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.

”Varför tar man för givet att feminismen måste vara sekulär?” : En studie om muslimska feminister i svensk kontext

The purpose of this study is to examine how two Muslim feminists perceive themselves to betreated by the Swedish majority society and within the secular feminist movement. Thesurvey was conducted using qualitative method with a total of two interviews. For the study'stheoretical perspectives, I have used postcolonialism and postcolonial feminism. The result ofthe survey and the analysis show that the informants say that they face an image of Muslimwomen as considered being under oppression. The informants believe that this stereotypicalimage has its origin from the colonial period. The question that is most important for themwithin feminism is to be treated as a feminist and as a Muslim without being questioned. Theyfeel like it's hard to identify with the Swedish secular feminism, but they also feel that thegroup of Swedish secular feminists have a difficulty identifying themselves with Muslimwomen too. Consider this, one of the informants does not feel welcome among Swedishsecular feminism while the other one never had an interest in becoming a member of itbecause she did not consider them to strive for the same goal as herself. The informantsclaims that there are opportunities for them to speak in the public debate, but as Muslimfeminists they are facing a bigger struggle.

Motstånd och stöd : en studie av svenska muslimska församlingar

Opposition and Support: A Study of Swedish Muslim Congregations Anti-Islamic attitudes are deeply rooted in Western Europe, and Muslims have, especially in the post-September 11 context, experienced discrimination and demonization. But how do anti-Islamic attitudes affect practicing Muslims and their congregations? The aim of this study, the first of its kind in Europe, is to present a statistically representative view of how Muslim congregations in Sweden experienced the reactions from the surrounding community. The results of the survey carried out show that according to the representatives of the local congregations (n=105) half of the congregations have experienced opposition from the local community and in 40 percent of the congregations criminal offences have been committed against active Muslims or their places of worship.  This opposition is closely connected with two types of situations: either international occurrences (i.e. terrorist bombings in, for example, London, Madrid) or local events that have emphasized the presence of Islam in the public sphere. A multivariate analysis of the results of the study shows that the strongest opposition has taken place in small municipalities with a large proportion of immigrants. However, opposition does not preclude support. On the contrary, opposition appears to have a mobilizing effect on those who support the right of Muslims to exercise freedom of religion. However, neither opposition nor support are the key factors affecting whether congregations see themselves as established in the local community. The degree of anchorage depends on the demographic composition of the congregation and on the degree of contact that the members have with the surrounding community.

Patriarchal values : girls are more apt to change

Patriarchal values: girls are more apt to change How has the family value system changed between generations, especially when taking into account the gender dimension? This article presents some results from a study carried outin 2007 in one village of the Gourani tribe where the people are followers of Ahle Hagh in Islamabad Gharb (west of Iran). The differences between generations (those born and raised before and after the Islamic Revolution) in patriarchal values in the family are statistically significant. The older generation opts for the man of the family to make most of the decisions; on children’s education, marriage, naming, the families expenditure, the place for residence, the social network of the family and even the number of children. The younger generation has a different value system and it has moved towards a more egalitarian type of family. With the gender variable included in the findings we see that although the values of the younger male population have evolved toward a less patriarchal decision making structure inthe family, the degree of changes among the young women is much higher. Looking into the preferences for male sex for the first child as well as a larger number of boys in the family, the difference between generations is significant. However data on the differences analyzed with the gender variable proves that the changes concerning the equality of sexes are mainly due to drastic changes in the young women’s value system. That is, the male population, young or old, still prefer to have a boy as their first born and to have more sons in the family. But the young female generation in the rural area sees less difference in having boys or girls in the family. It is concluded that reforms in the old value system is an evolving process of everyday life and that the girls are the main social force for change.

