Traditional Rites Of Passage Research Articles

African Culture & the Girl-Child Education

This research article underscores the cultural factors that influence girl-child education among the Ilchamus community. Various literatures were reviewed and gaps were successfully identified. It embraces descriptive research design. It utilises purposive and snowballing techniques since the initial research that culminated into an article was basically a mixed research. The sample size of the study was 350 respondents. It establishes that; the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), often linked with traditional rites of passage, is typically followed by early marriage, which disrupts girls’ education. Additionally, early marriage typically curtails educational opportunities for girls, as they are often expected to take on domestic responsibilities and childbearing, leaving little room for schooling. In this regard, it concludes that; cultural practices like FGM and early marriages are deeply rooted barriers to girl-child education in the Ilchamus community, while the role of parents’ education and cultural transitions reflect more nuanced influences on educational outcomes.

Do Attitude, Awareness and Intention to Perform Female Genital Mutilation or Cutting for Their Daughters of Women Healthcare Providers Differ from Mothers in Somalia?

This study aimed to determine whether there were differences in attitude, awareness, and intention to perform female genital mutilation or cutting for their daughters in the future between female healthcare providers and mothers. A comparative cross-sectional study design was used. A total of 508 women were included in the study. Of the participants, 68.7% (n = 349) were mothers (Group I) who visited the hospital and 31.3% (n = 159) were women healthcare professionals (Group II) [27% (n = 137) nurses and 4.3% (n = 22) doctors]. It was found that 8 (1.6%) of the participants did not have FGM/C and the FGM/C ratio was lower in group II (95%) than in group I (100%) (p < 0.001). In group I, 99.7% (n = 299) of the participants and 30.6% (n = 19) of those in group II reported intending to perform FGM for their daughters in the future (p < 0.001). The reasons for FGM/C most cited by participants were a traditional rite of passage into womanhood (78%), religious requirement (69.3%), and preservation of their virginity until marriage (59.3%). "Stop FGM" was given as a message on FGM/C by 60% of the participants (n = 79) who answered (n = 127, 100%) to open-ended questions. The results of this study show thatfemalehealth professionals with higher education and monthly incomehad less positive perception of their FGM/Cand less intention to allow their daughters to undergo FGM/C.

Carnival and the Theme of Migration

Carnival and the Theme of Migration

"What is it to be a man?" Rites, hashtags, outrage

This article aims to understand the outrage caused by Inxeba (2017) set within the context of ulwaluko, the Xhosa traditional rite of passage. The scale of the outrage showed deep rejection by many South Africans of the very ideas that the film puts across. This outrage must be understood in relation to the sensitivity of the film’s content: masculine identity; the question of what it is to be a man; the multiple interlinked issues of who has power to determine what a Xhosa man is; the justification of heteronormative masculinity; and the construction of multiple masculinities. Assuming that such questions and issues raised by the film cannot be discussed in depth without sufficient contextual knowledge of what the ulwaluko practice involves, the article begins with an account of this practice. Turning to an attempt to understand the outrage caused by the film, it is argued that the most cited reason for this outrage – namely that it challenges the power base of traditional cultural leaders by opening private rites to general public scrutiny – covers over a more pressing concern: that the film depicts an entrenched cultural tradition in a way that subjects its heteronormative ideal of manliness to controversial critique from the perspective of more diverse masculinities.

The Politics of Culture and the Transient Culture of Bojale: Bakgatla-Baga-Kgafela Women's Initiation in Botswana

To understand the politics of initiation ceremonies, this article discusses bojale, a traditional rite of passage among the Bakgatla-baga-Kgafela people of Botswana, through which a girl enters bosadi (womanhood). I focus on my experiences as an initiate and participant observer in the 2009 ceremony. Bojale has changed from a puberty rite limited to unmarried girls nearing first menarche into an initiation rite for females of any age and status, whether married or unmarried, with children or without. Despite bojale's overt purpose of preparing initiates for womanhood, as echoed in bojale songs, I argue that its recent revival among the Bakgatla-baga-Kgafela follows a pattern indicative of ‘transient culture’ determined by the needs of the paramount chief. The women who have experienced initiation together join a regiment, a social organisation that becomes the chief's practical and symbolic socio-political base. Both revival and abandonment are triggered by royal-related factors and events, in a pattern of repetitive transiency.

