Artigos de revistas sobre o tema "Interpersonal communication – Religious aspects – Christianity"

The 5.0 era is marked by rapid technological advances and social changes, affecting various aspects of life, including the field of education. Christian religious education plays an important role in shaping the character and morals of the younger generation. But in reality, the lack of emphasis on developing soft skills can be a problem, because the teacher's ability to interact empathetically, have creativity, leadership, and adaptability becomes very important in guiding students in a spiritual, moral, and emotional context. In addition, an excessive focus on hard skills, such as understanding theology and religious practice, can ignore the importance of developing soft skills in dealing with the changes faced in the 5.0 era. In this study, the authors used a literature study, therefore to achieve the objectives of this study, superior teacher quality was needed, which had a balance between software and hardware. The purpose of this study is to present software and hardware in improving the quality of Christian religious education teachers in the 5.0 era. Soft skills include interpersonal, communication, leadership, empathy, and adaptability skills, which support teachers in interacting with students, colleagues, and a changing environment. While hard skills include specific knowledge, information technology, teaching methodology, as well as expertise in the field of Christianity.

The extremist statements are diverse and can be classified in a range of aspects: semantic, pragmatic and rhetorical. Analysis of expert practice enables to distinguish two semantic classes: statements about national/religious group and statements about nationalist ideology. In terms of pragmatism the statements are divided into the following types: calls for action against a group; statements about actions against a group and negative attitude to it; humiliation of group members; threat to group members. Apart from that constative statements are divided into two subgroups depending on their rhetorical structure: evaluative statements and statements containing justification for negative judgments. The content and pragmatic signs of “extremist” contexts can be found in various combinations limited by the features of a communicative situation. The article summarises expert practice on the study of extremist statements uttered primarily during interpersonal domestic disputes. It is shown that the variety of statements can be reduced to a finite list of features which are a special subject of the research.

This study discusses the Development of Adolescent Morals through Interpersonal Communication in the Family by analyzing the impact of suggestion in hypnoparenting. This research is a form of qualitative research by conducting field studies (field research) which seeks to reveal about social phenomena and certain social aspects in the family and community being studied. The rise of juvenile delinquency both in big cities and in rural areas is a matter of great concern and requires problem solving to cope with the increasing prevalence of juvenile delinquency. The family as the main foundation for the formation of adolescent behavior needs to make improvements in all aspects, especially in the psycho-social and religious aspects of adolescents. Interpersonal communication in the family can create intimacy and familiarity with the perpetrators, making the relationship between family members, especially between parents and their children, like a pair of friends or best friends. Interpersonal communication activities carried out by parents to children contain suggestions that play an important role in children's cognitive, affective and psychomotor changes. Positive suggestions given by parents in the communication activities carried out can have a positive impact and negative suggestions can have a negative impact so that the role of interpersonal communication with the hypnosis method through positive suggestions can be a reference in the education of children in the family.

Any type of discourse, along with its characteristic concepts, operates with its own values. The basis of religious discourse form universal values providing moral guidelines that represent a standard for people of different cultures and eras, which are associated with the ideals of justice and are timeless. Among the universal are cultural, social and moral values. The bulk of religious values form cultural ones in any modern society. Religious beliefs form inner culture of a person. Some religious values can be referred as social and include: meaningful (meaning of life, happiness), universal (life, health), values of interpersonal communication (benevolence), values of public recognition (hard work), democratic values (freedom of speech). In modern society among religious, social and moral (mercy, compassion) values can be distinguished. Religious values can be found within each subgroup of universal human values. The article interprets phenomenon of suffering in modern society, which is an integral component of any world religion and forms the category of value in Christianity. The analysis of suffering in the article was carried out along with the analysis of religious discourse - a special type of institutional communication that combines features of institutional-oriented and personal-oriented phenomenon. The article shows reasons for the occurrence and existence of suffering in any modern society, as well as approaches that exist in various religious systems (Christianity, Islam and Buddhism) to interpreting suffering, attitude to it, need and possibility to overcome it as well as linguistic means to express phenomenon of suffering in world religions.

