scholarly journals Defining religion, defying tradition? Concord and conflict about the role of religion in a Costa Rican indigenous community

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 374-392
Author(s):  
Bjørn Tafjord
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Indigenous Community ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Role Of Religion

When approaching the issue of power, some fundamental questions always arise: Who is in a position to define? When, where, for whom, and why? These are also underlying questions in the particular case that is discussed in this article: Discourses about the role of religion among Bribris in Talamanca, the indigenously dominated area in south-eastern Costa Rica. The author looks at how ‘religion’ is defined by different actors, and into how the same actors understand religion in relation to what they see as other aspects of society and culture – in particular what the Bribris refer to as siwá, a concept they often translate into Spanish as tradición. In doing so, the it is highlighted how different actors discuss and negotiate the role of ‘religion’ in a particular cultural and historical context. For analytical purposes, it is proposed that defining should be seen as a practice that delimits something and gives it a certain place or space in relation to something else. To define is then to exercise power. As a consequence, discourses about the definition and role of religion in Talamanca are seen as both practices of, and contests about power.

scholarly journals Un pájaro azul en Costa Rica: la función de la traducción de L’Oiseau bleu en la Costa Rica de 1912

LETRAS ◽  
2009 ◽  
pp. 201-217
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Vargas Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Costa Rican

El estudio procura desvelar la función de El pájaro azul (traducción de Roberto Brenes Mesén) dentro del contexto histórico en que surge. Tras describir y analizar las especificidades ideológicas, sociales y literarias de contexto, individuos y textos involucrados, se concluye que la traducción pudo haber funcionado como un instrumento para promover cambios ideológicos, sociales y estéticos dentro de la sociedad costarricense de principios del siglo veinte.This study seeks to describe the role of El pájaro azul (translated by Roberto Brenes Mesén) when it first appeared in Costa Rica in 1912. A description is provided of the ideological, social and literary features present in the context, and of the agents and texts involved in the production of El pájaro azul. The analysis of these features makes it possible to state that the text is likely to have been an instrument used to promote ideological, social and aesthetic changes within the 20th century Costa Rican society.

The Presidents of Costa Rica

1989 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Busey
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Presidential History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military

Writers have long claimed that Costa Rica has achieved standards of popular, constitutional government unusual for Latin America. A few recent commentators have attempted to modify the unstinted praise which others have been prone to lavish upon Costa Rican political institutions and processes.To evaluate properly the assumption that Costa Rica is somehow more “democratic” than her neighbors, there must be examination of a number of elements of Costa Rican political life—that is, press and public expression, individual rights, political parties, roles of judicial and legislative bodies, role of the military, and the like. Some studies have touched upon a few of these elements. Scholarship has yet to cover all of them. The present paper will confine itself to a further aspect of Costa Rican political life—that is, the presidential history of the country. By what means and under what circumstances have presidents secured and left office? How many have been long-term dictators? What have been the backgrounds and characteristics of leading Costa Rican presidents? How many have come from the military profession, and how many from civilian life?

scholarly journals El papel del profesorado y el entorno de aprendizaje en el rendimiento de los estudiantes costarricenses: un análisis a partir de PISA

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 1127-1145
Author(s):  
Gregorio Gimenez ◽  
Beatriz Barrado ◽  
Rafael Arias
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Role Of Teachers

The role of teachers and the learning environment in academic achievement of Costa Rican students: An analysis from PISAA pesar de que la literatura ha señalado que la calidad del profesorado y el ambiente escolar son factores clave en el rendimiento académico, los estudios que cuantifican empíricamente en qué medida contribuyen al desempeño estudiantil en los países latinoamericanos son escasos. En este artículo, utilizamos datos de PISA-Costa Rica y la técnica de descomposición Shapley-Shorrocks para cuantificar qué porcentaje de la variabilidad de los resultados escolares puede ser explicada por el profesorado y el entorno de aprendizaje. Los resultados muestran que la mayor parte de las diferencias en notas se debe al esfuerzo de cada estudiante (parte no explicada por la función de producción educativa). Del resto de factores, las características de la escuela y del profesor explican más variabilidad en rendimiento (36% para el promedio de Matemáticas, Lectura y Ciencias) que el efecto conjunto de las circunstancias individuales y familiares (12,5%). Dentro de los factores de escuela, dos elementos tendrían especial relevancia. Por un lado, el comportamiento de los alumnos, destacando los problemas de absentismo e impuntualidad. Por otro, el nivel de autonomía del profesorado y la dirección de la escuela en el diseño de los planes de estudio y las evaluaciones.

scholarly journals Secularization and the Modern History of Funerary Culture in Europe : Conflict and Market Competition Around Death, Burial and Cremation

