Spatial Imagination in Sacred Narratives of Mountain Communities in Western Yunnan, China

Various sacred narratives have different emphases on the shaping of natural space. Creation myths reveal the basic structure of natural space. Sacred narratives of mountain gods focus on how and why mountain forests are the source of life and stability for nearly all the species in the area. The myth of the hunting god and the legend of the Flower Festival have a remarkable endemicity. The consciousness of the community of life, which is fundamentally constructed in creation myths, reveals visible and sensible pictures in these two types of narratives. The literary imagination of these sacred narratives focuses on establishing and breaking through spatial boundaries. In the intertwining of an imaginative narrative and a realistic existence, the sacredness of natural spaces is established and can be experienced. Mountaineers imbue their practices with gracefulness and nobleness in the dimensions of emotion and morality through storytelling in order to shape the morphological characteristics and the life essence of natural spaces. The shaping of beautiful places and sublime realms in these narratives is a vivid expression of cosmology.

Compelling Legends

Abstract This article contributes to recent discussions regarding the reliability and modes of historical usability of Shivḥei ha-Beshṭ—the earliest Ḥasidic hagiography about the Baʿal Shem Ṭov, the alleged founder of Ḥasidism, and his circle. It considers the biographical portrayal of one of the members of the Beshṭ’s circle as an example for the narrative construction of early Ḥasidism. An unknown text is then presented as external evidence for one of the legends, enabling insight into the prolonged formation of this hagiographical compendium from the recounted events until its publication in 1814. This test case contributes to inquiries such as the place of historical events in sacred narratives, the cultural contexts for the composition of such legends, and the significance of their apparent reliability as the narrator’s agendas towards audience’s appreciation.

Media and the Sacralization of Leaders and Events: The Construction of a Religious Public Sphere

Abstract This study aims to demonstrate that media can achieve a religious construction of an event or issue and set the public sphere in a religious frame through the sacralization of events and persons. This perspective can be supported empirically by the studies showing the way in which mass media framed different events in a religious imaginary and language and proposed this image as a frame for public sphere debates and theoretically by the concepts of media events, mediatization, ritualization, and sacralization, in order to reveal the processes through which the translation from a secular discourse to a religious discourse is produced. Under certain circumstances, mass media work as an “as if” (metaphoric) religion, and the events are presented through a religious frame – through themes and figures that come from the religious sacred narratives. Journalists accomplish this by setting events and leaders within the symbolic frame specific to religion: within this framework, those who report the facts are using narratives close to hagiographic stories, and by this, they are accomplishing the sacralization of these events. This enables journalists to exert a “ritual mastery” over presenting the events and imposing its significations.

Introducing the Research Project “Sacred Narrative – The Political Dimension of Japanese Mythology”

The Kojiki and Nihon shoki have been integral to the formation of Japanese identity, especially since the 18th century. As such, they were constantly exposed to processes of sacralization and desacralization, i.e., the attribution and removal of authority. The research project “Sacred Narrative – The Political Dimension of Japanese Mythology” is concerned with how certain systems of thought or ideology used these texts in a way that raised them to an elevated position or deprived them of it. Organized in three focus areas, the project delves into the topic of the historical change the Kojiki and Nihon shoki underwent in terms of interpretation and instrumentalization from the Edo period up to modern-day Japan. These investigations are integrated into the research group “De/Sacralization of Texts” at the University of Tübingen that started its work in January 2022. In this interdisciplinary context, “Sacred narrative” seeks to promote the integration of East-Asian textuality into general theory formation.

