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Conference Calls Volume 1

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

A selection of Conference Calls which should be of interest to our readers.

Buddhism In The United States: An Ethnographic Study, Jaeyeon Choe, John Mcnally

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This paper focuses on Buddhism in America, an neglected area of inquiry in anthropological study. There is a need for modern ethnographic studies to shed light on historical issues, paradigms for comparative inquiry, and thus, explore the impact of Buddhism on modern American society (Glazier, 1997). The enormous growth of Buddhism in the last quarter century (Smith, 2002) makes this an especially pertinent topic in American anthropology. We utilize Glazier’s model to add Buddhism as a topic in the area of modernity studies.

This is a preliminary study of the nature of Buddhism in America. We conducted participant observation with …

Via Francigena Mountain Itineraries: The Case Of Piacenza Valleys, Stefania Cerutti, Ilaria Dioli

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Religious tourism has experienced a strong growth in recent years. It represents a complex and articulate phenomenon, in which the reasons and proposals related to the devotional and personal sphere are combined with a series of innovative opportunities that help reach a depth knowledge of a territory. The religious motive often means that pilgrims travel along specific routes to visit a number of shrines or even to complete lengthy itineraries. Increasingly, purely religious motives are becoming mixed with more secular forms of religious tourism, which often centre around specific religious sites. In this perspective, faith itineraries can be interpreted as …

The Sacred Economy: Devotional Objects As Sacred Presence For German Catholics In Aachen And Trier, 1832-1937, Skye Doney

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

There is a long-standing tradition within western Germany of religious journey, and more pertinent to this paper, of pilgrims requesting Andenken (remembrances) when they could not physically attend pilgrimages. In the following essay, I analyze pilgrim correspondence sent to the Catholic Pilgrimage Committees, groups of clerics who facilitated pilgrimage to Aachen and Trier, Germany. I argue that Catholic pilgrims participated in an ‘economy of the sacred’ through their requests for and use of various pilgrimage objects; including, commemorative cards, medals, and rosaries. Within this economy wealth, worth, and merit were determined by an item’s physical proximity to the relics of …

A Scalar Comparison Of Motivations And Expectations Of Experience Within The Religious Tourism Market, Daniel H. Olsen

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Academic studies on tourism market segmentation have decreased in scale over time, with the focus on tourist segmentation changing from segmenting the market as a whole to segmenting specific tourism niche markets. This change in scale can also be seen in how academics have attempted to segment the religious tourism market moving from discussions related to the pilgrim-tourist dichotomy to segmenting visitors based on religious affiliation to world regions and countries to specific religious activities such as religious festivals and infrastructural amenities such as hotels. In this paper the author, following Wall’s (1997) discussion of the spatial characteristics of tourist …

The Pilgrimage To The San Nicola Shrine In Bari And Its Impact, Katia Rizzello, Anna Trono

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage is defined as a journey to the Holy but more specifically as an inner journey to one’s deepest religious feelings. This type of journey has assumed new forms and types that bring it closer to modern tourism in general, though it maintains its distinctive characteristics, which will be the object of this paper. These changes in the nature of pilgrimage, which in part reflect the parallel socio-cultural transformation of the average visitor, have brought about a major reorganisation of the places involved and have had a significant socio-economic impact on the territories involved. The concentration of visitors and in …

How Long Does The Pilgrimage Tourism Experience To Santiago De Compostela Last?, Lucrezia Lopez

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Tourism and pilgrimage are different social phenomena (Cohen, 1992; Collins-Kreiner, 2010a); tourism is more secular than pilgrimage, which is mainly a sacred journey (Barber, 2001). In spite of this, both indicate a ‘movement’; so that tourists and pilgrims are ‘foreigners, travellers and strangers’ (Smith, 1992) who look for authentic experiences (Collins-Kreiner, 2010a). The question: ‘What kind of Experience Pilgrimage is?’ has many answers. From a social point of view, pilgrims are free from social obligations; they share the same destination and the same social status. Because of this, the anthropologists Turner and Turner (1978) defined pilgrimage as an anti-structural experience …

Considering A Voice Of The Body For Adult Transformative Learning Theory, Elizabeth Boleyn