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-201
Author(s):  
Christoph De Spiegeleer
Keyword(s):  
Market Competition ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Attitudes Toward Death ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Role Of Religion

Abstract This article connects the history of attitudes toward death and funerary practices in 19th- and 20th-century Europe to the ongoing discussion on secularization. It emphasizes how recent scholarship on the history of death ‐ following broader trends within religious studies ‐ has abandoned the standard modernization-narrative of secularization, and moved to view the issue through the prism of conflict and market competition. Depending on the historical context and the Church-State relationship, a conflict and/or market competition perspective can deepen our understanding of the secularization of death and burial practices. In periods of intense socio-political struggle over the role of religion in the modern polity, a conflict perspective helps to grasp the processes of secularization. Once secular forces have succeeded in breaking the grip of the churches on death and burial, a market perspective can be more useful. Both serve as alternatives to the traditional understanding of secularization as an anonymous process of modernization. An in-depth analysis of the development of a secularist funerary culture in Belgium aptly demonstrates the shift in the master variable influencing secularization ‐ from socio-political conflict to market competition.

Beyond the “Epopee of Ben Guerdane”: Exploring the Plurality of Resistance at the South-Eastern Tunisian Border

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-109
Author(s):  
Guendalina Simoncini
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The South ◽  
Border Area ◽  
Plural Form ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Everyday Resistance

Abstract This article aims to shed light on the plural form of resistance performed around the South-Eastern Tunisian border area through the case study of the ordinary people of Ben Guerdane’s resistance to the jihadi attack of 7th March 2016. Placing the so-called “epopee of Ben Guerdane” in a broader historical context, it seeks to explore the fluctuations between resistance and repression along the border area both in the past and in the present, showing how multifaceted the repertoire of resistance – which includes anti-colonial struggle, guerrilla action, regime opposition, subversions, forms of everyday resistance and jihadi insurrection – has been. Following the insight of Critical Border Studies, the border will be considered as an epistemological viewpoint rather than simply a geopolitical device, considering the central role of material and symbolic borders and boundaries that shape the living experiences of Ben Guerdane’s inhabitants. The article relies on qualitative data collected during long-term fieldwork in addition to shifting the focus of the study of the Tunisian-Libyan border from national security to an approach that prioritizes the experiences of ordinary people.

The Role of Religion in Establishing Peaceful Coexistence in Society

2018 ◽  
Vol 08 (02) ◽  
pp. 163-182
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zaman Nazi ◽  
◽  
Farman Ali ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Peaceful Coexistence ◽  
Role Of Religion

Ivan Ozhienko about the role of religion in Ukrainian national life

2001 ◽  
pp. 54-61
Author(s):  
K. Nedzelsky
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Spiritual Life ◽  
Human Soul ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Terrestrial Life ◽  
Dedicated Service ◽  
National Life ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Spiritual Unity

Ivan Ogienko (1882-1972), also known as Metropolitan Hilarion, devoted much attention to the role and place of religion in the national life of Ukrainians and their ethnic identity in their scholarly and theological works. Without exaggeration it can be argued that the problem of national unity of the Ukrainian people is one of the key principles of all historiosophical considerations of the famous scholar and theologian. If the purpose of the spiritual life of a Ukrainian, according to his views, is to serve God, then the purpose of state or terrestrial life is the dedicated service to his people. The purpose of heaven and the purpose of the earthly paths, intersecting in the life of a certain group of people through the lives of its individual representatives, give rise to a unique alliance of spiritual unity, the name of which is "people" or "nation." Religion (faith) in the process of transforming the anarchist crowd into a spiritually integrated and orderly national integrity serves as the transformer of the imperfect nature of the human soul into perfect.

The essence and causes of the spiritual and moral decline of mankind in the XX century

1998 ◽  
pp. 124-127
Author(s):  
V. Tolkachenko
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Social Force ◽  
The World ◽  
Role Of Religion

One of the most important reasons for such a clearly distressed state of society was the decline of religion as a social force, the external manifestation of which is the weakening of religious institutions. "Religion," Baha'u'llah writes, "is the greatest of all means of establishing order in the world to the universal satisfaction of those who live in it." The weakening of the foundations of religion strengthened the ranks of ignoramuses, gave them impudence and arrogance. "I truly say that everything that belittles the supreme role of religion opens way for the revelry of maliciousness, inevitably leading to anarchy. " In another Tablet, He says: "Religion is a radiant light and an impregnable fortress that ensures the safety and well-being of the peoples of the world, for God-fearing induces man to adhere to the good and to reject all evil." Blink the light of religion, and chaos and distemper will set in, the radiance of justice, justice, tranquility and peace. "

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