Information about Contributors

Anastasiya Astapova is Associate Professor of Folkloristics at the University of Tartu, Estonia, and a member of the Estonian Young Academy of Sciences. She is the author of Humor and Rumor in the Post-Soviet Authoritarian State (2021), co-editor of Conspiracy Theories in Eastern Europe: Tropes and Trends (with Onoriu Colăcel, Corneliu Pintilescu, and Tamás Scheibner, 2021), and a co-author of Conspiracy Theories and the Nordic Countries (with Eirikur Bergmann, Asbjorn Dyrendal, Annika Rabo, and Kasper Grotle Rasmussen, 2020), among other works. Astapova is currently the principal investigator in the Estonian Science Foundation project “COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories: Contents, Channels, and Target Groups” (2022–2025).Piotr Grochowski is Associate Professor at the Institute of Culture Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. His main research areas are folk customs and oral narratives, nineteenth-century broadside ballads and popular religious songs, and vernacular religions and contemporary Paganism. He is the author of several books, including Dziady: Rzecz o wędrownych żebrakach i ich pieśniach (2009; Dziady: The Point about Wandering Beggars and Their Songs), Straszna zbrodnia rodzonej matki: Polskie pieśni nowiniarskie na przełomie XIX i XX w (2010; A Mother's Terrible Crime: Polish Broadside Ballads at the Turn of the 20th Century), and O tym nie wolno mówić . . . Zagłada Żydów w opowieściach wspomnieniowych ze zbiorów Dionizjusza Czubali (2019; We Are Not Allowed to Speak about It . . . The Extermination of the Jews in Memoirs from the Collections of Dionizjusz Czubala).Mia Moody-Ramirez is Professor and Chair of Baylor University's Department of Journalism, Public Relations and New Media. She joined Baylor in 2001, and has maintained an active research portfolio in addition to her teaching and leadership roles. Her research emphasizes media framing of people of color, women, and other underrepresented groups. She has conducted research about the portrayal of minority women in the media, reality television, racial stereotyping of women in rap music, the pros and cons of using social media in political campaigns, and the continuing stereotyping of a small East Texas town more than a decade after a hate crime in which a Black man was dragged to his death behind a pickup truck. She has presented papers at numerous regional, national, and international conferences, and has been published in Public Relations Review, Journalism Educator, Journal of Magazine & New Media Research, among others.Tom Mould is Professor of Anthropology and Folklore at Butler University and author of numerous books and articles on folklore, oral narrative, legend, religious and sacred narrative, poverty and social justice, Native American studies, and Latter-day Saint oral traditions. He is the co-editor of two books—The Individual and Tradition (with Ray Cashman and Pravina Shukla, 2011) and Latter-day Lore: Mormon Folklore Studies (with Eric A. Eliason, 2013)—and author of four books: Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future (2003), Choctaw Tales (2004), Still, the Small Voice: Narrative, Personal Revelation, and the Mormon Folk Tradition (2011), and Overthrowing the Queen: Telling Stories of Welfare in America (2020), which won the Brian McConnell Book Award and the Chicago Folklore Prize. He is currently working on another book with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.Whitney Phillips is Assistant Professor of Digital Platforms and Media Ethics in the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication. Her work is situated between the humanities and social sciences and draws from science and technology studies, critical theory, and media history to explore the context and consequence of mediated communication, with a focus on the ideologies, assumptions, and stories that shape what we observe on our screens. She is the author of several books on digital culture and politics. Most recently, she and Ryan M. Milner published You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our Polluted Media Landscape (2021), which they subsequently adapted for middle-grade readers. That book, forthcoming with Candlewick Press in early 2023, is titled “Thinking Ecologically about Social Media.”Frank Proschan is a public folklorist and anthropologist who has worked for decades with colleagues in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia in collaborative research on languages, folklore, and ethnology, as well as strengthening their capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and museology. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, he began his work in folklore at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in 1970, continuing to serve at the Smithsonian in various capacities in 1975–1978, 1985–1989, and 2000–2006. In 2006, he took up a position at UNESCO, assisting in the global implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, until his retirement in 2015. In 2019–2020, he taught anthropology in Hanoi as a Fulbright scholar and continues to consult with Vietnamese cultural heritage organizations.

다카라즈카 가극 〈히메유리의 탑〉에 나타나는 ‘소녀성의 이중적 전유’의 양상

〈Himeyuri no Tō〉(1953) is a Takarazuka Revue written as a memorial for Himeyuri Gakutotai. Himeyuri Gakutotai were high school girls mobilized as auxiliary nurses and sacrificed during the Battle of Okinawa. The Himeyuri stories became astonishingly popular in postwar Japanese society, and were represented in various media, such as novels, plays, movies and dramas. Nevertheless, many of those works have been criticized, because of their perspectives on victimhood or sacrificial narratives combined with their use of the vulnerable girls’ images. The main purpose of this article is to analyze the aspects of the dual appropriation of the girls’ images, which maximized with the characteristic girlhood of Takarazuka in their representation of Himeyuri narrative. The secondary purpose is to reveal the fact that the Himeyuri narrative, represented by Takarazuka, ultimately turns out to be a symbol of militaristic girls

An Insufficient Canon: The Popol Wuj, Book of Mormon, and Other Scriptures

An Insufficient Canon: The Popol Wuj, Book of Mormon, and Other Scriptures

Traditional Navajo Teachings: A Trilogy—Volume I, Sacred Narratives and Ceremonies; Volume II, The Natural World; Volume III, The Earth Surface People

Traditional Navajo Teachings: A Trilogy—Volume I, Sacred Narratives and Ceremonies; Volume II, The Natural World; Volume III, The Earth Surface People

