Showing papers in "Scripta in 2011"

Comprendre le développement professionnel par l’analyse des discours

Abstract: Dans un dispositif consacre au developpement professionnel, nos etudiants en enseignement secondaire tiennent un portfolio. Celui-ci se cloture par un recit de trajectoire. Notre recherche reside dans l’analyse de ces recits a partir d’une grille d’indicateurs linguistiques. Ces indicateurs nous informent sur les processus reflexifs et discursifs a l’œuvre dans l’elaboration de savoirs professionnels. Ce premier niveau de description conduit a une methode de recherche hermeneutique. Il s’agit alors de mettre en lumiere les preoccupations sous-jacentes a ces processus : systemes de valeurs, de motivations et d’intentions ; tensions entre les savoirs scientifiques et la confrontation aux realites vecues dans l’experience ; constructions identitaires conflictuelles. Nous questionnons les conditions sociales externes et propres au contexte de formation qui influencent la production de ces recits. Nous en degageons les implications methodologiques pour l’analyse de discours a visee descriptive et comprehensive. Sur cette base, nous discutons quelques resultats de la recherche.

Práticas de letramento acadêmico em um curso de Engenharia Têxtil: o caso dos relatórios e suas dimensões escondidas

Abstract: O objetivo deste trabalho e caracterizar praticas de letramento academico no curso de Engenharia Textil da Universidade do Minho, Portugal. Para responder a esse objetivo sao identificadas as principais dimensoes escondidas do genero relatorio em propostas que envolvem leitura e escrita. Em acrescimo, sao analisados os modos como professores e alunos se posicionam, explicita ou implicitamente, diante dos trabalhos com o genero relatorio. Abordagens socioculturais relativas aos letramentos dao suporte a analise dos dados, os quais foram coletados no ano letivo de 2009/2010. Resultados indicam que o aprender fazendo e o aprender com base em modelos passados sao os meios mais recorrentes na producao de relatorios. Possiveis discussoes em torno das dimensoes escondidas desse genero revelam-se como recursos viaveis na mudanca das relacoes de poder e de autoridade nesse curso.

The rise and fall of the Pentecostals: the role and significance of the body in Pentecostal spirituality

Abstract: This paper addresses the role and significance of the body in contempor­ary Pentecostalism. It begins with a description of the various body-centred spiritual experiences common in this tradition. Next, it considers the social context of the Pentecostal body, arguing that the premium and importance placed on outward bodily experiences is consistent with a broader societal focus on bodies and bodily appearance. Finally, it draws on in-depth interview data with Pentecostals to illustrate the processes involved in coming to have an experience in which one’s body becomes the highly visible locus of spirituality. No longer restrained and ordered, the contemporary Christian body is exuberant, released to worship and be overcome by God. Being slain in the Spirit is the most prominent example of this shift in contemporary spirituality. The Pentecostal emphasis on bodily experiences is consistent with the late modern interest in the outward appearance of the body.

Islam and tattooing: an old question, a new research topic

Abstract: Most Muslim theologians have argued on the basis of the ḥadīth-literature that tattooing is ḥarām (forbidden), but it is nonetheless possible to find both historical and contemporary examples indicating that, at different times and in different places, this art was practiced by certain Islamic groups. With specific reference to washm,or tattooing, it has been well documented that certain Muslim groups (e.g., the Berbers and the Bedouins) in places such as Africa, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and West Pakistan have used tattoos for beautification, prophylaxis and the prevention of disease. Among Islam’s lay populations, tattooing has been considered significant as a healing practice for a very long time despite the formal opinions of Islamic scholars and theologians. And while in more recent times these Muslim groups appear to have abandoned past notions about the function of tattoos, which had caused a certain waning of the practice, of late it has had a resurgence—although for reasons that differ from those of distant times. The rise of interest in tattoos among Muslims has been directly observed by a handful of contemporary researchers, and is indirectly indicated by the fact that many contemporary Muslim authorities have expressed growing concern about the practice.This development has been further spurred on by the fact that many Muslims are actively seeking advice and clarification about where Islam stands on the matter of tattoos. The aim of of this article is to sketch the background of the more formal theological discussion on tattooing (especially in the ḥadīth-literature). It also aims to examine a number of contemporary religious texts that specifically deal with Muslim theological opinions about this practice: what is considered to be the problem; and what types of arguments are employed by the selected theologians in their attempts to provide answers. Is it possible to see the renewed interest in tattoos as an example of the fact that there is a gap between theory (what the theologians say) and practice (what the believers actually do)?