Indonesia is currently faced with a plurality of religions, and of course, this plurality of religions is very vulnerable to conflict between religious communities. One area that has a plurality in the religious field is Pembakulan Village. Pembakulan Village is one of the villages that inhabits the Mount Meratus area which is very far away with modern civilization and adheres to several religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and one of them is the local religion, namely Kaharingan. Of course there are interesting which made them able to survive and live in harmony until now. And one of the factors that create harmony is good communication and a high sense of tolerance. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to find out how the forms of communication and forms of tolerance between religious communities in Pembakulan Village are to create harmony. Based on the results of interviews and observations of researchers, this article argues that there are two forms of communication that create harmony in Pembakulan Village, Batang Alai Timur District, Hulu Sungai Tengah Regency, namely interpersonal and group and forms of tolerance, namely cooperation, mutual openness, freedom of religion and respect for religious activities.

Early Christianity relied heavily on walking, yet New Testament Studies has largely neglected the cultural significance of walking in the ancient world and its connection to Early Christian communication. Walking, often seen as a conscious cultural act, is often overlooked in scholarly discourse, with the focus primarily on its symbolic aspects. Drawing from interdisciplinary research in classics, cultural studies, and social science, this study aims to explore how early Christian bodily movement and communication have been perceived and culturally appropriated in European and North American scholarship. It presents three case studies: the portrayal of disabled bodies’ movements in healings, the interpretation of Jesus and his disciples as itinerant wanderers, and the examination of walking in Pauline literature as a means of profiling missionary success.

The purpose of this study is to study the influence of leadership, happiness, interpersonal communication to normative commitment of public Junior High School teachers in Kampar Regency of Riau Province. This research uses a quantitative approach with the survey method. The sample of this research is 148 lecturers of civil servant status (PNS) at public Junior High Schools (SMP Negeri) located in Kampar Regency, which is collected from 4 schools, selected based on schools that get the highest National Examination (UN) and National Examination Integrity Index (IIUN) value at 4 sub-districts. The results of this study indicate that (1) leadership has a direct effect on the teacher's normative commitment, (2) happiness directly affects teacher's normative commitment, (3) interpersonal communication has a direct effect on teachers' normative commitment; (4) direct influence toward teacher interpersonal communication (5) happiness directly affects teacher's interpersonal communication, (6) leadership has a direct effect on teacher's happiness, so teacher's normative commitment can be improved if there is a good leadership behavior, happiness in workplace and intimacy in interpersonal communication. Especially for Kampar Regency of Riau Province, the region which is nicknamed “Riau Province' Veranda of Mecca”, to increase teachers' normative commitment is to facilitate the needs related to facilities and infrastructure, programs, activities that can improve science and practice values ​​to muslim teachers because based on the questionnaire results, the majority of teachers responded to the point that: "I pursue the teaching profession as worship to Allah Subhanahu Wata'ala", with a total score of 707. The statements of the teachers are in line with the Vision of RPJPD (Regional Long Term Development Plan) of Kampar Regency Year 2005-2025, namely: "Kampar Regency a County of Culture, Empowerment, within the Religious Society in the year of 2025", and explained to the explanation of the meaning contained in the vision, in point three, : "All components of Kampar regency are determined to make the religious society, where all aspects of life that are run are always based on religious values, in accordance with Kampar community motto to create Kampar district as “Riau Province' Veranda of Mecca”. Keywords: leadership, happiness, interpersonal communication, normative commitment

Paraliturgical song production provides opportunities for interdisciplinary research of interethnic, intercultural and interreligious relationships. It opens up the possibilities for understanding the development of cultural identity created by intensive cultural communication of Latin and Byzantine spirituality and is an integral part of the spiritual life of believers from the very beginning of Christianity. The contribution explains the different linguistic, cultural and ethnic confessional aspects that have influenced the formation of the cultural identity of users of such non-liturgical religious songs.

This research aims to determine the effectiveness of qaulan sadida on interpersonal dynamics. This research uses a qualitative descriptive method. In collecting data, researchers did this by means of non-participant observation as primary data and literature study as secondary data (literature review). In analyzing research data, researchers carry out reduction, presentation and verification stages or make conclusions. The results of this research show that the concept of qaulan sadida, which emphasizes honesty, gentleness, and respect for other people's opinions, has a positive impact on communication and interpersonal dynamics. By applying values such as sincerity, consistency, openness, and choosing wise words, individuals can build strong, trusting, and inclusive relationships. Qaulan sadida also helps avoid unnecessary conflict, creates an environment that supports mutual growth, and encourages acceptance of diversity. The application of this principle is not limited to a religious context, but can be applied in various aspects of daily life.