O sindicalismo e a administração publica

A dissertação aqui apresentada versa sobre uma temática nova, quer vista sob a ótica do nascimento do fato sociológico analisado - O Sindicalismo e a Administração Pública quer se considere a quase inexistência de fontes nas quais se possa abeberar, para que fosse possível estabelecer o fio condutor no desenvolvimento do tema. A temática foi analisada em dois planos: primeiro, fêz-se uma apreciação crítica da história do associativismo no Brasil, em sua simbiose com o aspecto social, com o lado econômico e com o lastro jurídico, ao ser analisado o caminho percorrido desde o primeiro clarão do Brasil até os dias presentes. Em segundo estágio, perquiriu-se a questão sindical, no que diz respeito à sua etiologia, o seu despertar mais consciente na década de 80 do nosso século, perpassando pela criação das Centrais Sindicais, ao serem detectados os desvios ideológicos, as contradições, a sua fisiologia em função de sua organização, ideário e ação na direção do que se propõem em nome de seus afiliados. Com efeito, o núcleo do trabalho se cinge à arregimentação do corpo de funcionários públicos com vistas a um eficaz - hoje, ainda muito incipiente - congraçamento, ao se deparar com uma forte resistência institucional, de vez que só a partir da Constituição de 1988, é que se abriu caminho para o direito de associação sindical a esse estamento dos agentes públicos. As disfunções são, aí, analisadas em relação ao despreparo dos Recursos Humanos no exercício de liderança e em confronto com a estrutura institucional anacrônica e de feitio autoritário, para fazer valer, de forma eficaz e efetiva, um bom desempenho da ação sindical, que se deseja genuína, autônoma e autógena, em função dos interesses de classe e a ter em vista a excelência dos serviços públicos; o fenômeno estudado, inversamente, mostra o processamento de uma luta sindical radicada em estrutura antidemocrática, em que o Estado financia os sindicatos e todo o aparelhamento sindical vertical, via contribuição sindical e a considerar que esse lastro sustentador da luta sindical é decalque de uma época de predominância de valores chauvinistas, exaltados no Brasil - e em outros países -, nas décadas de 30 e 40. Ainda foi feito um estudo comparativo com três modelos de sindicalismo, quais sejam: o francês, o alemão e o português. Os dois primeiros por razões de se constituirem em paradigmas de países centrais, tendo em vista que: (1) a França é modelo inspirador das instituições ocidentais, em sede político-jurídico-social, haja vista a sua História prenhe de fatos solapadores do statu quo ante; e (2) a Alemanha, por ter uma classe eficazmente institucionalizada de agentes públicos, tendo tradição araigada desde a burocracia prussiana, o que dá o toque de elevado profissionalismo a esses agentes públicos, os quais contam com uma agremiação sindical que guarda independência com relação ao movimento sindical do trabalhador privado, este, também consolidado em poderosa organização sindical naquele país. Portugal aparece no trabalho como o ascendente cultural do Brasil, o que implica em ser mostrado o nascedouro sindical desse país, dentro do clima cultural em que viveu e vive a península lusitana, e com isso se tenta elucidar o estágio de seu sindicalismo, as suas disfunções e auto funções , as suas semelhanças com o modelo brasileiro, as suas inclinações e natureza. As conclusões aferidas registram alguns aspectos relevantes: 1º) o Brasil nasceu de uma Administração centralizadora, marcada por uma máquina administrativa ineficaz, ineficiente, com a marca do Estato-império e sem a presença da construção concomitante de uma nação que é retardatária no assentar a viga da cidadania, o que levou a delongar a formação dos anseios e do espírito genuinamente autóctones. A repressão ao desenvolvimento das letras foi um entrave à criação de um espírito de povo, com a variante de ser uma maioria inculta, massacrantemente iletrada, em meio a uma pirâmide social em que se registrava apenas uma base desmesurada e um vértice acanhado, sem ter de permeio outras classes sociais que pudessem ser ou vir a ser estratificadas. Na esteira desses elementos, concluiu-se que: 2º) o movimento associativo é uma realidade incipiente e adormecido durante séculos, o que desbordou em uma apatia que só hoje começa a ser sacudida, através dos movimentos associativistas e sindical, este último nascido no meio das fábricas e estendido a algumas capitais de maior relevância política ou de maior peso econômico. o aspecto de maior magnitude para o trabalho foi a sinalização aberta aos servidores públicos para que se sindicalizassem, do que decorreu a conclusão de que essa ação precisa ser tangenciada e carreada a ser um movimento mais autenticamente ligado aos interesses da classe, pois por desvirtuamento contingencial em face da iniciante pouca expressão e inexperiência desse estamento, a ação sindical desses servidores sempre esteve à ilharga do movimento sindical do trabalhador privado, o qual tem outra linha de ação direcionada a interesses mais ligados ao conflito trabalho vs. capital, interesses esses que não se coadunam e nem se identificam com as aspirações e necessidades do funcionalismo público, mesmo que, muitas vezes, a questão do conflito desses agentes tenha uma interface no conjunto da pauta de reivindicação dos trabalhadores privados, ou seja, a questão salarial. O imperativo maior - e esta é a base da recomendação mais substancial - é conduzir a ação dos agentes públicos de forma heterodoxa na direção de se independentizar o movimento sindical desses agentes, a ser impulsionado pelas suas peculiaridades e por sua essencialidade ditada pela sua ontologia de servidores da coisa pública e tendo o público como sua clientela. Este é, em síntese, o caminho aqui trilhado.