The religion of thinness

Abstract: This paper examines the almost religious-like devotion of especially women in pursuing the goal of a thinner body. The quest for a slender body is analysed as a ‘cultural religion’, which the author calls the ‘Religion of Thinness’. The analysis revolves around four observations. The first is that for many women in the US today, the quest for a slender body serves what has historically been a ‘religious’ function : providing a sense of purpose that orients and gives meaning to their lives, especially in times of suffering and uncertainty. Second, this quest has many features in common with traditional religions, including beliefs, myths, rituals, moral codes, and sacred images—all of which encourage women to find ‘salvation’ (i.e., happiness and well-being) through the pursuit of a ‘better’ (i.e., thinner) body.Third, this secular faith draws so many adherents in large part because it appeals to and addresses what might be referred to as spiritual needs —including the need for a sense of purpose, inspiration, security, virtue, love, and well-being—even though it shortchanges these needs, and, in the long run, fails to deliver the salvation it promises. Fourth, a number of traditional religious ideas, paradigms and motifs tacit­ly inform and support the Religion of Thinness. More specifically, its soteri­ology resurrects and recycles the misogynist, anti-body, other-worldly, and exclusivist aspects of patriarchal religion. Ultimately, the analysis is not only critical of the Religion of Thinness; it also raises suspicions about any clear-cut divisions between ‘religion’, ‘culture’, and ‘the body’. In fact, examining the functions, features, and ideologies embedded in this secular devotion gives us insight into the constitutive role of the body in the production and apprehension of religious and cultural meanings .

The post-secular position and enchanted bodies

Abstract: ‘The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned.’ This diagnosis of modern life, given by Gramsci, can be translated as pointing towards varying positions between secularity (even secularism), on the one hand, and (religious or pol­itical) belief and commitment on the other. This crossroads of belief and disbelief, or enchantment and disenchantment, is topical in new ways after recent revisions of secularization theories and the current revitalization of religions. Moreover, it also has bearings on how people bring together religions and bodies. The question examined in this article is: In what ways can diverse religious and spiritual practices bring about and construct new kinds of enchanted embodiments within contemporary life, and what is being done with these embodiments, both by people themselves and by scholars of religion. First, the author outlines a preliminary diagnosis of the current situation, which is approached as the desire for enchanted bodies. After that three ideal types of practices by which this desire could be seen to be enacted are tentatively identified. And finally, some implications of this diagnosis for the study of religion today are considered.

Towards a solution concerning female genital mutilation? An approach from within according to Islamic legal opinions

Abstract: Female circumcision is a tradition that is widespread and not restricted to predominantly Muslim countries. It is prevalent among all religious groups in many parts of Africa and Western Asia, whether they are Coptic Christians, Ethiopian Jews, or Arab Muslims. Female genital cutting or—more to the point—female genital mutilation (FGM), generally referred to as circumcision, occurs in at least five different forms. Circumcision is essentially a powerful bodily sign of the human—male and female—covenant with God. In the Quran it is reaffirmed in sura al-Nahl and quoted as example in the fatwas endorsing circumcision. It seems to be true that men are hardly involved in the actual decision in favour of female genital cutting. A man should not interfere in the decision of women to be circumcised. It is practiced and transmitted among women and midwives. Only sometimes is a (male or female) physician involved. On the basis of Islamic normativity, mirrored in fatwas, this paper aims to examine a very ambivalent approach concerning female genital mutilation.