<p><em>State Detention House is one of the very powerful institutions to transform and practice the values of religious teachings one of them is the teachings of Hinduism to face the current era of globalization by way of coaching skills and personality coaching. The guidance done in RutanKlas IIB of Bangli Regency of Bali Province is one of the guidance of spiritual awareness oftheBinaan. The formulation of the problem in this research is as follows: 1) Communication process in fostering spiritual awareness Armed Residents; 2) The role of interpersonal communication in fostering spiritual awareness The Beneficiaries; 3) Interpersonal communication in the guidance of spiritual awareness of the Beneficiaries at the class IIB of Bangli Regency, Bali Province.</em></p><p><em>The mapping of the above problems from various aspects of this study refers to the relevant theories. This research takes place at RUTAN Class IIB of Bangli Regency, Bali Province. The type of research used is qualitative, with the deter mination of informants using snowball method. And data collection using observation method, interview, and literature study. Data analysis used in this research use qualitative descriptive method. </em></p><p><em>The results of the analysis can be obtained from this research is 1) The propocess of fostering the spiritual awareness of the Beneficiaries through 2 stages or periods namely: (a) Imuralincludes: stage, placement phase and supervision stage: And (b) Eksmural is a stage of fostering the violators of the law in other words do the coaching in the midst of society freely and openly about the family environment: 2) The role of interpersonal communication in the development of spiritual awareness is the role of having a concept such as: (a) Interpersonal communication functions include: social functions, ekspressive functions, ritual functions, and instrumental functions: (b) Interpersonal communication goals include: knowing yourself and others, knowing the outside world, nurturing and creating more meaningful relationships, changing attitudes and behavior, playing, findingentertainment, and helping other: (c) Interpersonal communication strategies include: lecture method, practical method of doing prayer, dialog method, consultation method, and audio visual method: (3) The implication of interpersonal communication in fostering the spiritual awareness of the Beneficiaries are: (a) positive and negative implications for the citizens of the Beneficiaries; (b) positive and negative implications on coaching officers.</em></p>

This study explores undergraduate students' perceptions of a foundation-year communication skills course at a large public university in Saudi Arabia from the aspects of perceived course effectiveness and relevance using a cross-sectional survey research design. The survey yielded scaled and short-answer responses, which were then analyzed using statistical and thematic analyses. The results revealed that first-year undergraduate students (n=209) in this study perceive communication skills as important for their future career and in major areas of their lives, and consider being a ’good’ communicator as part of their cultural and religious heritage. Participants further define communication skills as predominantly an oral, information transfer that builds relationships with others from interpersonal and intercultural aspects. The findings also revealed disagreement and uncertainty about the communication course focus and requirement, relevance of course assignments and materials, and language of instruction. Recommendations for teaching communication skills with relevance in this context include explicit, focused communication instruction, student-centered practical activities with cultural relevance, and, moving forward, coursework that integrates the communication discipline with the needs of the students’ academic fields. Future research in this area could enhance teaching communication skills in the Saudi context and lead to more relevant instruction that could positively impact students in their professional lives.

Communication and behavior are the main components that still need to be considered to see the level of family harmony during Covid-19, most of which are designing the effects of the pandemic giving birth to domestic violence and divorce. The purpose of this study was to complement and review the existence of the family in aspects of communication and behavior in the family environment during the pandemic in realizing a sakinah family. The research design tends to be phenomenal with a social communication approach. Data collection was done by direct interview. The results of this study show, first, that interpersonal and multipersonal family communication and behavior are positive so that the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic is not too significant on the level of violence and divorce. Second, the supporting factors in family communication and behavior are the existence of routine religious social activities, demographic conditions, and openness to the social and family environment, especially different religions, ethnicities and races.