Gestão organizacional X educação a distância: um estudo de caso da gestão da EAD na Faculdade Ideal-Faci

A presente pesquisa de caráter qualitativo, realizada no ano de 2009, teve como objetivo examinar o processo de Gestão da Educação a Distância, promovido na Instituição de Ensino Superior Faculdade Ideal, a fim de averiguar à satisfação dos clientes (alunos) e da equipe gestora (funcionários da administração, professores e diretores) em relação à qualidade (eficiência e eficácia) do processo. Nesse sentido, mediante um estudo de caso, procedeu-se a pesquisa em duas etapas: na primeira desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa bibliográfica e documental para a fundamentação teórica e apropriação documental que possibilitou o conhecimento da IES em questão; na segunda etapa foram realizadas a observação participante, as entrevistas e a aplicação dos questionários na IES objeto deste estudo ao envolvidos no processo, o que proporcionou a coleta dos dados e subsidiou a elaboração do referencial textual e as análises realizadas. Após a investigação, chegaram-se as considerações de que a IES desenvolve algumas estratégias de gestão do conhecimento que viabilizam o desenvolvimento e a sustentação de competências capazes de promovê-Ia. Também se observou que o modelo de gestão adotado promove uma educação (EAD) de qualidade (eficiente e eficaz), satisfazendo os participes do processo, os quais avaliaram os domlnios de competência como bom e ótimo. Além disso, detectou-se que o ponto forte do modelo de gestão adotado está sustentado nos domlnios de qualidade associado à tecnologia. A análise dos dados permitiu algumas inferências: os domlnios qualidade e tecnologia apresentaram altos nlveis de aprovação pela equipe gestora; já os alunos avaliaram o domlnio qualidade como ótimo e os demais como bons, isto é, três em cada quatro alunos estão satisfeitos ou muito satisfeitos com a qualidade da EAD ofertada na IES, disso resulta que se sentem atendidos e satisfeitos como clientes em relação à qualidade dos serviços ofertados e as suas necessidades educacionais. Entretanto, detectou-se que os respondentes não conseguiram identificar o tipo de gestão adotado na IES. Também se verificou que a empresa não possui nenhuma forma de recompensa ou reconhecimento para gerir o conhecimento do capital intelectual institucional. Conclui-se, portanto, que este trabalho possibilitou a esta pesquisadora reflexões intensas, levando-a a repensar o seu próprio exerclcio profissionalacadêmico. Faz-se necessário também informar que não se teve pretensão em abordar a totalidade das questões que permeiam a discussão deste assunto, intentando-se, tão-somente, apontá-Ias como relacionais. Assim, espera-se que esta pesquisa sirva de orientação para outros pesquisadores na área da gestão educacional da EAD e que a mesma, diferentemente de se tornar mais uma produção nas prateleiras da academia, suscite novas discussões e novos debates na área, inquietando alguns e em outros despertando "novos olhares" em direção a uma educação a distância de qualidade (eficiente e eficaz).

Sanções ao Irã: como elas vêm impactando a sociedade civil iraniana?

O presente trabalho visa analisar quais os efeitos das sanções impostas pelos Estados Unidos da América, União Europeia e Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas contra a sociedade civil da República Islâmica do Irã. Inicialmente será abordado o histórico da construção das sanções, observando como se deu a relação entre os EUA e o Irã após 1979 até a imposição das mais recentes sanções, com ênfase no período pós-2009, época que apresenta uma mudança no comportamento das entidades sancionadoras. Vê-se que a política norte-americana para o Irã sempre foi baseada na dualidade entre diálogo e pressões econômicas, sendo este ultimo utilizado como ferramenta para desenvolvimento do primeiro. Em seguida se analisará todo o arcabouço jurídico construído com vistas a restringir a capacidade econômica iraniana e consequentemente sua capacidade de desenvolver seu programa nuclear. Neste capitulo é observada a amplitude que alcançaram as sanções e como estas buscam apesar de tudo gerar mecanismos de alivio a sociedade civil, deixando transparecer um discurso humanitário. O ultimo capitulo terá como ênfase os impactos das sanções na sociedade civil, nele será demonstrado que apesar das exceções legislativas, a população iraniana tem sido amplamente afetada. Através da analise de depoimentos e de noticias de periódicos serão vistas quais foram esses impactos e sua extensão. Por fim faremos um breve balanço do que fora apresentado, refletindo se quais os resultados alcançados pelas sanções e se eles superam os custos sociais impostos a população iraniana.

