scholarly journals Experiencing Becoming: The Initiation Process into Bektashi Tradition

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 311
Author(s):  
Mark Soileau
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Symbols ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
Initiation Process ◽  
Initiation Ritual ◽  
Cultural Forms ◽  
Sufi Order ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ritual Context

Initiation into the Bektashi Sufi order is formalized as the initiate is led through a complex ritual form replete with symbols of death and rebirth, sacrifice, and integration that are enacted as the ritual is performed and in various ways experienced by the initiate. Once having entered and become a part of the order, then, the initiate encounters other cultural forms that reflect back upon the initiation ritual, such as poems that recount and provide commentary on it, contributing to his or her understanding of the experience of initiation as they too are performed in a communal context, and showing that integration into the order is an ongoing process. This paper analyzes the initiation ritual form with respect to the relationship between the cultural symbols presented in it and the experience it is intended to have on the initiate as he or she interacts with them. It further analyzes a particular poem that recounts the initiation ritual while adding impressions of the experiences evoked in it—experiences which meld with the initiate’s own remembered experiences. Finally, it shows how these experiences are reinforced through the communal interaction that transpires as such poems are sung to music in a ritual context.

A “Magic and Poetic” Moment of Dissensus: Aesthetics and Politics in the June 2013 (Gezi Park) Protests in Turkey

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Attila Aytekin
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Aesthetics And Politics ◽  
Cultural Symbols ◽  
Protest Movement ◽  
Political Position ◽  
Predominant Form ◽  
The Relationship

This article departs from analyses that underline the middle-class character of June 2013 (Gezi Park) protests in Turkey by focusing on the relationship between politics and aesthetics in the protest movement. The predominant form of protest in the movement was aesthetic political acts, which did not bring about any distinction based on class or cultural capital. Rather, the artistic practices and cultural symbols employed by protesters bridged gaps by bringing a large and diverse body of people around a common political position. The June protests constituted a moment of “dissensus” in the Rancièrean sense as the shared position was based on an essential claim for equality of the dēmos and the demands of the anonymous to be seen, heard, counted in, and to partake. The article focuses on the role Second New Wave poetry played in the protests, as the protesters appropriated the ironic and ambiguous verses of the Second New Wave poets to create a unified movement.

scholarly journals Dynamic relationship between the slow potential and spikes in cockroach ocellar neurons.

1988 ◽  
Vol 91 (5) ◽  
pp. 703-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Mizunami ◽  
H Tateda
Keyword(s):  
Periplaneta Americana ◽  
Response Analysis ◽  
Slow Potential ◽  
Spike Threshold ◽  
Noise Current ◽  
Initiation Process ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Spike Initiation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Potential Level

The relationship between the slow potential and spikes of second-order ocellar neurons of the cockroach, Periplaneta americana, was studied. The stimulus was a sinusoidally modulated light with various mean illuminances. A solitary spike was generated at the depolarizing phase of the modulation response. Analysis of the relationship between the amplitude/frequency of voltage modulation and the rate of spike generation showed that (a) the spike initiation process was bandpass at approximately 0.5-5 Hz, (b) the process contained a dynamic linearity and a static nonlinearity, and (c) the spike threshold at optimal frequencies (0.5-5 Hz) remained unchanged over a mean illuminance range of 3.6 log units, whereas (d) the spike threshold at frequencies of less than 0.5 Hz was lower at a dimmer mean illuminance. The voltage noise in the response was larger and the mean membrane potential level was more positive at a dimmer mean illuminance. Steady or noise current injection during sinusoidal light stimulation showed that (a) the decrease in the spike threshold at a dimmer mean illuminance was due to the increase in the noise variance: the noise had facilitatory effects on the spike initiation; and (b) the change in the mean potential level had little effect on the spike threshold. We conclude that fundamental signal modifications occur during the spike initiation in the cockroach ocellar neuron, a finding that differs from the spike initiation process in other visual systems, including Limulus eye and vertebrate retina, in which it is presumed that little signal modification occurs at the analog-to-digital conversion process.

scholarly journals Legends about plants as a refl ection of the worldview of the Chinese people

2020 ◽  
pp. 100-106
Author(s):  
T. DanDan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
Chinese People ◽  
Cultural Symbols ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
Chinese Nation ◽  
Folk Traditions ◽  
New Information ◽  
Chinese Plant ◽  
The Relationship

