'Scott's aired a couple of things' : back to back theatre rehearse Ganesh versus the third Reich

 This chapter tracks the creation of Back to Back Theatre’s 2011 performance, Ganesh Versus the Third Reich, based on first-hand observation of the final stages in devising and refining the work. Ganesh traces two parallel narrative strands – that of an imagined journey of the Hindu God into the dark heart of Nazi Germany to reclaim the sacred Hindu symbol of the swastika, and the narrative which constantly threatens to engulf the Ganesh story – the fraught relations between a group of disabled artists and their non-disabled director as they negotiate the process of making the work.

The focus of this chapter is the development of a single scene from the performance work, Ganesh Versus the Third Reich, tracing it’s evolution through periods of creative development and rehearsal. The stark contrast between the working practices observed on the studio floor and the brutally knowing and parodic representation of power relations in rehearsal seen in the performance work testifies to the peculiar and productive self-reflexivity that generates the work of Back To Back Theatre. An account and analysis of both real and fictional rehearsals reveal how Back to Back’s creative processes position members of the ensemble “perceived to have intellectual disabilities” as entirely legitimate professional artists, while claiming the authority of ‘outsider artists’ to challenge perceptions and representations of disability.

Digital archetypes : adaptations of early temple architecture in South and Southeast Asia

This unique book presents a broad multi-disciplinary examination of early temple architecture in Asia, written by two experts in digital reconstruction and the history and theory of Asian architecture. The authors examine the archetypes of Early Brahmanic, Hindu and Buddhist temple architecture from their origins in north western India to their subsequent spread and adaptation eastwards into Southeast Asia. While the epic monuments of Asia are well known, much less is known about the connections between their building traditions, especially the common themes and mutual influences in the early architecture of Java, Cambodia and Champa. While others have made significant historiographic connections between these temple building traditions, this book unravels, for the first time, the specifically compositional and architectural linkages along the trading routes of South and Southeast Asia. Through digital reconstruction and recovery of three dimensional temple forms, the authors have developed a digital dataset of early Indian antecedents, tested new technologies for the acquisition of built heritage and developed new methods for comparative analysis of built form geometry. Overall the book presents a novel approach to the study of heritage and representation within the framework of emerging digital techniques and methods. © Sambit Datta and David Beynon 2014. All rights reserved.

Deconstructing religious identity, difference, and belonging : implications for anti-racist pedagogy

Increasing numbers of Australians identify with a multiplicity of religion groups or have no religious affiliation. Despite this, the representation of religious groups other than Christian—and the implications of this for anti-racist pedagogy in Australian schools—is seldom explored. This article interrogates the ways in which the most prominent of these minority religious groups (Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish) were spoken about in two Melbourne newspapers and considers the implications of this interrogation for multicultural pedagogy in globally integrated local school contexts, such as those in Australia. Methodologies of social cultural theory and critical discourse analysis (CDA) are used to investigate newspaper discussions from the different viewpoints of their experiential, systemic, and normative focus. I find that notions of religious identity described in the media are stylized in form and an almost-silent normative self-identity is defined against clichéd typologies made within a crucible of race, identity, and belonging.

Disenchantments of secularism: the West and India

This Chapter is an exercise in comparative secularism. In this chapter I will be concerned basically with a critique of Western conceptions of secularism, beginning with Hegel’s invention of a particular reading of secularism that, through imperialist literature, gave a preeminent direction to the ideology of the less-religiously orientated Indian nationalists during their drawn-out independence struggle. My main concern will be to contrast the Western debates on ‘the secular’, particularly in its recent permutations or attempted revisions as a response to the crisis of modernity, with the current Indian debates—where ‘ the secular; has all but been hijacked by the Hindu Right—and to show—reversing Hegel’s trajectory—what impact the latter could have on the former. There is some evidence of this already occurring, particularly in Charles Taylor’s work and travels wherein he does make some gestures towards looking at non-Western experiences of secularism (which is taken more or less to be synonymous with secularization). There are severe limitations to this overture however, and the chapter hopes to sound a word of caution on the kind of excitement over which Taylor seems to have become something of a celebrity in the academe. Even more disappointingly, one does not find a similar emphatic approach or opening to non-Western experiences and rethinking of the secular in the works of other modernists; and I point to Habermas and Žižek as my examples, who I touch on, albeit very briefly. This lack or lacuna makes both the discourse of modernity and the supplementary critique of secularism much the poorer for it.