Neurobiology and clinical implications of lucid dreaming

Several lines of evidence converge to the idea that rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) is a good model to foster our understanding of psychosis. Both REMS and psychosis course with internally generated perceptions and lack of rational judgment, which is attributed to a hyperlimbic activity along with hypofrontality. Interestingly, some individuals can become aware of dreaming during REMS, a particular experience known as lucid dreaming (LD), whose neurobiological basis is still controversial. Since the frontal lobe plays a role in self-consciousness, working memory and attention, here we hypothesize that LD is associated with increased frontal activity during REMS. A possible way to test this hypothesis is to check whether transcranial magnetic or electric stimulation of the frontal region during REMS triggers LD. We further suggest that psychosis and LD are opposite phenomena: LD as a physiological awakening while dreaming due to frontal activity, and psychosis as a pathological intrusion of dream features during wake state due to hypofrontality. We further suggest that LD research may have three main clinical implications. First, LD could be important to the study of consciousness, including its pathologies and other altered states. Second, LD could be used as a therapy for recurrent nightmares, a common symptom of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Finally, LD may allow for motor imagery during dreaming with possible improvement of physical rehabilitation. In all, we believe that LD research may clarify multiple aspects of brain functioning in its physiological, altered and pathological states.

Retratos, imagens, letras e numeros colados nas paredes:representaçãoes sociais de escola para ribeirinhos dos rios Môa e Azul - Acre

Remote Communities. Absence of artifacts and minimization of the exacerbated consumption of modernity. The desire which spread beyond what reality can provide. Expressions like this are present in this paper which focus in the social representations of school built by residents who live at the riversides of Môa and Azul Rivers, in Mâncio Lima, Acre State. To do so, we used the methodological contribution of the semi-structured interview, observation of the place while a natural inhabitant of the region, and also photos analyses of local reality. A key feature of the riverside homes is the glued paper on the walls of houses forming a panel set of portraits, pictures, letters and numbers for all appreciated. Regardless of whether or not read, there is admiration for the color of the images, the layout of the letters, and the things of the city awakening the desire to obtain school knowledge. The resident of this Amazon region maintains a close relationship between thinking, acting and feeling living harmonically with nature that connects them to the ideal landscape which is revisited by the graphic material that attracts wondering what exists beyond the shores of the river, beyond the horizon of green forests. It is a life entirely accomplished by the imaginary where exist a framed landscape merged and confused by the real and the supernatural, in which men and gods walk together by the forest, sailing by the rivers and seek a possible aesthetic between the real and ideal. The Theory of Social Representations spread by Serge Moscovici (2005) and Jodelet (2001) guided our gaze on the understanding what the school is and its representation to the riversides, as well to reveal the relation they practice with the knowledge that is spread by the mystification and the knowledge that is practice daily. Based in Bardin s thematic analysis (2004) we tried to raise such contents combining them in five analysis categories

O cidadão técnico em enfermagem :analisando as mudanças na sua profissionalização

The study analyzes the changes occurring in the professional qualification of the Nursing Technician in the Natal School of Nursing. It provides a historical discussion of Brazilian professional education, of the pertinent legislation in this type of teaching, and the repercussions related to the institutionalization of the Educational Directives Law. It interprets the discourse of the graduates of the complementary course of nursing auxiliary to nursing technician, for the year 2002, using the collective subject analysis and individual interviews. These revealed changes in the areas of knowledge-learning, knowledge-doing, knowledge-being, and an awakening to other changes besides the challenges being confronted. In this sense, nursing as a participant in a society that is effervescent with process changes, interacts socially, politically and professionally in this context, able to experience advances and retrogrades, depending on its political competency

Responsabilidade social empresarial: modalidades e grau de participação em meios de hospedagem em Ponta Negra, Natal/RN