Langage comme activité, langage dans l’activité, langage sur l’activité: éléments pour une discussion critiqu

Abstract: Sur la base d’analyses theoriques et empiriques, cet article montre d’abord les limites de la tripartition “langage comme activite”, “langage dans l’activite”, “langage sur l’activite”. Il formule ensuite une nouvelle proposition de conceptualisation ayant trait aux rapports entre langage et activite, qui se fonde sur la distinction entre plans ontologique et gnoseologique de l’agir, tout en soulignant la nature intrinsequement praxeologique du langage.

A autoconfrontação simples aplicada à formação de docentes em situação de trabalho

Abstract: Este trabalho traz como tema a autoconfrontacao, metodologia desenvolvida pela Clinica da Atividade (FAITA, 2002; CLOT, 2000, 2010) e utilizada pelos adeptos do Interacionismo Sociodiscursivo (AMIGUES, 2004; BRONCKART, 2003, 2006, 2008), cujo principio e fazer da atividade passada o objeto da atividade presente, por meio da linguagem. O objetivo desta pesquisa e apresentar os fatores que devem ser levados em consideracao para que uma instituicao escolar utilize esse instrumento na formacao continua de seus professores. Esse investimento se justifica pela necessidade institucional de ferramentas capazes de formar os professores em ambiente de trabalho e pela carencia dos docentes de receberem retornos sobre suas acoes. Por meio de leituras e de 10 sessoes de autoconfrontacao, foi possivel elaborar um roteiro pratico para a aplicacao da metodologia.

Un demi-siècle de didactique de l’écrit dans les pays francophones : bilan et perspectives

Abstract: Cet article tente d’elaborer une synthese des travaux realises dans les pays francophones au cours des 50 dernieres annees, en ce qui concerne l’enseignement de la langue ecrite. La premiere partie relate les conditions d’emergence de la « didactique de l’ecrit » : la mise en evidence de besoins de formation en ce domaine, auxquels ont repondu, de maniere differenciee, des chercheurs en linguistique ou en psychologie d’une part, des chercheurs en sciences de l’education d’autre part. La deuxieme partie analyse un ensemble de travaux « pour » la didactique de l’ecrit, a savoir les recherches portant sur le statut du code ecrit, sur ses representations sociales, et sur les phases de son apprentissage en situation naturelle. La troisieme partie presente les travaux « en » didactique de l’ecrit, a savoir les demarches d’instauration d’une didactique des genres de textes, les demarches centrees sur les processus d’ecriture, et enfin les travaux analysant les strategies effectivement mises en œuvre par les apprenants en situation scolaire. En conclusion sont formulees quelques propositions visant a accroitre l’efficacite de l’enseignement de l’ecrit.

Praising as bodily practice: the neocharismatic culture of celebration

Abstract: Rhythmic body movements and dancing, as well as singing, have been used as a means and inspiration for both individual and communal spiritual experience throughout the history of religions. This article takes a tentative look at the contemporary neocharismatic culture of celebration as a means of aiming at religious experience through collective bodily practice; namely praising , which is generally understood to take the form of singing but is, in fact, expressed also in bodily movements such as dancing. In the neocharismatic context, a celebration means a certain type of a meeting with a special focus on contemplative worship and prayer, accompanied with lively music of praise. First, the historical background of the neo­charismatic branch is outlined shortly. Secondly, the tradition of praise itself within this context is described – what are the insider definitions and what kinds of forms praise in the culture of celebration actually includes, especially in Finland. The description is basically based on internet material and the author's previous field experiences in the Word of Life congregational meetings and other charismatic Christian events. In conclusion, acts of praise as a source of religious experience are discussed.