Trends in the Nursing Doctoral Comprehensive Examination Process: A National Survey

The doctoral comprehensive or qualifying examination (CE/QE) is a traditional rite of passage into the community of scholars for the nursing profession. This exploratory, descriptive cross-sectional study examined trends in the process, timing, and methodology of comprehensive and qualifying examinations in nursing doctoral programs in the United States. Administrators from 45 schools responded to an online survey from 27 states across the country (37% response rate). Participants reported wide variations in the process. The most common method of implementation was the written take-home test (47%), two thirds of which had a subsequent oral examination. Eleven survey respondents (24%) reported using a form of the traditional written, timed, on-site examination; however, only 4 of these also followed up with an oral defense. Nine schools (20%) moved to a requirement for a written publishable paper; three schools consider the written proposal and its defense as the CE/QE. Approximately half had changed their policy in the past 5 years. With the increase in nursing doctor of philosophy programs over the past decade, information is needed to facilitate the development of methods to achieve program outcomes. An understanding of national CE/QE trends can provide a starting point for discussion and allow innovative ideas to meet the need of individual programs.

The Norwegian “russefeiring”. The use of alcohol as a ritual in the “rite of passage” to adulthood

The article deals with the use of alcohol in a special ‘rite of passage’, called russefeiring, among youth in Norway. Traditionally, rites of passage transform youths' identity and include them in the community of adults. Nowadays, not having these collective rituals, young people in Norway have invented a new rite of passage in the form of prolonged graduation parties, held by 18-year-olds ending their compulsory higher education. Thus, the russefeiring is a symbolic action that marks the transition from youth to adulthood. In the liminal phase of the ritual the young people wear special clothes, celebrate and drink beer and spirits during a period of 17 days, from the 1st to the 17th of May – the former being a traditional day of intoxication, the latter being the Norwegian national day. The article argues that the more traditional rites of passage are transformed into a passage to friendship, in which expressive individualism is stressed as a value, making the intoxication and fraternization among youth a ritual of its own. The rite of becoming an adult has thereby turned into a street theatre of novices who play with norms and taboos in public. The article discusses the use of symbolic anthropology and field methods in research relating to this kind of ritual alcohol use and intoxication. Theoretically, the focus is on studying alcohol use as a ritual practice. Post-structural theory defines ritual action as the communication of meaning and the construction of reality, identity and community. Use of alcohol can be defined as a key symbol in these ritual processes, offering an opportunity to communicate meanings between members in the society and culture.

Sam Shepard and the Dysfunctional American Family: Therapeutic Perspectives

In depicting dysfunctional families Sam Shepard brought a greater intensity level to family portrayals than had previously been seen in modern American theater. In part, his plays appear to reflect the tumultuous tone of the late 1960s and early 1970s when American society was in flux and when the national uncertainty reached down to the basic unit of society, the family. Yet, despite addressing recently emerging social issues, Shepard's plays also depict universal family conflicts. There have been and always will be compelling forces that threaten domestic cohesiveness. While Shepard's families reflect extremely high levels of disorganization, they also demonstrate scenarios recognizable to all family therapists. They reassert the family's power and its influence on individual development. They also indirectly ask us to reflect on our current clinical practice and research. Family therapists need to continue to pay attention the content issues of family organization as well as therapeutic techniques. Shepard's plays remind therapists to look beyond internal dynamics in order to consider connections and affiliations that integrate families with outside communities. He underscores the importance of knowing the meaning and context of traditional rites of passage within families. Family therapists or other care providers may unwittingly undermine the significance of these family rituals by prescription of "expert" advice.