The relevance of the article's topic is that the diversity of national business cultures requires research and consideration of managerial peculiarities in different regions and countries. These peculiarities are determined by historical, religious, climatic and other factors that are formed under the influence of a particular social environment, country or region. Understanding these value systems and cultural differences in the communication behaviour of people from different countries contributes to the efficiency of management, helps to solve problem situations and avoid conflicts during negotiations. The purpose of the study is to examine the cross-cultural aspects of communication and management in Chinese business with a Ukrainian perspective. This includes analysing the main cultural differences between Ukrainians and Chinese, determining the importance of aspects such as language, etiquette, hierarchy and business customs that may affect the effectiveness of communication and management in Chinese business with Ukrainian entrepreneurs. The cross-cultural aspects of communication and management in the Chinese economic environment are a very important topic for research. Recent publications in this area reveal important differences in the way Chinese businesses communicate and manage compared to the West. The concept of “guanxi” is the main principle among Chinese entrepreneurs and requires careful understanding and application. One of the fundamental approaches in the Chinese business environment is to maintain harmonious relationships with partners and customers. This article discusses how successful Chinese companies invest a lot of time and effort in maintaining these mutually beneficial relationships, which helps them succeed in the long run. The role of communication in Chinese business is important. Research shows that closed, non-verbal communication can be very important in the context of Chinese communication and management. The article describes the cross-cultural aspects of communication and management in Chinese business. The article emphasises the importance of understanding cultural differences in business communication and management for successful work in Chinese business. The article analyses the peculiarities of interpersonal relations, communication strategies and approaches to personnel management. The study is aimed at improving the effectiveness of communication in the management system and contributes to the enhancement of intercultural understanding in this context

The global dissemination of Christianity has resulted in diverse singing styles and historical narratives that incorporate different languages and musical traditions. Chinese Christian hymns, in particular, possess distinctive features that reflect the Chinese thinking mode and cultural values, showcasing the interplay between Western hymns and Chinese singing and poetic and cultural traditions within the Chinese historical context. This paper takes Chinese Christian hymnals published between 1807 and 1949 as its object of study. It conducts research on representative hymnals from three historical stages: the emergence, flourishing, and prosperity of hymns, and examines their compilation and publication. Using methods such as historical research, textual criticism, translation studies, and cross-cultural communication, the paper explores the evolution of Chinese Christian hymns. The paper analyzes such aspects of the hymnals as translating and writing strategies, thematic content, linguistic features, editing and formatting, as well as the selection and composition of melodies. It is concluded that the indigenization of Chinese hymns does not involve outright rejection of foreign elements or unquestioning adherence to local traditions, but rather represents a common ground between Chinese and Western languages and vocal traditions, reflecting the characteristic of glocalization.

In this paper, the historical, philosophical and political roots of binary thinking are analyzed. The influence of a religious or ideological hegemony of symbolic nature, on patterns of thinking in philosophy, science and in other aspects of human interest are critically examined. Starting from the Foucauldian merger of biopolitics and state sovereignity – after a major world pandemic crisis – and a post-deconstructivist analysis of the role of written language and academic literacy, a closer look at contemporary developments is offered. In particular, the heritage of Idealism is investigated in the present notions of universal mathematics and loopholes claiming the unification of physics and mathematics and the digitalization and algorithmic quantification of all aspects of human life and culture. In contrast to these developments, we propose a renewed approach of reading and experiencing symbols in patterns of interpersonal communication, with special reference to the phenomenon of music.

The article deals with historical, legal, sociological, psychological and other aspects of conflict resolution in society and social groups. The results of a survey of undergraduate students of the State University of Management are presented. On the basis of the study, strategies for resolving conflict situations among future leaders of various religious orientations, and means of resolving interpersonal and intergroup conflicts, were identified. Using methods of expert analysis, by comparing respondents’ opinions with those of researchers, it is concluded that digital training should be introduced to acquire online knowledge on preventing and dealing with controversial situations. In this way, Russia’s future leaders could be trained in appropriate reactions in conflict educational situations, learn how to apply different styles and strategies of communication, and to identify conflictogens at the first and second stages of conflict development to promptly transfer such situations to a peaceful course. The practical significance of the study is in the implementation of the results to test students for the level of emotional intelligence, to improve their competencies, and to resolve conflicts in different ethnic environments.

