New Meanings to Old Rituals : The Emergence of Mourning Rituals in Shiʿite Islam

This paper will discuss the emergence of Shiʿite mourning rituals around the grave of Husayn b. ʿAli. After the killing of Husayn at Karbala’ in 61/680, a number of men in Kufa feel deep regret for their neglect to come to the help of the grand­son of the Prophet. They gather and discuss how they can best make penitence for this crime. Eventually, they decide to take to arms and go against the Umayyad army – to kill those that killed Husayn, or be killed them­selves in the attempt to find revenge for him. Thus, they are called the Penitents (Ar. Tawwābūn). On their way to the battlefield they stop at Husayn’s tomb at Karbala’, dedicat­ing themselves to remorseful prayer, crying and wailing over the fate of Husayn and their own sin. When the Penitents perform certain ritual acts, such as weeping and wailing over the death of Husayn, visiting his grave, asking for God’s mercy upon him on the Day of Judgment, demand blood revenge for him etc., they enter into already existing rituals in the pre-Islamic Arab and early Muslim context. That is, they enter into rituals that were traditionally performed at the death of a person. What is new is that the rituals that the Penitents perform have partially received a new content. As described, the rituals are performed out of loyalty towards Husayn and the family of the Prophet. The lack of loyalty in connection with the death of Husayn is conceived of as a sin that has to be atoned. Blood revenge thus be­comes not only a pure action of revenge to restore honor, but equally an expression for true religious conversion and penitence. Humphrey and Laidlaw argue that ritual actions in themselves are not bearers of meaning, but that they are filled with mean­ing by the performer. Accord­ing to them, ritual actions are apprehensible, i.e. they can be, and should be filled with meaning, and the people who perform them try to do so within the context where the ritual is performed. The story of the Penitents is a clear example of mourning rituals as actions that survive from earlier times, but that are now filled with new meaning when they are performed in a new and developing move­ment with a different ideology. In later Shiʿism, these rituals are elaborated and become a main tenet of this form of Islam.

Geclock: Un sistema di e-learning dove il tempo è la moneta di scambio

Geclock è un'innovativa piattaforma di e-learning che mette al primo posto la collaborazione tra persone. Il suo funzionamento somiglia molto a quello delle banche del tempo: ogni azione in favore della comunità conferisce all'utente un certo numero di crediti temporali che che potranno essere spesi in futuro all'interno di essa.

Va' dove ti porta l'eletrico 28 - progetto di una guida alternativa

Lo scopo di questo lavoro è quello di elaborare una guida turistica alternativa della città di Lisbona, facendo riferimento al percorso del Tram più ricercato, l’Elétrico 28. L’obiettivo di questo progetto di guida sarà quello di accompagnare il passeggero nel suo viaggio fornendogli non le classiche informazioni dettagliate che si potrebbero trovare in una tradizionale guida, bensì dei veri input che lo stimoleranno a voler conoscere sempre di più. Le informazioni fornite provengono, oltre che da guide classiche come Lisbona. Quello che il turista deve vedere di Fernando Pessoa, dall’esperienza diretta e dalle testimonianze degli autoctoni.

Uncertain Belongings. Absent mourning, burial, and post-mortem repatriations at the external border of the EU in Spain

Since the mid-1980s, migrants from North African and sub-Saharan countries have irregularly crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, in the hope of a better future for themselves and their families. Travelling in small, poorly equipped boats without experienced captains has cost the lives of myriad border crossers. Many of these bodies will never be recovered and the bereaved will never know whether their relatives and friends are alive or not. The bereaved are thus condemned to a state of not knowing and uncertainty. Exploring the junction of death and belonging, I firstly open a discussion about the enigmatic relation between a dead body and a dead person and argue for the importance of the physical presence of the body for mourning. Secondly, I show how the anonymity of dead border crossers and their uncertain belongings are generated, concealed, or rewritten. Following the story of an undertaker, I thirdly examine post-mortem border crossings. Depicting the power relations within identification processes, I outline the ambiguity of the term belonging by emphasising the constitutive significance of personal belongings such as clothes to restore a person’s identity. Reflecting on the ethical relationships which different actors (including the researcher) undertake with the deceased, I aim at gaining a better understanding of the multiple belonging of dead border crossers found on Spanish shores.

Homiliario quadragesimale : fondato de parola in parola sopra l'Epistole & Evangelii... secôdo l'ordine della santa romana c hiesa; [Dominicale et santuario dove si contiene una... espositione sopra gli Evangeli...]

Segunda obra con port. y pag. propias