Religion, heritage and the sustainable city : Hinduism and urbanisation in Jaipur

The speed and scale of urbanisation in India is unprecedented almost anywhere in the world and has tremendous global implications. The religious influence on the urban experience has resonances for all aspects of urban sustainability in India and yet it remains a blind spot while articulating sustainable urban policy.This book explores the historical and on-going influence of religion on urban planning, design, space utilisation, urban identities and communities. It argues that the conceptual and empirical approaches to planning sustainable cities in India need to be developed out of analytical concepts that define local sense of place and identity. Examining how Hindu religious heritage, beliefs and religiously influenced planning practices have impacted on sustainable urbanisation development in Jaipur and Indian cities in general, the book identifies the challenges and opportunities that ritualistic and belief resources pose for sustainability. It focuses on three key aspects: spatial segregation and ghettoisation; gender-inclusive urban development; and the nexus between religion, nature and urban development. This cutting-edge book is one of the first case studies linking Hindu religion, heritage, urban development, women and the environment in a way that responds to the realities of Indian cities. It opens up discussion on the nexus of religion and development, drawing out insightful policy implications for the sustainable urban planning of many cities in India and elsewhere in South Asia and the developing world.

Modalidade de ensino a distância : curso ou navegação?

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo geral analisar a racionalidade que em-basa a formação de professores através de EaD, através de descrição de prática, nos cursos de formação de professores oferecidos a distância de uma instituição privada de ensino superior. Como objetivos específicos pretende identificar na rela-ção tutor aluno a racionalidade: prática ou técnica; relacionar dificuldades e/ ou faci-lidades no processo de transposição didático-metodológica no ambiente virtual en-tre tutor/aluno, frente à proposta da racionalidade prática. O trabalho foi desenvolvi-do no modelo qualitativo de investigação, como estudo de caso. Foram entrevista-dos 10 tutores que utilizam o ambiente virtual na modalidade à distância de uma instituição superior privada. A fundamentação teórica foi referenciada em Popke-witz, na análise da Reforma Educacional, e Boaventura Santos, com contribuições quanto à politização da tecnologia. Também contamos com Alarcão, Prestes, Brze-zinski e Namo de Mello, que tratam das possibilidades e perplexidades na formação de profissionais da educação a partir da LDB (Lei 9.394/96). Também com os estu-dos das novas tecnologias, como Macedo, Sancho, Lévy, Lemos, Palloff, Pratt, Ala-va, Preti, Pellanda e Lithwin. Dessa forma, a pesquisa dirige-se para um novo olhar sobre os processos semi-presenciais do ensinar e do aprender no contexto das tec-nologias digitais. O estudo sinalizou que o EaD ainda carece de atenção especial, em várias questões no processo educativo, entre elas, tempo de alunos e tutores e capacitação tecnológica. Assim, busca-se contribuir para a reflexão sobre essa te-mática tão contemporânea. Nessa perspectiva, o estudo não pretende se esgotar e sim, obter subsídios para futuros debates.

O casal 20 do telejornalismo e o mito da perfeição : como a mídia constrói a imagem dos apresentadores Fátima Bernardes e William Bonner

A imagem mítica de perfeição dos apresentadores do Jornal Nacional – Rede Globo de Televisão – construída pela mídia é o enfoque central desta pesquisa. Tanto no âmbito das soft quanto das hard news de revistas, jornais e sites de informação, Fátima Bernardes e William Bonner são estruturados como um casal pleno na profissão, no amor e nas relações familiares. É no imbricamento entre jornalismo e pensamento mítico que se torna possível essa leitura, revelando uma forte presença do imaginário cultural na pretensa objetividade jornalística. Usando conceitos de análise do discurso como suporte, analisamos 168 textos ao longo de um período de seis anos (1998 a 2004), apontando como a mídia constrói essa imagem e que sentidos mobiliza ao imputar ao casal um lugar privilegiado no panteão de celebridades da cultura de massa. A pesquisa está estruturada em três formações distintas: a) amor, fama e beleza; b) trabalho, sucesso e predestinação; c) família e moral. Mais do que jornalistas, os apresentadores do telejornal são retratados como estrelas de moral impecável, diferentemente das celebridades vulgares e sem predicados presentes na mídia atual.