Ascetism: an endangered value? Mutations of ascetism in contemporary monasticism

Abstract: This article seeks to understand the shifts which are affecting monastic asceticism in modern society Is monastic asceticism really changing and in which terms? Why has the place of the body in religious virtuosity changed? As religious virtuosity is based on ascetic practices, we cannot consider that monastic life nowadays has totally eschewed asceticism So we have to understand the new sense given to this traditional religious practice It seems that both asceticism and the place of the body in monastic life are changing Rather than a decline of asceticism, it is more accurate to say that its meaning is being redefined and it becomes more intellectual than physical At the same time, the body acquires a new position: from mortification to self-fulfilment, it becomes a new ally—and no longer an enemy—of monastic life So, is asceticism an endangered value? Yes, in the sense that it is no longer a religious value, as was proved by monks who said they are not ascetics, or the nun who said that her community lives a ‘non-ascetic asceticism’ However this does not mean that it has disappeared The practice of asceticism is necessary to religious virtuosity, but the way to practise it and to define it has been changing, and this is contingent on other evolutions of the religious system and of society The new kind of asceticism which monks are living nowadays is mainly intellectual asceticism

Abraham's sacrifice in the Qur'an: beyond the body

Abstract: It has been stated that the body has overtly or latently been a focal point in the history of the three Abrahamic religions’. However, Islam’s scripture, the Qur’an, does not say that Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) binds his son’s body, nor is the body the focal point of the story—nor, indeed, is it of more than passing interest in Muslim history. This has lead me to question the tendency to homogenize the narrative of Abraham’s sacrifice and, by extension, the religions that claim their descent from him. There is no denying their family resemblance of course, but while the family may be Abraham’s, Abraham himself is not identical in the Qur’an and the Bible and neither are his trials. The term ‘Abrahamic religions’ is not very helpful here since, in spite of its linguistic pluralism, it obscures this crucial distinction between a genealogy that is shared and depictions of a common ancestor that are not. Nonetheless, it is more accurate than the standard alternative, ‘the Judeo-Christian tradition’, a phrase that papers over the fissures in this tradition while also excising Islam from what is surely an ‘interreligiously shared’ world. The author suggests that the only way to include Islam in this world does not have to be through an assimilative embrace that stifles its individuality; one could, instead, find ways to honour both the plurality of the Abrahamic tradition as well as the specificity of Islam within. The author recites the Qur’anic story of Abraham, as a way to unbind the lessons of his sacrifice from the body and also to illustrate the inappropriateness of using Isaac’s bound body as a universal template for all the Abrahamic religions.

The body, religion and sports: through the lenses of postmodern religiosity

Abstract: In is necessary to look more closely at the newly developed understanding of religion and secularization in in the new fluid role it has for many people today, and that religion is seen is part of a need to build up an individual, identity-based narrative. From this perspective it is interesting to note that both the characteristics of postmodern religiosity and the ideology of the modern sports movement point in the same direction: sport can function as a religious sentiment. Both have a seriousness that can be classified as religious, at least in a functional way, towards health, well-being, self-perfection, strength, vitality and beauty—goals which modern society offers as something attainable by all. In the midst of this secularized, this-worldly, immanent and attainable religion stands the notion of the perfect body, the symbol for both control and beauty, for well-being and power of will. The struggle for bodily perfection is, no doubt, an adventurism in itself. While striving at perfection the awareness of imperfection is constantly at hand.

Spiritual and religious aspects of torture and scalping among the Indian cultures in Eastern North America, from ancient to colonial times