Flowers, fruits and trees grow everywhere. They are separated only by species diff erences and regional differences. After their birth, at the beginning of growth, they do not carry any cultural information. However, when a person begins to interact with nature more closely, a two-way connection is established between them. When plants came into the interest of ancient writers, they became the basis of a rich plant culture that was strongly associated with ancient diet, medicine, politics, folklore, and aesthetics. The relationship between people and plants has a long history: in constant contact with a person, plants gradually turn from material resources into cultural symbols associated with personal feelings, national character, folk traditions, etc. In addition, the legend of plants contains the traditional moral ideas of the Chinese nation, a description of family relationships and shows the development of human civilization. The object of this article is legends about plants. The article substantiates the cultural function and value of such legends, as well as the refl ection of the worldview of the Chinese people through these legends. In addition, the analysis and classifi cation of the types and characteristics of the national culture through the prism of legends about plants is carried out. This study provides new information needed to understand the Chinese nation and its culture, as Chinese plant legends carry people’s views on history, ethics and morality

The Ethics of Engagement: Listening for Peace

2020 ◽  
pp. 135-168
Author(s):  
Herman Wasserman
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
Normative Concepts ◽  
Important Argument ◽  
The Media ◽  
African Media ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter sets out the central and most important argument of the book as it proposes a normative framework for African media in contexts of democratization conflict that is based on the ethical principal of “listening.” The chapter asks the question: how should the media act ethically during times of conflict? In setting out to answer this question, the chapter departs from the basic assumption that the media have responsibilities to democratic societies that extend beyond their mere functioning as commercial industries, digital platforms, or public institutions. The assumption in this chapter is that ethical frameworks are best developed through a dynamic dialectic between normative concepts and reflective practice: an ongoing process that combines ethical concepts and theories with an analysis of their appropriation, adaptation, and application in actual, specific contexts. Listening as an ethical position requires a fundamental revision of the relationship between journalists and their publics, one in which power relations are radically revised or overturned.

Postclassical Kalām

2019 ◽  
pp. 175-200
Author(s):  
Nathan Spannaus
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Divine Attributes ◽  
The Status ◽  
Major Figure ◽  
Sufi Order ◽  
The Relationship

Qursawi’s stance on the attributes was shaped by trends in the theological tradition, as ideas from ibn ‘Arabi’s metaphysics became very influential in later kalam in Central Asia, incorporated into mainstream Sunni scholarship by figures such as ‘Abd al-Rahman Jami and Jalal al-Din Dawani. These ideas revolved around ontological issues, particularly of the relationship between God’s existence and the (non)existence of everything else. But this dichotomy left the status of the divine attributes in question, which Qursawi’s stance seeks to address. This chapter discusses how ibn ‘Arabi’s “school” influenced postclassical kalam in Central Asia, Qursawi’s criticism of that tradition, and how his thought responded to this influence. It focuses particularly on the work of Ahmad Sirhindi, who was a major figure in this setting, as Qursawi and most of his contemporary opponents were members of Sirhindi’s Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi order.

scholarly journals Kønsligt hierarki eller religiøs androgyni

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgitte Graakjær Hjort
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Broad Sense ◽  
Main Criterion ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Religious Ritual ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ritual Context ◽  
Specific Influence

Only a few texts from the New Testament have been used and misused as have 1 Cor 11:2-16. A widespread misreading of the pericope consists in the interpretation that Paul there argued against equality between men and women generally or in the context of worship. The purpose of this article is twofold: To demonstrate why this reading is untenable and to argue for a more proper interpretation.My reading is based on Paul’s line of argument, including his remarkable formation of the kephale-structure and the position of the pericope between chapters (8 and) 10 and 11:17-21, respectively, as well as on the letter as a whole. All these things together indicate that the problem under discussion was not the relationship between the sexes as such, but this relationship seen in a religious, ritual context. Paul reproved a conduct whose shamefulness lay in its threat to both the gender polarity according to the creation and the sovereignty of God, a conduct which may also have caused divisions in the community. What Paul was arguing against, was a syncretism whose hallmark was an emancipatory equalization of gender polarity and, maybe, ritual intoxication and whose religious precedent was to be found in the worshipping of idols.With this interpretation as the main criterion for testing different hypotheses put forward to explain the historical situation causing Paul to write the text, I have found that a possible reconstruction consists of an influence on the Corinthians from pre-gnostic thoughts in a broad sense, combined with a more specific influence from the cult of Dionysus.