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

Unknowingly, much of the population of the Western World are thinking machines who live and learn isolated from somatic experiences. They distrust their bodies in the learning process and are stuck living out unquestioned realities of embodied socioculturalism and rationalism which guide decision making, learning and ways of being. Considering a voice of the body involved delving into the physical dimension of somatic transformative learning from the bodily-lived experiences of seven women who were in a first-level experiential Nia® dancing and movement training program. Together, these women offered a voice of the body offering that phases of transformative learning was …

The Pan American (2014-02-13), Susan Gonzalez

UTPA Archives - The Pan American Newspaper

Vol. 70, No. 19

The Ch’Olti’ Link Language, Craig M. Warren, Dr. John Robertson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Perhaps one of the greatest achievements of the Mayan Civilization was their development of a writing system. Remnants of this highly sophisticated writing system can be found beautifully etched on temples and other ancient structures scattered throughout parts of Southern Mexico and Central America.

Kentucky Folklife Festival - Frankfort, Kentucky, 1998 (Fa 662), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 662. This collection features information and documentation of the second annual Kentucky Folklife Festival held from September 17-20, 1998 in Frankfort, Kentucky. The festival was sponsored by the Kentucky Folklife Program, an inter-agency program of the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky Arts Council agencies of the Education, Arts, and Humanities Cabinet.

"Lesbianas Presente:" Lesbian Activism, Transnational Alliances, And The State In Mexico City, 1968-1991, Lucinda Grinnell

History ETDs

My dissertation examines the emergence of lesbian movements in Mexico City in the context of the Cold War and the onset of economic neo-liberalism. A transnational approach is crucial to understand the constitution of these movements because they responded and contributed to global sexuality rights movements as well as to the global Left. During this time, Mexican lesbians allied with the political Left offering support to socialist and anti-imperialist groups. In turn, the government treated lesbian activists as they did the Left, monitoring and harassing lesbians and their organizations in an effort to weaken the groups influence on civil society. …

Wsu Board Of Trustees Meeting Minutes, February 13-14, 2014

Board of Trustees Minutes

Minutes from the Wright State University Board of Trustees Meeting held on February 13-14, 2014.

Ancestor Worship Among The Ovahimba Of Namibia, Travis Slade

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The OvaHimba tribe of Southwest Africa have a tradition of ancestor worship that extends back into the past when their ancestors made the long trek from the Horne of Africa into present day Namibia. This subgroup of the Herero tribe are pastoralists with limited horticulture of maize to subsidize their cattle products. These cattle are divided into secular and religious wealth. The religious wealth is inherited from father to eldest son. The religious inheritance of the OvaHimba is called the Oruzo. Oruzo is the religious aspect which I focused on in my studies of genealogy and ancestor worship among the …

Kenyon Collegian - February 13, 2014

The Kenyon Collegian

No abstract provided.

Sino-American Contract Bargaining And Dispute Resolution, Garrick Apollon

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The article offers information on international trade disputes between the U.S. and China. Topics include economic interdependency of Sino-American trade, cross-legal and cross-cultural relationships between the U.S. and China, and the historical and cultural preference for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in China. Other topics include learning of cross-cultural management and international business negotiation.

The Tabernacle: A Lesson In The Particularity Of The Purposes Of God, Luke Talon

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Song And Dance: The World Of Carnival In The Exocus Story Of The Golden Calf, Charles M. Rix

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Origins Of Josiah Wedgwood's "Pearlware", George L. Miller

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Close inspection of the documentary record reveals that Josiah Wedgwood's "pearlware" was no more than his own version of a ware already being produced as early as 1775 by other Staffordshire potters. Wedgwood introduced a new name, Pearl White, to distinguish his product from that of his competitors, which they called China Glaze. This is an important revision to ceramic chronology because "pearlware" has been considered by most historical archaeologists as a firm 1779 terminus post quem for archaeological deposits. This new knowledge will force a reconsideration of many of the contexts in which so-called pearlware has been found.