Os exus em casa de catiço : etnografia, representações, magia

This dissertation is the result of an ethnographic journey undertaken in three spiritual centers of Umbanda , located in different districts of Natal/RN. The aim of the study was to understand how the representations of exus (spirit category) are established in the studied religious environment. In order to study this, mythical narratives of songs and of people were analyzed. In addition, the incorporated spirit entities, loaded with codes and values, were possible to be read and understood. The present work was developed according to a theoretical and methodological approach that interprets culture as a constant construction process, with representations and significations. The empirical research focuses on the ethnographic observations and the narratives; providing the experimentation of the models of discursive dialogues and polyphony. It was observed that the studied empirical field is marked by the cult of the Jurema which influences the mythical construction of exus . Therefore, this study enabled a reflection on the meeting of notions of two distinct worlds ( Umbanda and Jurema ). This reflection is crucial to the understanding of the position that exus occupy in the local umbandista system

A etnopoética de Iracema: diálogo, ciência e literatura

Literary works are thought provokers that make it possible to access several forms to view the world and reality. They provide diversified points of view and infinite connections. In a particular way, among all the other forms of art expression literature is considered to be the closest to life, once it is able to reconnect all human dimensions emotional, rational, mystic, personal, universal, corporal, historic, mythical. This thesis aims at offering some reflections about the frontiers and bridges between science and literature aiming at understanding the complexity that guides them. It presents a new reading of Iracema novel: Ceará tale of José de Alencar from a meticulous incursion through new ways and natural spaces interwoven by Alencar. It tries to hear the echoes of this indianist novel in the university students today. In a broader context, it creates arguments that question the multiple threadsthat join science and literature so that a science of complexity arises distinguishing but not separating the innumerous narratives about the world. For this purpose, this thesis has as interlocutors: Antonio Candido, Charles P. Snow, Edgar Morin, Emilio Ciurana, Fritjof Capra, George Steiner, Ilya Prigogine, Isabelle Stengers, Roger Chartier, Roland Barthes. The plot presented here does not limit the novel to science, but makes it a rereading of the word, of life, once this is the raw material of books. As a methodological strategy, we rebuilt Iracema´s character trips in a way to update the novel, resulting in the video documentary Iracema ways: the arid and remote interior, the plateau, the sea. Iracema novel and character enhancing dialogs that allow the dichotomy rupture between two cultures (Charles P. Snow), recognizing they are not incommunicable and revealing the core argument of the thesis: Iracema belongs to a complex category. It is a hybrid novel that is far, far away from that bluish plateau in the horizon

Natal como destino turístico : um estudo das imagens (re)veladas pela mídia, pelos turistas e suas implicações educacionais e culturais