Shakuntala: As Authored by Kalidas and Painted by Raja Ravi Varma

Mythology has always been an appealing area which has been engrossing readers and listeners since ages. Mythology plays distinctive roles and employs its sacred narratives, art and rituals to keep the values and morals of the society intact. This system of writing texts on mythology was common to the entire subcontinent and produced its own literature written in Sanskrit. One such magnum opus is Abhijnanashakuntalam authored by the great Sanskrit maestro, Kalidas. It is also important to note that mythology in the form of texts was accessible to a very limited class of people which included the elites, literates, scholars etc, and consequently a large section of the society remained unaware of these episodes and virtues. It is where, Raja Ravi Varma, ‘Father of Modern Indian Art’ is credited to bring these episodes in the form of both painting and printing to the commoners. This not only attracted a huge number of people towards mythology, Hindu culture and tradition but also urged to preserve values. The present paper is an attempt to study the contributions of the two maestros, Kalidas- as the author of Abhijnanashakuntalam and Raja Ravi Varma-as the painter of the Shakuntala Series, comparative studies of how both the maestros perceived the character of Shakuntala, portrayal of ‘beauty’, and how the play, painting and printing was appreciated, responses gathered and inspirations shared. Keywords: Kalidas, Raja Ravi Varma, Shakuntala, Mythology and Painting, Oleographs

Trauma and Sacrifice in Divided Communities: The Sacralisation of the Victims of Terrorism in Spain

This work aims to show that the sacrificial status of the victims of acts of terrorism, such as the 2004 Madrid train bombings (“11-M”) and ETA (Basque Homeland and Liberty) attacks in Spain, is determined by how it is interpreted by the communities affected and the manner in which it is ritually elaborated a posteriori by society and institutionalised by the state. We also explore the way in which the sacralisation of the victim is used in socially and politically divided societies to establish the limits of the pure and the impure in defining the “Us”, which is a subject of dispute. To demonstrate this, we first describe two traumatic events of particular social and political significance (the case of Miguel Ángel Blanco and the 2004 Madrid train bombings). Secondly, we analyse different manifestations of the institutional discourse regarding victims in Spain, examining their representation in legislation, in public demonstrations by associations of victims of terrorism and in commemorative “performances” staged in Spain. We conclude that in societies such as Spain’s, where there exists a polarisation of the definition of the “Us”, the success of cultural and institutional performances oriented towards reparation of the terrorist trauma is precarious. Consequently, the validity of the post-sacrificial narrative centring on the sacred value of human life is ephemeral and thus fails to displace sacrificial narratives in which particularist definitions of the sacred Us predominate.

ПРОБЛЕМА НАЦИОНАЛЬНОЙ ТРАВМЫ В КОЛЛЕКТИВНОЙ ПАМЯТИ НЕМЦЕВ ОБЪЕДИНЕННОЙ ГЕРМАНИИ

The article attempts to characterize the state of historical con- sciousness of the Germans at the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21 st century. The article examines what factors influenced the formation of the “sacrificial narrative” in the collective memory of the Germans of the united Germany. The research is based on the publications in the German, Polish and Russian press, autobiographical works, interviews, diaries and memoirs of Gunther Grass, Gerhard Schroeder, etc., analyzes the works of art and filmography released at that time. Memories of the suffering of the German civilian population during the Second World War usually belonged to the individual memory or remained part of the German family history. True, the traumatic past was often used for political purposes, especially in the FRG in the matters related to the theme of exile. In the first decade of the new millennium, thanks to the changes in the cultural agenda – the release of a number of books and feature films, the plot of which was based on the suffering of the Germans, the traumatic past is at the center of public debate. However, the rethinking of the theme of the suffering of the German civilian population was met with a rather wary response in the global context, primarily from Poland and the victor countries.

Мемориальные войны в условиях восточноевропейского фронтира: в поисках методологии исследования