Abstract: Only a few decades ago a common perception prevailed that the historic­al Native Americans were very prone to violence and warfare. Scalping and torture were seen as a specific custom attached into their ideology and sociocultural ethos. However in the 1960s a completely reversed picture started to emerge, following the course of other worldwide movements, such as ethnic rights, pan-Indianism, ecological conscience, revisionist historiography and so on. Immediately the Native American people came to be seen as the victims of the European colonialism and the Whites were the bad guys who massacred innocent women and children, either at Sand Creek or in Vietnam. Books were written in which the historians pointed out that the practice of scalping was actually not present in the Americas before the whites came. This theory drew sustenance from some early colonial accounts, especially from the Dutch and New England colonies, where it was documented that a special bounty was offered for Indian scalps. According to this idea, the practice of scalping among the Indians escalated only after this. On the other hand, the blame fell on the Iroquois tribesmen, whose cruel fighting spread terror throughout the seventeenth century, when they expanded an empire in the north eastern wilderness. This accords with those theorists who wanted to maintain a more balanced view of the diffusion of scalping and torture, agreeing that these traits were indeed present in Pre-Columbian America, but limited only to the Iroquoians of the east. Colonial American history has been rewritten every now and then. In the 1980s, and in the field of archaeology especially, a completely new set of insights have arisen. There has been a secondary burial of the myth of Noble Savage and a return of the old Wild Indian idea, but this time stripped of its cartoon stereo­typical attachments. The Indians are now seen as being like any other human beings, with their usual mixture of vices and virtues. Understanding this, one may approach such a topic as scalping and torture without more bias than when reading of any practice of atrocities in human history.

Religion' and 'body': reclaiming the missing links of Western education

Abstract: This paper depicts Western education as being led by a scientific ethos of objectivity. Such an ethos lends itself clearly to a disengagement from ‘religion’ as representing the realm of so-called ‘unscientific knowledge’ and speculation on the one hand, and to a disengagement from the ‘body’ as the locus of sentiment and idiosyncrasy on the other. It is argued, that Western education thus promotes a secular mind-oriented ideology, weeding out the spiritual realm on the one hand, and the emotional-physical realm on the other. It is claimed that education can only take place once it becomes an exploratory path which poses the question ‘who am I?’ at its core. The exploration of such a question will forever be a depleted one as long as it is deprived of ‘religion’ and the ‘body’ as possible research paths. This paper is thus an orientation call for the field of curriculum development serving as a foundation for the ‘holistic education’ discourse developed in recent years. ‘Well-being’ is claimed to be the goal of education. Following this it is showed why this goal cannot be achieved given Western education’s rational (‘body-less’) – secular (‘religion-less’) epistemology. There is thus a need for an attempt to reconceptualize education, which can be made by means of reclaiming the ‘body’ and ‘religion’ as Western education’s missing links, reintegrating them into its proper epistemological/ontological basis. Our inherent dualistic conceptualization of reality (education included) should be dealt with, as it constitutes an obstacle to the reconceptualization of education.

“Ser professor é...” Representações do fazer docente

Abstract: Neste artigo, apresento, de forma consolidada, os resultados principais de minha pesquisa de doutorado, em que analisei o agir de dois sujeitos professores do ensino fundamental em situacoes interativas de “aula” e “entrevista” (semidiretiva), investigando como o sujeito se constroi “professor”, agindo no genero “aula” e falando sobre o seu agir no genero “entrevista”. O quadro teorico-metodologico da pesquisa envolveu: Teoria da Atividade; Interacionismo Sociodiscursivo; Teoria das Representacoes Sociais; Linguistica de Textos; Estudos sobre referenciacao e enunciacao e Analise do discurso. O corpus foi constituido por aulas e entrevistas gravadas com duas professoras dos primeiros anos do ensino fundamental, em Portugal e no Brasil. Os resultados revelaram uma maior congruencia de regularidades entre as representacoes sociais dos sujeitos professores observados nas situacoes interativas “aula”, apontando esse genero de atividade como importante expediente para o estudo e investigacao do fazer docente.

Struggling bodies and body struggles: explorations of body and religion in contemporary Nordic film

Abstract: This study focuses on representations of the body and religion in Nordic film. The aim is to illustrate the kinds of representations of religion and the body that can be found in contemporary Nordic films, demonstrate how these representations relate to religion, the body and film more generally, and explore what perceptions of and attitudes to the body and religion the representations suggest. The analysis begins with an introduction to religion and film studies, religion in Nordic film and the themes and films chosen for this study. After this a short overview of earlier studies dealing with the body, film, and religion is presented, before delving into the issue of the body and religion in Nordic film. The article is concluded by reflecting on the more over-arching ideas and attitudes that the material can be argued to point to and the possible changes and challenges the films express.