This thesis is a result of a research on Natal/RN as a tourist destination. We understand that cities are chosen as tourist destinations beyond its cartographic localization, from other dimensions of meanings that, in its set, constitute images. These images are, probably, very different of the images constructed by native and resident populations, who possess relations of identity with the place. The knowledge of the meanings that others attribute to this city as tourist destination, bring us near to the symbolic bonds established by individuals or social groups on the act of their choices, as well as bring us near to the interaction process city-tourists where the expectations are confirmed or not. The images divulgated by the media also participate of the complex formation of the tourist image that is being constructed and available for the different public, in different social contexts. The tourism constitutes a symbolic asset of the modern society, being considered by the studious, as one of the most expressive phenomena of the modernity, for involving each year displacement and the interaction of thousand of people of different cultures in the entire world. All this people s mobilization points to practical social related to personal motivations, to the entailed desired to the idea to travel and to exceed borders. It is already consensus that tourism is a phenomenon of economic growth, generating jobs, income, professional, qualification, bringing improvements for the host cities. Since 1995, in Brazil, the tourism as a sector of the economy, passed to be considered one of the national priorities, and in this perspective, the national politics of the tourism invested in infrastructure of Brazilian cities with high tourist potential, objecting to increase the flows of Brazilian and foreign tourists. Owing to this fact, the country still invests in programs of tourist marketing, mainly divulging the images of the natural beauties of Brazil abroad. And for Brazilians, the campaigns appeal to rescue the feeling to be Brazilian, associating the idea to travel and know its country. Natal city possesses an excellent positioning in the tourist marketing, being predominantly divulgated in national and international level, for its naturalistic singularity, where the images of its natural enchantments as warm water beaches, white dunes, warm weather, constant breeze and an always blue sky are shown as the favorite scene on this city. From what was viewed above that the choice of a tourist destination articulates from a determined imaginary of a place, already constructed or in process of construction, we consider the knowledge of this imaginary a basic learning for the population of the city and especially, for educators, in the formation of professionals in this area and for tourism managers, elaborators of public politics. Based on this estimative, we developed this research that had as a general objective to identify the images that illustrate Natal city as a tourist destination - our objective of study, particularly the meanings and senses attributed by the tourist marketing (hotel s folders) and by the tourists that visited the city during this study. The discussions and reflections that had guided this research had been given from the theoretical link between imaginary and social representation, also considering some interfaces between the fields of communication and symbol. From the studied authors, Baczko (1985) clarifies that the study of social imaginary is directed for the mechanisms and structures of the social life, especially for the intervention accomplishes and efficient of the representations and symbols in the practical collectives, as well as in its direction and orientation . Following this same thought, Moscovici (1978) says that the social representation are produced in communicational and symbolic contexts, and these representations once that already constituted circulate socially as almost tangible entities. Based on this fundament and on the analyze of Barthes (1990), particularly in the approach given to the reading of photographic image, we could observe on hotel s folders that each page evidences senses and meanings of functionality of internal and external spaces, pointing to the way of leisure offered by the keepers of city which is the hotels. About, the leisure that they offer, it is directed to young public, giving meaning to the young myth of personalized leisure tourism on children, young and adults images. The image about security that hotels offer and the singular image of Natal city as a paradise place, provide an idealization of pleasure through the sun, dunes, and beaches and also due to the hospitability of the natives who are assigned as educated . For the tourist that participated on this research, Natal city is tied only by the imaginary of leisure and nature which constitute the emotional link of the relation media-city-tourist. And with such force and fullness of directions the city discloses without tensions and contradictions as a place protected by a mythical and sacred aura. The study also demonstrates us that the potiguar culture remains (almost) forgotten, due to the silenced in this imaginary. In this perspective, we highlight that this culture silence is very close related to the disvalue of education in its general meaning. We defend that the imaginary apprehended constitutes a new reading and a new looking and understanding the tourist reality that comes historically consolidating in this city. In this direction, we glimpse that this study and its future dismemberments can collaborate with the process of rescue the cultural values of the potiguar people, in the way that the meaning of tourist may be redefined, and the tourist image of the city can be also disclosed for its identities particularities of its culture

Trajetória de vida de ex-portadores de hanseníase com histórico asilar

Hansen's disease, despite significant advances regarding the diagnosis, treatment and control still carries an immense burden of stigma as a result, mainly of its socio-historical marked by prejudice and isolation of patients, translated by suffering, abandonment and psychosocial problems. Thus, the study set out to rescue the life stories of former leprosy patients with a leprosarium history; recovering the life trajectory stories of these former patients and to identify common factors to these life stories. Exploratory-descriptive study with a qualitative approach, using the Life History Research Methodology. The sample was composed by twelve former leprosy patients who lived while undergone treatment in the Colony Hospital St. Francisco de Assis, located in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. The network was composed without considering sex and age limit, patients that lived in the Colony Hospital for at least six months and who agree to participate freely in the study. The subjects with special physical needs (hearing) or mental disabilities and those who do not agree to participate were excluded. A semi-structured interview was used to data collection, the interviews were recorded in the household context of individual, residents in neighborhoods Felipe Camarão, Km 6 and Jardim America, more precisely at Nova Vida village, all located in that district. The data collected were subjected to the technique of thematic content analysis. This study had obtained an appropriate consent of the UFRN Research Ethics Committee under the protocol No. 016/2010. After extensive and careful readings of life stories we identified three themes that guided the data analysis: behavioral stages, social exclusion and, stigma and prejudice. Thus, it is clear that the practice of compulsory confinement of patients in nursing homes and the mythical image of Hansen's disease as being ugly and deformed, contributed to solidifying the historical stigma surrounding the disease and its patients, raising in society and family attitudes and feelings of exclusion, prejudice and fear. Moreover, there are remarkable stories in the lives of these interviewed reporting suffering, denials, anger that reverberate to this day, affecting negatively the social and family reintegration of these individuals. As a result, we see the need for managers and local health professionals, especially nurses, rethink existing strategies for social rehabilitation of the patient and ex-leprosy patient aiming to suppression unjust and harmful stigma rooted in image and stories of these individuals