Within the framework of this article, the theoretical and methodological framework of the philosophical interpretation of the concept “memory wars” was analyzed. In the context of criticism of allochronism and the project of the politics of time by B. Bevernage, as well as the concept of the frontier by F. Turner, the space-time aspects of the content of memory wars were comprehended. The use of Bevernage's ideas made it possible to explain the nature of modern memory wars in Europe. The origins of these wars are associated with an attempt to transfer the Western European project of “cosmopolitan” memory, in which Western Europe turns out to be a kind of a “referential” framework of historical modernity, to the countries of Eastern Europe after 1989. The uncritical use of Western European historical experience as a “reference” leads to a superficial copying of the politics of memory, which runs counter to the politics of the time in Eastern Europe. In Eastern Europe, the idea of two totalitarianisms is presented as a single and internally indistinguishable era, and the politics of modern post-socialist states are based on the idea of a radical spatio-temporal distancing from their recent past. The article analyzes the issue of the specifics of the Eastern European frontier, the conditions for its emergence and the impact on modern forms of implementation of the politics of memory. The frontier arises as a result of the collapse of the colonial empires and becomes a space of symbolic struggle, first between the USSR and Germany, and then between the socialist and capitalist blocs. The crisis of the globalist project of the politics of memory and the transfer of the German model of victimization to the territory of the Eastern European frontier leads to the competition of sacrificial narratives and the escalation of memorial conflicts, turning into full-fledged memory wars. The hybrid nature of the antagonistic politics of memory in the conditions of the frontier leads to the fact that not only the socialist past, but also the national trauma of individual states becomes the subject of memory wars. The increasing complexity of the mnemonic structure of the frontier is associated with the emergence of a number of unrecognized states, whose memory politics, in contrast to the national discourses of Eastern European states, is based on a synthesis of the Soviet legacy and individual elements of the imperial past.

An Analysis of the Religious Approach of Safavid Historiography to the Wars of Safavid Sheikhs: A Sacred Narrative of Sacred Wars

طریقت صفوی در زمان شیخ جنید (مرگ 864 ق) و شیخ حیدر (مرگ 893ق) با عبور از مرحله سجاده­نشینی و ارشاد از راهبرد نظامی برای نیل به اهداف سیاسی خویش استفاده نمودند. آن‌ها توانستند قدرت و نفوذ در امور دنیوی را به قدرت معنوی رهبران طریقت صفوی ضمیمه ساخته و تشکیلات منسجم نظامی­ای را به وجود آورده که یاری­گر شاه­اسماعیل­اول (حک930-907ق) در تشکیل سلسله صفویان بود. پژوهش حاضر با رویکردی توصیفی ـ تحلیلی و با تکیه بر شیوه گردآوری اطلاعات از منابع تاریخی، درصدد پاسخ به این سؤال می­باشد که: جنگ‌های دوره شیخ جنید و حیدر در تاریخ‌نگاری دوره صفوی چگونه بازتاب یافته­اند؟ به نظر می­رسد که تاریخ‌نگاری صفوی سعی نموده با روایتی تقدیس­گرایانه، جنبه­­ای مقدس به این جنگ‌ها ببخشد. یافته‌ها نشان می­دهد که شکست و پیروزی در جنگ‌های این دوره بار حماسی به خود گرفته اما این حماسه‌سرایی‌ها رنگ و بوی اعتقادی و مذهبی دارند و نه ملی. به‌واقع تاریخ‌نگاری صفوی روایتی مقدس از جنگ‌هایی مقدس ارائه نموده که هر رخدادی (چه پیروزی و چه شکست) در بافتاری از تقدس­گرایی مورد ارزیابی قرار گرفته است. در همین راستا مورخان صفوی از تعابیر قرآنی و حدیثی و همچنین ایجاد شباهت میان رهبران طریقت صفوی و ائمه معصومین (علیهم­السلام) برای بیان و روایت این جنگ‌ها استفاده نموده­اند.

THE ARTISTIC FUNCTION OF NARRATIVES IN THE SACRED BOOKS AND RELIGIOUS-HISTORICAL EVENTS IN MODERN PERSIAN NOVELS

Every nation has its own way of life, culture, spiritual and religious values. These values are also reflected in the fiction, which is the product of the artistic thinking of that nation. Since the creation of the Holy Qur'an, the Bible, the Torah, and the Psalms, they have played an important role in the lives of people who believe in a particular religion. One of the main reasons for this is the existence in the holy books of stories didactic in spirit about life and death, good and evil. The writers make effective use of these stories, as well as the exemplary lives of the prophets and religious historical events, in shaping the plot of their works, and in increasing the effectiveness of the ideas they put forward. Considered one of the hearts of ancient civilization, Iran is famous for its heroic spirit and epic traditions that glorify kings. But the twentieth century went down in history as the century in which modern-type novelism flourished in Iran. It was a new century for Iranian novelists to be recognized not only domestically but also globally. The purpose of the study is to shed light on the impact of religious narratives on the art of the work, their ideological and artistic function. The study found that sacred narratives given in the sacred books and the new interpretation of religious-historical figures in the modern Persian novels has significantly impacted on the styles of writers. KEYWORDS: Qur'an, Torah, Bible, Modern Persian Romanism, Style, Abel and Cain, Archetype, Motive, Life of Prophets, Religious Story.

