Matching Items (7)
Description
This study explored female identity formation, of Ethiopian women and women of Ethiopian heritage as they participate in a coffee (buna) ceremony ritual. The study is anchored in the theoretical framework of a sociocultural perspective which enabled an examination of culture as what individuals do and believe as they participate in mutually constituted activities. Participants in Ethiopia were asked to photograph their daily routine beginning from the time they awoke until they retired for the night. Thematic analysis of the photographs determined that all participants depicted participation in the Ethiopian coffee ceremony in their photo study. Utilizing the photographs which specifically depicted the ceremony, eight focus groups and one interview consisting of women who have migrated from Ethiopia to Arizona, responded to the typicality of the photographs, as well as what they liked or did not like about the photographs. Focus groups were digitally recorded then transcribed for analysis. A combination of coding, extrapolation of rich texts, and identifying themes and patterns were used to analyze transcripts of the focus groups and interview. The findings suggest that this context is rich with shared meanings pertaining to: material artifacts, gender socialization, creation of a space for free expression, social expectations for communal contributions, and a female rite of passage.
ContributorsPlatt, Jennifer Brinkerhoff, 1971- (Author) / Arzubiaga, Angela (Thesis advisor) / Nakagawa, Kathryn (Thesis advisor) / Warriner, Doris (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The original mediums were not texts or technologies; they were ritual actors performing acts of mediumship. Mediating between determined norms (the status quo) and emergent trends (change), they invoked divine authority to conjure meanings that proved adaptive, nonadaptive and/or maladaptive. With the advent of the written word, ritual became formalized and codified. The medium became a communication device, something abstract and external to the human condition. It then became possible to speak of "media effects" imposing influence in a logical deterministic manner. Yet with the advent of new media, we are witnessing a return to modes of cultural discourse that are spontaneous, interactive, communal and unscripted, all hallmarks of ritual action. This "ritual return" centers on the emergence of the "prosumer" (producer/consumer), a figure actively engaged in mediating practices. While resembling the original archaic "medium" in some respects, the prosumer is a "literate ritualist" allied with a multiplicity of cultural tribes. Thus the "new media" has given rise to "the new medium." The pages that follow focus on acts of contemporary mediumship, examining related concepts such as "ecology," "niche," "role," "affordance," and "trope." Each section considers how specific mediating practices afford and constrain modes of ritualized behavior. I call this practice-oriented approach to media studies "praxism."
ContributorsGyori, Bradford (Author) / Goggin, Maureen (Thesis advisor) / Baker, Aaron (Committee member) / Hjorleifur Jonsson (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
In order to illuminate the role written documents played within medieval monastic life, this project takes as a case study the monastery of Cluny and some associated houses during the central Middle Ages. I approach these documents as signs, drawing on anthropological and philosophical work on semiosis, and as media technologies, using history and cultural studies centered on orality and literacy, and conclude that the monastic use of texts was essentially ritual, and as such exerted an important influence on the development of literacy as a tool and a set of practices. Nor did this influence flow in just one direction: as monastic ritual transformed the use of documents, the use of documents also transformed monastic ritual.
To study the relationship between document and ritual, I examine what medieval documents reveal about their production and use. I also read the sources for what they directly report about the nature of monastic life and monastic ritual, and the specific roles various documents played within these contexts. Finally, these accounts of changing monastic scribal and ritual practice are laid alongside a third—that of what the monks themselves actually enunciated, both directly and indirectly, about their own understanding of semiosis and its operation in their lives.
Ultimately, my dissertation connects valuable theoretical and philosophical work on ritual, semiosis, and orality and literacy with manuscript studies and with a wide range of recent historiography on the complex transformations remaking society inside and outside the cloister during the Middle Ages. It thus serves to bring these disparate yet mutually indispensable lines of inquiry into better contact with one another. And in this way, it approaches an understanding of human sign-use, carefully rooted in both material and institutional culture, during a key period in the history of human civilization.
To study the relationship between document and ritual, I examine what medieval documents reveal about their production and use. I also read the sources for what they directly report about the nature of monastic life and monastic ritual, and the specific roles various documents played within these contexts. Finally, these accounts of changing monastic scribal and ritual practice are laid alongside a third—that of what the monks themselves actually enunciated, both directly and indirectly, about their own understanding of semiosis and its operation in their lives.