Inês de Castro no romance contemporâneo português

Ines de Castro is a theme in literature from the fourteenth century. The historical fact of his death, in 1355, became a landmark in the history of Portugal and, since then, several literary texts from various genres, have dealt with this theme, this made the couple Pedro and Ines a myth of love passion, of love beyond the barriers of death, like Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet, Abelard and Heloise. The literary myth - or any picture that mythologize literature - is always prepared before culturally and works in the same way that so many others, this is, as an element of cultural identity, either collectively or individually, making it also a feature poetic. Thereby, is an archetype confirmed through time and eventually reveals a series of webs of the human psyche. Ines de Castro became the Portuguese myth of eternal love: she became queen after your dead. The persistence of the myth makes the love story of Pedro and Ines continue to produce texts of various literary genres. This study examines six contemporary historical novels, to show that the way actually this kind o novel does a new formulacion of Pedro e Ines mythical, because now it s different view likes the victim in Os lusiadas and other texts from the past. Collaborate to this news relacions between history and literature and a novelist's new stance in relation to historical facts that relate like reffering to novel. The intention is to show, through the novels chosen now Ines de Castro have different profiles than it had before in tradicional historic novels from the period of Romanticism and New Romanticism. Authored by Agustina Bessa-Luís, João Aguiar, António Cândido Franco, Seomara da Veiga Ferreira and Luis Rosa, the six novels studied show the circularity cultural of inesian myth showing this new character of the new person Ines in the contemporany historical novel

Ulisses e Narciso: as faces da alma humana através do discurso mítico nas Enéadas de Plotino

This dissertation, witch studies the myth in Plotinus, attempts to set an approach to the comprehension of the mythic discourse as image related to the ethical process in the Enneads. In order to achieve it, the analysis of the mythic narrative will be employed in the philosophical context that has as a starting point a revisit of the platonic poetic conception. As central questions the notable mythological figures of Narcissus and Ulysses will be utilized to put into context the notion of the Plotinian soul and its endeavor of returning to the originary unity. Therefore, by following the course of both figures in their respective narratives, it conceives a possible relation of ascension and fall of the soul. The first part of this study intends to show Plato s interpretation on the myth and Plotinus standpoint in regard to it. Moreover, it observes Plato s criticism on poetry in the context of the Greek Paideia and the notion of the myth as image of the henological structure in Plotinus, who perceives in the myth its exemplifying nature. The second part attempts to structure Plotinus philosophy, contrasting Henology and Ontology, therefore exposing the three hypostases and the comprehension of the intelligible. The third part endeavors to display the sense of the myth, the idea of the myth as image in Plotinus and the roles of the mythical figures in the Enneads

Outras verdades, muito extraordinárias, do grande sertão

This study explores the symbolism of evil way in the novel Grande sertão: veredas, by Guimarães Rosa, regarding faustian pact by Goethe, and so tries to understand how the rosiana language are present to the strategies which put in suspense the effectiveness of the demonic agreement and enable, with poetic intensity, different interpretations, especially as regards the anguish of the human condition. This research thus has drawn upon the Mythical Symbolism, in Literary Criticism and aspects of Metaphysics, in addition to analyzing classic literary essays in approaching of Rosa s masterpiece structure. It has also demonstrated that the incorporation of the Faust legend in Grande sertão reflects the same desire for happiness that is not done completely, and in this manner, instigates a discussion about the limits to the satisfaction of being human. Therefore, it has observed that epic narrative of ex-gangster Riobaldo to the doctor of city speculates on human man, in the continuous learning of his passing