The sacredness of the self, of society and of the human body: the case of a Finnish transgender pastor Marja-Sisko Aalto

Abstract: In 2008 the change of sex of a Finnish transgender pastor attracted media attention to Lutheran Christianity on a worldwide scale, which compared to other religious traditions seldom makes it to the world news. This article­ discusses the sex reassignment undergone by Marja-Sisko Aalto, a Lutheran pastor from the town of Imatra, in south eastern Finland, who in 2008, at the age of 54, was transformed into a woman. First some remarks on the relation between religion and the body are made and terminological issues are discussed briefly. The second part of the article presents Aalto's life story based on the author's interview with her in April 2010. In the last section the author discusses the Finnish cognitive scholar Ilkka Pyysiainen’s reflection on folk biology as an explanation for making sense of the public image regarding a priest’s gender. The article concludes by looking at Marja-Sisko Aalto’s case from the perspective of marking boundaries between the categories of the self, the society and the human body.

Multiple bodies in the spirituality of the gay porn star McCree: reflections on corporeality and subjectivity

Abstract: Body modification practices have lately gained growing visibility in contemporary Western cultures. It is more like a trend or fashion ranging from, on the on hand, decorative tattoos and piercing, to branding, implants and surgery on the other. In most forms body modification occurs without any obvious religious, spiritual or ideological marks attached, but some forms involve discourses that explicitly address such aspirations. However, despite the fluidity and diversity of practices, it can be claimed that body modification represents specific or distinct ways of working with the body that differ from other forms of contemporary Western body cultures. Further, it needs be considered as part of the broader body culture. Hence it draws our attention to the role of corporeality in contemporary Western culture. Body modification could be regarded as a reaction to the nature of contemporary society, a way of compensating the lack of corporeal engagement in the world. Its former association with different subcultures might underpin this oppositional position. On the other hand, some scholars regard body-modification as nothing but part of the contemporary free floating carnival of signs, as mere mainstream supermarket signifiers, emptied of meaning and deprived of any external references. In this article emphasis is put on forms of body modification that more explicitly connote religion. One example of body modification is explored from an empirical perspective: the story about the spirituality of the gay porn star Logan McCree. This is a personal narrative about spirituality in which tattooing plays a central role. Still, despite being personal it is also part of McCree’s public image. With the help of both literature and the examples on body modification the place of corporeality in the story of McCree is explored. The aim is to shed some light on corporeality and in particular in relation to subjectivity.

La formación de los profesores de Lengua y Literatura y la enseñanza de los géneros textuales

Abstract: Desde la formacion docente y la investigacion en Didactica de la Lengua fueron analizadas las correcciones realizadas a los textos de los examenes de ingreso a la universidad para encontrar lo no ensenado en los niveles previos. Las inferencias acerca de las automatizaciones con errores por ausencia de ensenanza de gramatica del espanol en los niveles primario, medio y superior se reconvirtieron en objetos de ensenanza. Para esto se realizaron secuencias didacticas, organizadas desde generos textuales literarios; las mismas fueron propuestas en el marco de la investigacion a docentes de Lengua para ser aplicadas en los niveles primario y secundario del sistema educativo. La evaluacion conjunta permitio profundizar el conocimiento en la situacion estudiada y precisar el objetivo de la formacion de los profesores de Lengua y Literatura en relacion con los contenidos linguisticos y literarios especificos que necesita ensenar la escuela actualmente. Finalmente hemos analizado el sentido de la transposicion didactica de los generos literarios como herramientas formativas en la profesion docente desde el marco teorico del interaccionismo sociodiscursivo.