Nowadays, in linguistics, the interest in the field of religion and communication within it has increased and the study of the religious discourse is becoming very popular. It contributes to the understanding of the religious picture of the world and the concept as a representative of the values, ideas, feelings, and associations. The article is based on the testament, sermons and speeches by Josyf Slipyj who was a Major Archbishop and a Cardinal of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Previously he, as a public figure was banned and the issue of religious mentality was on the periphery, in particular, due to ideological considerations. Josyf Slipyj always tried to organize a church space in Ukraine, which remains relevant today, because of the events and the religious context in our country. However, the issue of the discursive and linguo-conceptual analysis of the concept FAITH is unresolved. It is shown that this concept belongs to the deep foundation, one of the most important personal values. The purpose of the research is to study the verbalization of the concept FAITH in the religious discourse by Josyf Slipyj, which is the basis for the krainian linguistic picture of the world, universal category, the foundation of national consciousness, and at the same time the unique concept. Realization of the set purpose provides solving necessary tasks: to trace the worldview of Josyf Slipyj and determine the place of the concept FAITH. The concept FAITH is considered from two aspects that are equally necessary for Christianity: understanding faith, which is trust and faith in someone or something through the recognition of truth and value (faith in the Holy Trinity, in the church). The religious heritage of Josyf Slipyj represents two mentioned aspects: Patriarch trusts and believes in Jesus Christ, eternal God, God’s will, God’s providence, God’s help, Liturgy, Church, unity, Ukraine, power of prayer, love, science, holidays. So, in conceptual terms, the concept of religious discourse often includes different aspects of constants that affirm the Patriarch`s faith and transmit the essence of universal and national values, including ethical and religious categories.

This paper aims to analyze the design of the Arabic language learning curriculum in the Merdeka curriculum. Researchers use the ACTFL standard in analyzing the content of the Arabic language curriculum in the aspect of competence and depth of mastery of Arabic formulated in the Merdeka curriculum. The purpose of this analysis is to compare Arabic learning outcomes in the Merdeka curriculum with ACTFL standards used internationally in learning foreign languages. The type of research used is qualitative research with a content analysis approach. Data collection methods with documentation. The data and data sources of this research are the Decree of the Director General of Islamic Education 3211 of 2022 concerning the learning outcomes of Islamic religious education and Arabic for the Merdeka Curriculum in Madrasah. Qualitative content analysis design of the Kripendorff model through the stages of selecting units, determining samples, recording data, reducing data, drawing conclusions, narrating research results. The results showed that the Arabic curriculum in the Merdeka curriculum based on ACTFL is divided into 2 aspects, namely: aspects of language skills and language proficiency levels. Language skills include: 1) language skills (language proficiency and language elements), 2) communication skills: interpersonal communication, presentation communication and interpretive communication, 3) cultural skills. The Arabic language learning curriculum design in the Merdeka curriculum is taught from phase A, the easiest level relevant to the ACTFL standard at the low beginner level and phase F is the highest level relevant to the ACTFL standard at the superior level. Analysis of Arabic learning outcomes in the Merdeka curriculum based on ACTFL standards is at the Novice Low to superior level.

<p><em>Balinese comes in contact with 3 ideologic concepts such as: Tattwa (philosophy), Susila (behaviour), and Upacara (ritual). Those basic concepts will integrate and realize each other in Yadnya practices. There are 2 forms of Yadnya, such as Sekala and Niskala. Sekala is sacrifice by doing. While Niskala is sacrifice through offering to God with prabhavan.Yadnya requires infrastuctures symbolically, which is implemented through ritual. Ngaben Matuun is Yadnya which is included in Pitra Yadnya as a sacrifaction for pitara.</em></p><p><em>Symbolic communication aspects in ngaben matuun will be investigated through relevant aspects of communication in that ritual, such as intrapersonal communication, interpersonal communication, group communication, body symbol meaning, perpetuation meaning, social adaptation meaning,offerings symbolic meaning, palmyra palm leaves meaning in Kunduh meaning.</em></p><p><em>Ngaben ritual process is started by hitting kentongan 5 times, bathing the dead body using cendana water, corpse bathing ritual, pangerigkesan, buried. Matuun has some steps, such as mapekeling, nanceb salon, mapekeling ngaturang pelabaan, the main steps is ental burning and kunduh burying.</em></p><p><em>Ngaben ritual purpose is to bring unsure back to Panca Maha Butha and atma to pitara by breaking the relation with the body. The unsure will be back to Panca Maha Butha quicker through pengabenan. Through pengabenan, Balinese people believe that it can bring unsure back to Panca Maha Butha as well as doing child obligation for parents. Ngaben ritual has many functions, such as religious function, obligation function, social economical function, ethical function, and esthetical function.</em></p>