The Problem of Historical Memory in Germany During the Chancellorship of Gerhard Schröder

This article is an attempt to characterize the state of historical consciousness of the Germans at the turn of the century, during the “red-green” coalition of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (1998—2005). It analyzes how the memory policy was built in the studied period; what factors influenced the formation of the sacrificial narrative of the Germans. The main sources of the article are interviews, memoirs, speeches and addresses by Gerhard Schroeder, Willy Brandt, Gunter Grass, officials of European countries and Russia on the issue of the traumatic past, and media publications. It is concluded that the main component of the historical memory of the German society at the moment is the memory of the defeated side's suffering in the last stage of the war. The appeal to the sacrificial aspect of historical memory was actively used by opposition circles to achieve political goals; their harsh rhetoric often created problems for the current chancellor in solving foreign policy problems. The book "The Trajectory of the Crab" by G. Grass was largely responsible for public discussions of the "sacrificial narrative" in Germany. It is largely due to this book that the narrative has become part of the German memory culture. The actualization of the sacrificial narrative in Germany led to a historical conflict with the closest eastern neighbours, primarily Poland and the Czech Republic, so Gerhard Schröder had to subtly maneuver in the memory space in order to achieve the results of the “eastern policy”, expand the EU, include countries, where the problem of the expelled was felt most acutely. At the same time, with Russia, despite the actualization of the sacrificial narrative in the space of historical memory, there is a maximum rapprochement and reconciliation.

RELIGIONEN UNTER GEWALTVERDACHT: THEORIEN ZUM VERHÄLTNIS VON MONOTHEISMUS UND GEWALT WERDEN DURCH EMPIRISCHEN BEFUND ERGÄNZT / RELIGIONS UNDER VIOLENCE SUSPICION: THEORY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MONOTHEISM AND EMPIRIC VIOLENCE

The article deals with monotheistic religions that, on one hand, have humanitarian characteristics, which can unite peoples and create solidarity with the most vulnerable people and, on the other hand, also participate in manifestations of violence emanating from radical religious groups. World experiences are recorded and reflected, also at the level of sacred narratives and their interpretations and historical effects. Fundamentalist religious violence is linked with the historical sin of colonialism, totalitarianism, racism, genocide, wars, etc., and is also considered a cause of tribalism, despotism, nepotism and corruption. Humanities and Social Sciences, in interdisciplinary with inclusive theories, can contribute to the understanding and overcoming of social asymmetries linked with political and religious fundamentalism, which is one of the cradles of hatred and violence. Multi inter religious dialogue is a local and global challenge for the construction and experiences of peace and justice.

A culture of secrecy

Abstract This paper aims at discussing some aspects of the secrecy characterizing sacred texts by the Ayoreo, a Zamucoan population of the Boreal Chaco in South America, from a linguistic perspective. The magic power exerted by words in Ayoreo traditional culture is the reason why holy texts are kept secret, and this makes it difficult to provide a complete linguistic documentation of Ayoreo ‘hidden’ narratives and ritual formulas. After having outlined etiological myths, I will show that language not only can exert a magic power, but that grammar itself, and specifically linguistic gender, has played a role in the development of these sacred narratives. Finally, I will compare some elements of Ayoreo culture with lexical data from extinct Old Zamuco, the most conservative language of the family, in order to show that the populations speaking these languages share the same cultural background.

The Serbian mythomoteur as sacrificial narrative

The Serbian mythomoteur as sacrificial narrative

The Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy as a national sacrificial narrative

The topic of this paper concerns the representations of the Zrinski-Frankopan (Zriny Frangipani) Conspiracy in five Croatian dramas, written and/or performed between 1900 and 2010, in the four different political constellations: in the late Habsburg Monarchy, in the early monarchist Yugoslavia, i.e. in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, in the Socialist Yugoslavia and finally in the modern independent Croatian state. The Zrinski-Frankopan Conspiracy is a sacrificial narrative par excellence in the Croatian culture as literary sources often directly refer the Conspiracy’s actors as martyrs. Therefore this constitutes an interesting subject for this thematic section. The basic methodological problem in this analysis is how to interpret a single literary text as a concretization of a historical myth which in itself represents a non-existent, intuitive, fluid construct. A critical reconstruction of a historical myth and/or a meta-narrative is an unrewarding, if not futile task, so it is therefore more fruitful to focus on its potential ruptures which undermine its semantic coherence. These ruptures can represent traumatic or at least uneasy loci in the historical meta-narratives, which makes them prone to interpretation.