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Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Religious Practice And The Phenomenology Of Everyday Violence In Contemporary India, Vikash Singh Jun 2013

Religious Practice And The Phenomenology Of Everyday Violence In Contemporary India, Vikash Singh

Department of Sociology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This article focuses on ‘dread’ in religious practice in contemporary India. It argues that the dread of everyday existence, which is as salient in a biographical temporality as it pervades the phenomenal environment, connects and transfers between religious practices and everyday life in India for the marginalized masses. For such dread, dominant liberal discourses, such as those of the nation, economy, or ego-centric performance, have neither the patience nor the forms to represent, perform, and abreact. Formulated in dialogue with critical theory, phenomenology, and psychoanalytic theory, this article conceives of religious practices in continuum with the economic, social, ethical, and …


Work, Performance, And The Social Ethic Of Global Capitalism: Understanding Religious Practice In Contemporary India, Vikash Singh Jun 2013

Work, Performance, And The Social Ethic Of Global Capitalism: Understanding Religious Practice In Contemporary India, Vikash Singh

Department of Sociology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This ethnographic essay focuses on the relationship between religious performances and the “strong discourse” of contemporary global capitalism. It explores the subjective meaning and social significance of religious practice in the context of a rapidly expanding mass religious phenomenon in India. The narrative draws on Weber's insights on the intersections between religion and economy, phenomenological theory, performance studies, and Indian philosophy and popular culture. It shows that religion here is primarily a means of performing to and preparing for an informal economy. It gives the chance to live meaningful social lives while challenging the inequities and symbolic violence of an …


Quantum Of Solitude: Lonelines As Experienced By Pastors' Wives, Jama Davis, Fred Milacci Jan 2013

Quantum Of Solitude: Lonelines As Experienced By Pastors' Wives, Jama Davis, Fred Milacci

Fred Milacci

This phenomenological study investigated the individual experiences of eight pastors’ wives with the phenomenon, loneliness. Data was collected using informal, conversational, taped and transcribed interviews. Descriptions of the experiences of loneliness and the general factors contributing to loneliness were identified by the participants. The experiences and general contributing factors were compared and contrasted. The findings of this study suggest three factors which most significantly impact pastors’ wives and loneliness. Suggestions for future research involving pastors’ wives and pastors are provided.


Embodying Social Practice: Dynamically Co-Constituting Social Agency, Brian W. Dunst Jan 2013

Embodying Social Practice: Dynamically Co-Constituting Social Agency, Brian W. Dunst

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Theories of cognition and theories of social practices and institutions have often each separately acknowledged the relevance of the other; but seldom have there been consistent and sustained attempts to synthesize these two areas within one explanatory framework. This is precisely what my dissertation aims to remedy. I propose that certain recent developments and themes in philosophy of mind and cognitive science, when understood in the right way, can explain the emergence and dynamics of social practices and institutions. Likewise, the view I construct explains how social practices and institutions shape the character of cognition of their constituent agents. Moreover, …


Museums As Sites Of "Being In Conversation": A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Randy C. Roberts Jan 2013

Museums As Sites Of "Being In Conversation": A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Randy C. Roberts

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In times of great change, institutions must be able to adapt while not losing their essence, those qualities that are central, enduring, and distinctive. While it is understood and acknowledged that museums must change their approach to be relevant and sustainable in a world in which there have been monumental shifts in the ways that people communicate, access information, and experience connection, the essential qualities of museums are not well-defined or agreed upon. More than a decade into the new century and in spite of much discussion, contemplation, and experimentation, the 21st century museum model remains unsettled. To explore the …


Laughing Buddhas: The Everyday Embodiment Of Contemplative Leadership, Kim Nolan Jan 2013

Laughing Buddhas: The Everyday Embodiment Of Contemplative Leadership, Kim Nolan

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Many of us struggle to find a theoretical framework within which to approach leadership. We may draw upon personal aspects of spiritual practice, scholarship, and vocational experience with hopes of developing a deeper method of conceptualizing all the elements that comprise relevant and meaningful ways of being and leading in the world. The purpose of this phenomenological study extends the inquiry, examining leadership as a path toward wholeness and investigating the research question – what is called into being for the contemplative leader? The roots of the question originate with the conceptual framework set forth by Kriger and Seng (2005), …


Melungeon Portraits: Lived Experience And Identity, Tamara L. Stachowicz Jan 2013

Melungeon Portraits: Lived Experience And Identity, Tamara L. Stachowicz

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The desire to claim an ethnicity may be in response to an institutional and systemic political movement towards multiculturalism where ethnic difference is something to be recognized and celebrated (Jimenez, 2010; Tatum, 1997). Those who were a member of a dominant or advantaged group took that element of their identity for granted (Tatum, 1997). Identity work has included reflections and congruence between how individuals see themselves and how they perceive others to see them, including Optimal Distinctiveness Theory where one determines the optimal amount of individual distinctiveness needed to feel a healthy group and personal identity (Brewer, 2012). When most …