scholarly journals Mediated Tarekat Qadiriyah wa Naqshabandiyah in the Digital Era: An Ethnographic Overview

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Zulfan Taufik ◽  
Muhammad Taufik
Keyword(s):  
Internet Of Things ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Islamic Revival ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Sufi Order ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Internet Of Things

This article examines how Tarekat Qadiriyah wa Naqshabandiyah (TQN) utilizes online media to strengthen its existence. As an integral part of the Islamic revival in Indonesia, Sufi orders (tarekat) are facing remarkable challenges and opportunities in maintaining their existence in the digital era. Nevertheless, previous studies observed Sufi orders as a traditional community that would be exterminated by the pace of modernization and globalization. This article argues that Sufi orders may survive in the internet of things era, contrary to preceding discourses. Based on ethnography research, both online and offline, the authors found out that the vitality of the Sufi order can adapt, develop, and innovate using online media. TQN's use of online media through various platforms proves Sufi order’s adaptive efforts to the internet-based era. TQN’s online media provide informations on Islamic  and Sufism teachings, news, schedule of activities, and fundraising. Even though TQN members’ being active in cyber-Islamic environments, they resist online asceticism thus leverage the vertical-personal obedience, conservative authorities, and sacred rituals. These practices done by TQN members illuminate its identity as an authentic online sufism. Premises shown in this paper may enrich the scope of study within the relationship of Sufi orders and Islamic-cyber environment, especially in Indonesian context.

Part III The Relationship Between the Judiciary and the Political Branches, 6 An Overview of Judicial and Executive Relations in Lusophone Africa

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastos Fernando Loureiro
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Cape Verde ◽  
The Political ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
Sao Tome And Principe ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Law Professors ◽  
Language Literature

This chapter examines judicial–executive relationships in Africa’s Lusophone systems, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and the island nations of Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe, which are often neglected in the English-language literature. These systems continue to follow the Portuguese system closely not only because of their colonial history but also due to an ongoing process in which Portuguese sources are widely used and judicial officers and law professors often receive training in Portugal. The result is the persistent view of the separation of powers wherein the judiciary is subordinate to the legislature, the executive, and to the law that those branches alone create; its role is understood chiefly as a resolver of disputes between private parties. While the constitutions of these states offer textual protection for the judiciary’s independence, only Cape Verde has made important strides to realizing this in practice. Executive influence over the judiciary is strong.

Hacı Bektaş and his Contested Legacy: The Abdals of Rum, the Bektashi Order and the (Proto-) Kizilbash Communities

2019 ◽  
pp. 145-187
Author(s):  
Ayfer Karakaya-Stump
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Evolutionary Scheme ◽  
Partial Fusion ◽  
Sufi Order ◽  
Spiritual Legacy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Folk Islam ◽  
Common Association

Chapter 3 takes up the issue of the relationship between the Kizilbash/Alevi communities and the Bektashi order, tracing its roots to their common association with the cult of Hacı Bektaş and their shared links to the Abdals of Rum. This chapter challenges Köprülü’s conjecture of an insular Turkish folk Islam transferred under the cover of the Yesevi Sufi order from Central Asia to Anatolia, and inherited in its new home by successive heterodox circles within a linear evolutionary scheme; it was purported to have passed from the Yeseviyye to the Abdals of Rum, an itinerant dervish group active in late medieval Anatolia, and from them onto the better institutionalized Bektashi order. Within this framework, Köprülü treated the Kizilbash/Alevis as lay followers of the Bektashi order. Evidence emerging from Alevi sources complicates this picture. They disclose no evidence of a Yesevi connection. Nor do they validate Köprülü’s view of the Alevis as lay followers of the Bektashi order. While they do confirm the closely intertwined trajectories of the two affiliations, their interactions and eventual partial fusion appear to have involved a much more contested process than presumed by Köprülü, tensions crystallizing especially around the spiritual legacy of Hacı Bektaş.

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