Analysis Of Faunal Remains From Queen Anne Square, Newport, Rhode Island, Timothy S. Young

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Queen Anne Square, Newport, Rhode Island, is a northeastern coastal site. This report presents the results of the analysis of faunal remains from three features representing different 18th-century households. The data show a heavy dependence on domestic animals. All three features contain over 90% domestic animals by biomass. The site closely resembles southeastern sites in percentages of cow and pig MNI. It also resembles other northeastern sites, however, in its high percentage of caprine MNI. This is probably indicative of an intermediate dietary pattern. There are also differences among the features; these can be attributed either to the economic status …

An Admirable Police Maintained: Evidence Of Sanitary Practices At The New Windsor Cantonment, Edward J. Lenik

Northeast Historical Archaeology

An archaeological survey at the 1782-83 winter encampent of the Continental Army at New Windsor, New York, has revealed the presence of several large pits or depressions located some 250ft (76.2m) from the site of the soldiers' huts. Test excavations and chemcial analysis of the soils have determined that these pits were utilized as latrines or necessaries. The land use pattern at the site, including the location of the soldiers' huts and the delineation of use areas for trash disposal and necessaries, reflects the officers' successful attempt to impose order and discipline on the troops.

Landfill And Health, A Municipal Concern Or, Telling It Like It Was, Joan H. Geismar

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Land reclamation in port cities is a worldwide phenomenon that clearly represents economic considerations and, often, intensifying urbanization. Analysis of the fill matrix of two New York City sites suggests that the imposition of municipal controls may be one facet of the urbanizing process documented in the archaeological record. Differences between the fill from the 175 Water Street site, an East River block filled in the 18th century, and Site 1 of the Washington Street Urban Renewal Area adjacent to the Hudson River, an early 19th-century fill site, are best explained by the introduction of city ordinances to regulate land …

The Use Of Opal Phytolith Analysis In A Comprehensive Environmental Study: An Example From 19th-Century Lowell, Massachusetts, William F. Fisher, Gerald K. Kelso

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The value of opal phytolith analysis is demonstrated in a comprehensive environmental study of a historical site, the Kirk Street Agents' House, Lowell, Massachusett. A method to measure phytolith degradation percentages is tested and shown to yield similar results to pollen corrosion indices; further research on this new method is suggested, however. Fluctuations in two classes of grass phytoliths indicate changing environmental conditions that support and expand upon changes noted in the pollen spectra. The results of the phytolith analysis are integrated with information derived from documentary research, artifactual analysis, stratigraphic interpretation, and other ethnobotanical methods to arrive at conclusions …

Archaeologically Defining The Earlier Garden Landscapes At Morven: Preliminary Results, Anne E. Yentsch, Naomi F. Miller, Barbara Paca, Dolores Piperno

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The first phase of archaeology at Morven was designed to test the potential for further study of the early garden landscape at a ca. 1758 house in Princeton, New Jersey. The research included intensive botanical analysis using a variety of archaeobotanical framework. A study was also made of the garden's topography using map analysis combined with subsurface testing. Information on garden features related to the design of earlier garden surfaces suggests the ways in which the Stockton family manipulated their estate to convey a social image of the family to the local Princeton community. This, in turn, provides information that, …

Volume 51, Number 26: February 12, 2014, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

Social Science Division Meeting Minutes 02/12/2014, Social Science Division

Social Science Division

No abstract provided.

What Are Shoshone Knives?, Cindy A. Eccles

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This research project began in pursuit of three goals: (1) establishing the temporal and spatial distribution of distinctive stone blfaces labeled as “Shoshone” knives, (2) determining the function and range of morphological variability of these bifaces and (3) ascertaining whether the label “Shoshone” knives, which centers on ethnic affiliation, is appropriate. Use of this term also raises the issue of style versus function as a cause for the distinctive shape of this biface. Studying this element of the archaeological record will further our understanding of the little studied Late Prehistoric and Protohistoric eras.

Transformations Of Comitancillo, Richard Lynn Paul

Journal of Undergraduate Research

A number of transformations have occurred through the centuries for all Mayan peoples. Some transformations affect only a single area of life while others are major transformations that affect several areas of Mayan lifestyle. These great displacements are turning points during which many cultural beliefs and practices are lost.

Humanitarian To Speak At Founders' Day, Tia Patsavas

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.

Faculty Promotions, Tenure Announced, University Communications, Illinois Wesleyan University

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.