The body in wellbeing spirituality: self, spirit beings and the politics of difference

Abstract: New religious movements of the nineteenth century—notably the Theo­sophical Society and Spiritualism—endowed western culture with an energetic concept of the self: that is, with a model of the body that proposed the individual to be constituted by a ‘spiritual’ or subtle substance. This model of the body—the subtle body—was not new to western esoteric traditions, however, its presentation at this time melded with subtle body schemes from Hindu traditions (primarily Yoga traditions) and provided the groundwork for the popularisation of a concept of the body and self as being comprised of an energetic anatomy. This model of the self has continued unabated into contemporary consumer culture and underpins the vast majority of mind–body concepts in Complementary and Alternative Medical (CAM) practices. This article is concerned with the subtle body models currently found in Wellbeing Spirituality healing modalities. In particular, it considers their ontological and metaphysical propositions with regard to an ethics of difference: both energetic and cultural. Therefore, two distinct types of discourse will be examined and discussed: that of popular culture and that of Continental philosophy (especially feminist and poststructural). Both provide methods for understanding the enduring popularity of subtle body concepts of the self and the challenging ethical relations that the model presupposes.

Finger of a saint, thumb of a priest: medieval relics in the Diocese of Turku, and the archaeology of lived bodies

Abstract: The relics of Turku Cathedral are remains belonging to the bodies of holy persons, different from ours, even today, although the cathedral is the see for the archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and relics are not on public display. Among the relics of the cathedral, there is a fragment of a radius, which according to its authentica, belongs to St Henry. Relics and reliquaries were in the core of medieval piety, and the cult of saints had infused throughout the society. Due to their central position in culture, relics offer glimpses at a range of material, social and cultural phenomena related to medieval embodiment.The Department of Archaeology at the University of Turku began to study the finger relic of St Eric and other items in the assemblage of Turku Cathedral in 2007. Relics and reliquaries are being opened and documented and organic as well as inorganic samples are being taken for a range of scientific analyses. So far the project has concentrated on building a chronological chart of individual artefacts. The majority of the relics date to the fourteenth century, although much more recent datings have also been obtained. The challenge of the project is not to stop when a better understanding of materials, their origins and age has been accomplished, but to use the results as a steppingstone into a study of the practices of medieval relic veneration. Medieval bodies and those material processes which authenticate relics, or distinguish saints’ bodies from other human remains, are thus at the heart of this article discussing embodiment.

The concept of body in religious studies

Abstract: Recently it has become fashionable to speak about embodied religion, religion as bodily processes and embodiment in general. In this article the different uses of the concept of the body are analysed and the different contexts in which the concept can be used in coherent and systematic ways are clarified, and furthermore in such a way that it enhances the methodology of religious studies. Bodies are relevant in religious studies first and foremost for the reason that some bodies support religious beliefs, desires and actions, such as priests in the Catholic Church or members of the organizations of charismatic Christianity. Secondly, bodies are ascribed religious meanings. That is, in addition to a human body x, we have one or more religious actors who ascribe religious meanings to this particular body. Even though bodily issues are important for biological creatures such as human beings, they are not relevant for religious studies if they do not involve secondary theories that attach religious contents to them.

Women with shaved heads: western Buddhist nuns and Haredi Jewish wives: polysemy, universalism and misinterpretations of hair symbolism in pluralistic societies

Abstract: This article focuses on female hair, or rather the absence of hair: it compares the symbols attached to shaved heads for Western Buddhist nuns and for Jewish married women from various Haredi or ‘ultra-orthodox’ groups, and the (mainly negative) representations of these in the external, secular society.The comparison is based on fieldwork research undertaken by the author. When interviewing Western nuns of Jewish origin, it appeared that their shaved heads had been very difficult to cope with for their families, to whom it was a reminder of the Holocaust. The same body treatment can thus represent, on one side, bliss (for the Buddhist nun for whom it is a symbol of libertation and spiritual engagement), and on the other side, horror (for her family and sometimes, out of a Buddhist context, society). Also, the same body treatment can be used to express celibacy for the Buddhist nun, or marriage for the Haredi, or ultra-orthodox woman. Therefore the meaning of head shaving seems to be fluctuating and contextual: it can mean either­ religious commitment, or punishment, or disease.