Ultimately, my dissertation connects valuable theoretical and philosophical work on ritual, semiosis, and orality and literacy with manuscript studies and with a wide range of recent historiography on the complex transformations remaking society inside and outside the cloister during the Middle Ages. It thus serves to bring these disparate yet mutually indispensable lines of inquiry into better contact with one another. And in this way, it approaches an understanding of human sign-use, carefully rooted in both material and institutional culture, during a key period in the history of human civilization.
ContributorsMcCaffray, Edmund McGraw (Author) / Green, Monica H (Thesis advisor) / Clay, Eugene (Committee member) / Henn, Alexander (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
"beautiful secrets," a movement art piece engaging the audience in the art-making, exists in the in-between, an indeterminable place, fluid like the water of Kiwanis Lake. The performers sang, danced and built an architectural environment with the help of the audience to create a transformational place betwixt here and there, day and night, death and life; an in-between land where the language is mystical and symbolic, and the water of Kiwanis Lake served as a symbol of transformation. Beneath the art was a method called Somatic Yoga Dance in which the performers trained in preparation for the performance. Below the method was a blessing in which beautiful secrets took root --- a prayer for peace.
ContributorsGarner, Jamey (Author) / Jackson, Naomi (Thesis advisor) / Kaplan, Rob (Committee member) / Bowditch, Rachel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The Doukhobors originated in Russia in the 18th century and faced many instances of persecution over the years, including exile, imprisonment, and forced assimilation. Despite these challenges, the Doukhobors managed to maintain their community and culture through their unique rituals and practices. This thesis explores the role of Doukhobor rituals in fostering a sense of community that helped them withstand decades of persecution and asks how rituals functioned among the Doukhobors between 1895 and 1915. How did Doukhobors adapt their rituals to the challenges around them to maintain their group cohesion? Through these rituals, the Doukhobors created a tight-knit community that provided emotional support and solidarity in the face of external threats. Doukhobor rituals were linked to the most intimate part of their lives—the celebration of love, recognition of the soul’s departure, their history, and their identity. These rituals highlight perseverance, joy, and community building.
ContributorsNeubuhr Torres, Rachel Louise (Author) / Clay, J. Eugene (Thesis advisor) / Henn, Alexander (Committee member) / Androsoff, Ashleigh B (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The indigenous communities of Chiapas, Mexico, have long manifested resistance to oppression and discrimination. This study centers on the analysis of Chiapas: el fin del silencio (1998) by Alberto Turok, connecting the work of the photographer to the problems faced by indigenous people in the region, such as inequality and marginalization. Race, class, gender, and globalization, in addition to the emergence of the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN), are essential factors to the discourse of resistance. EZLN, an armed indigenous group in Chiapas, led by its famed leader, Subcomandante Marcos, clearly opposed the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In examining resistance, ritual, and performance, the photography of Turok serves as testimony of the struggles of indigenous people and the relevance it has for a diverse Mexican society.
ContributorsArizmendi, Aaron (Author) / Foster, David W (Thesis advisor) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Committee member) / Rosales, Jesus (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The inspiration to undertake this pilot study came after observation and reflection by the clinician-researcher, a board-certified music therapist who has used the harp as the primary instrument when facilitating sessions, on hundreds of music therapy sessions that took place at a facility for behavioral health and chemical dependency. It was observed that the use of improvised harp music as a therapeutic intervention within the context of a music therapy session seemed to relax patients who reported that they were nervous or anxious, and it was also noted that following a listening exercise that consisted of improvised harp music, patients appeared calmer and reported that they felt more comfortable. This research aims to determine if improvised harp music at the opening of a music therapy session creates a calmer environment in which to share information, compared with a guided verbal relaxation and ambient ocean drum sounds for the opening of the music therapy session. Social-behavioral research was conducted in the form of a fifty minute individual music therapy session with six subjects. Each therapy session used improvised music and verbal processing with the therapist, with three subjects in the experimental group and three in the control group. Each individual rated two different types of affective responses on scales of one to ten and completed a five-question survey at the end of the session. All the research subjects showed an increase in positive affect at the end of the music therapy session.
ContributorsRaunikar, Mary Frances (Author) / Rio, Robin (Thesis advisor) / Aspnes, Lynne (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018