That work has as objective to investigate and to analyze the strategies which they were developed by companies of lodging means with ends of social responsibility in Rio Grande do Norte (RN). Therefore, it got data along with the Office of Tourism of the Municipal district of Natal , the Office of Tourism of RN and the cadasters of the firms of the lodging means in the district of Ponta Negra. In after research of field, it verified the enterprises that now develop lodging activities in that quarter in Ponta Negra. It applied Instrument of research which it was elaborated based on the set of indicators of social responsibility of Ethos Institute, structured with binary questions and some open ones. It shows as results which actions the investigated companies develop. Confronting these results with researched theoretical referencial, it points an intermediate degree of socially responsible actions. Comparing with the evaluation accomplished by Ethos Institute, the investigated firms are in incipient condition, with punctual actions, however, they already present the awakening about this thematic

Sob a égide de Afrodite: o espaço feminino em O Despertar, de Kate Chopin

Departing from the theoretical principle of the feminine text as a palimpsest that holds subtextual meanings which, in permanent interaction with the textual surface, disarticulate the oppositional and hierarchical backgrounds of patriarchy, this essay intends to offer a general overview on the narrative instance of space in The Awakening, the most important work by Kate Chopin one of the highlights of Realism in the United States, with the intention to show how the space is itself plenty of and at the same time disseminates into the other narrative elements some inter-dictions to gainsay patriarchy. We intend, in this perspective, to develop an analysis of the space and its subtextual inter-relationships displayed in the symbolic implications of the water, the sea, the circle, and the feminine subjectivity awakening of the work's protagonist.

Increasing trends of sleep complaints in the city of São Paulo, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

O cuidado e a ética do cuidado: um diálogo entre Leonardo Boff, Carol Gilligam e Nel Noddings

To elucidate the important contribution of care ethics in improving human relations and social intimates, this work reveals the fragility and lack of ethics on the formation of a just society, equal, peaceful and caring. To this end, we study on the moral development of men and women, warning of the natural differences between the sexes, which change for both the way of seeing life and live it - which does not imply inferiority to some genres. From this study it is clear that the natural care is innate to humans, it provides a tendency to act for the good of all life forms and nature as a whole. But it is evident here a greater sensitivity of women to such care because they possess perception and more emotion than men, which make them more participatory and involved in relationships. This greater openness to care found in women, due in part to the strong and lasting relationship with their mothers. Thus is revealed the power that women have to positively change the direction of human relationships, providing careful with your example, protective and caring, the awakening of a new and comprehensive ethics - opens to the truth, and features especially for affections. Therefore, the care ethics arises from the life experiences of women and aims, through them, to join the men's morality in order to bring out the relevant fact of interdependence between human beings, of human fragility and the need for relationships to the fullness of life

Investigação da relação entre conteúdo onírico e aprendizado de uma tarefa cognitiva complexa

Several lines of evidence indicate that sleep is beneficial for learning, but there is no experimental evidence yet that the content of dreams is adaptive, i.e., that dreams help the dreamer to cope with challenges of the following day. Our aim here is to investigate the role of dreams in the acquisition of a complex cognitive task. We investigated electroencephalographic recordings and dream reports of adult subjects exposed to a computer game comprising perceptual, motor, spatial, emotional and higher-level cognitive aspects (Doom). Subjects slept two nights in the sleep laboratory, a completely dark room with a comfortable bed and controlled temperature. Electroencephalographic recordings with 28 channels were continuously performed throughout the experiment to identify episodes of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. Behaviors were continuously recorded in audio and video with an infrared camera. Dream reports were collected upon forced awakening from late REM sleep, and again in the morning after spontaneous awakening. On day 1, subjects were habituated to the sleep laboratory, no computer game was played, and negative controls for gamerelated dream reports were collected. On day 2, subjects played the computer game before and after sleep. Each game session lasted for an hour, and sleep for 7-9 hours. 9 different measures of performance indicated significant improve overnight. 81% of the subjects experienced intrusion of elements of the game into their dreams, including potentially adaptative strategies (insights). There was a linear correlation between performance and dream intrusion as well as for game improval and quantity of reported dreaming. In the electrophysiological analysis we mapped the subjects brain activities in different stages (SWS 1, REM 1, SWS 2, REM 2, Game 1 and Game 2), and found a modest reverberation in motor areas related to the joystick control during the sleep. When separated by gender, we found a significant difference on female subjects in the channels that indicate motor learning. Analysis of dream reports showed that the amount of gamerelated elements in dreams correlated with performance gains according to an inverted-U function analogous to the Yerkes-Dodson law that governs the relationship between arousal and learning. The results indicate that dreaming is an adaptive behavior