O Brasil e a poesia africana de língua portuguesa

Abstract: Este artigo investiga a presenca do Brasil na poesia africana de lingua portuguesa. Mapeia esta presenca levantando poemas que, de alguma maneira, aludem ao Brasil. Apresenta, alem de um levantamento (na forma de uma lista de poemas), estudo sobre o dialogo da poesia dos paises africanos de lingua oficial portuguesa com a historia, a cultura e a literatura brasileiras. O objetivo do trabalho consiste, assim, em investigar e visibilizar aspectos desse dialogo.

O memorial de formação e a graduação de (futuros) professores

Abstract: Preocupados em encontrar alternativas produtivas na formacao de professores de lingua portuguesa, resolvemos investigar o potencial do genero discursivo “memorial de formacao” nesse processo. Para realizar a pesquisa, tomamos, como objeto de investigacao, quarenta memoriais de formacao produzidos no Proesf, programa da Faculdade de Educacao da Unicamp, para analisa-los em sua constituicao de temas, forma composicional e estilo, tendo a teoria bakhtiniana como base do estudo, vista sob perspectiva da Linguistica Aplicada e ancorada em abordagem metodologica qualitativa. Os resultados parecem indicar que esse genero auxilia o processo de formacao de professores de maneira significativa, especialmente pela ressignificacao de experiencias que propicia.

Buddhism and the formation of the religious body: a Foucauldian approach

Abstract: Poststructuralist debates around the body have demonstrated how our knowledge of the body is constituted in specific cultural and historical circumstances and in the context of particular relations of power. This article develops this approach to the body in Buddhism and thus attempts to show how the body has been represented within different discourses in Buddhist texts. Implicit in this account is the remedying of the failure in some Buddhist scholarship to recognise different types of bodies (negative and positive) and to show how these aspects of the body, as enumerated by texts, operate together to constitute forms of identities capable of being constituted within different historical moments out of the pressure of new social and material changes. At the same time the body is seen as being capable of self modification in terms of that discourse. The term ‘body’ is used here in the sense that it implies not only a physical aspect (flesh, bones, liquids etc.), but that it is connected to various cognitive and emotional capacities as outlined in the khandhas (see below) explanation of the human constitution. The author's concern in his treatment of the body is to avoid the problems of psychological analysis, as this form of analysis often implies the existence of a psyche or soul along with the ideas of complete individual self-determination.

Embracing the lash: pain and ritual as spiritual tools

Abstract: Whilst the use of flagellation for the purposes of purification, punishment or redemptive salvific activity has long been accepted in Christianity, its use in newly emergent religions such as Wicca, where the religious use of pain cannot be sidelined as an historical aberration but must instead be understood within the context of (post)modern spirituality, has elicited little debate. Whilst purification and, to a far lesser extent, punishment still have their place, in Wicca submission to pain must also be explored in terms of initi­atory ordeal, as well as an opportunity for transcendence and as arousal, sensation, and energy generation. However, voluntary submission to the infliction of pain, especially in order to enable religious/spiritual experience, tends to be regarded as anathema and as such, remains largely hidden, concealed behind a veil of categorisations of sexuality and psychopathology. Whilst acknowledging that BDSM remains taboo amongst most practitioners of Wicca, this 60 year old religion contains within its practices elements of techniques often associated with BDSM, techniques which, though having an established history in the world’s religions, are now being pioneered by a small cohort of priests and priestesses within the ritual framework of a twentieth/twenty-first century religion. This article concentrates on those elements now more or less stripped of their association with medieval Christianity, and more commonly framed within the context/s of BDSM.