Social skills in the importance of Christian Religious Education (PAK) teacher professionalism in developing creativity in learning. Religious Education teachers who lack creativity can lead to failure in creating inspiring learning. This can have a negative impact on exam results and student character development. John M. Nainggolan emphasized that a Christian teacher must put others first, have a work ethic, and contribute to meeting students' needs. Creativity is an important aspect in meeting students' needs in achieving achievement and application in everyday life.Time limitations often become an obstacle to the creativity of PAK teachers. However, from the perspective of Christian education, an educator is responsible for developing all students' potential so that they can develop optimally affectively, cognitively and psychomotorically. Teachers have an important role in shaping personality, creativity, as well as providing motivation and guidance to students.Christian religious education also requires creativity from PAK teachers in conveying religious messages so that students can understand and appreciate them. Jesus' activities as a teacher became a model for Christian teachers to continue implementing the educational revolution in teaching approaches.The skills of explaining, social, asking questions, providing reinforcement, varying stimuli, as well as the ability to open and close learning are important aspects of the basic skills of a PAK teacher. Learning success is not only determined by well-formulated objectives, but also by appropriate teaching methods.Apart from that, PAK teachers are also expected to have personal characteristics such as culture, competence, principles of the Christian faith, determination, responsibility, humor and imagination that support professionalism in conveying Christian religious messages and supporting students directly. Effective communication between teachers and students becomes key in ensuring messages are distributed well. The support and guidance provided by teachers is also an important factor in the school environment, where teachers become important resources for students outside the home environment.In conclusion, the professionalism of PAK teachers is not only limited to knowledge of Christianity, but also includes creativity, basic teaching skills, and effective communication to help students achieve achievement and develop character.

Chinese enterprise personnel are faced with the problem of intercultural adaptation. Based on Black&#39;s theory of &quot;three-dimensional&quot; model of intercultural adaptation, this paper proposes a &quot;four-dimensional&quot; model of intercultural adaptation, namely, life adaptation, work adaptation, interpersonal adaptation and Chinese image adaptation. The research method of semi-structured in-depth interview is used to interview 23 Chinese people from one Chinese enterprise in Saudi Arabia, who have worked there for at least one year. We get findings as follows: (1) Life adaptation: maladjustment is mainly reflected in religious restriction. Especially, religious regulations and taboos make the life of Chinese enterprise personnel restricted. However, there are also many aspects of adaptation, such as Saudi cuisine, living environment and leisure life, which bring the satisfaction of life demands to Chinese enterprise personnel. (2) Work adaptation: foreign companies must employ a certain proportion of local people to work in their companies; the roles of buyers and sellers in Saudi Arabia and in China are different; the concept of time is different. (3) Interpersonal adaptation: Chinese people in Saudi Arabia still have the most frequent contact with their Chinese compatriots, and it is difficult for them to develop close friendship with foreigners. Chinese people are good at creating harmonious interpersonal relationships for work through some after-work activities, such as drinking tea, eating out and holding football matches. (4) Chinese image adaptation: Chinese enterprise personnel in Saudi Arabia have decent income, and Saudi police fail to check Chinese cars, all of which make the Chinese people have a positive face value. In view of the above four adaptation situations of Chinese enterprise personnel in Saudi Arabia, the following suggestions are proposed: (1) Be strict with yourself in life, respect local social and religious customs, and also keep a careful attitude and actively deal with disadvantageous factors. (2) While benefiting from working or doing business in Saudi Arabia, we should make contributions for the development of local economy and society, providing employment and training for local people. (3) We should observe the local laws and regulations, and also follow the local and international market rules. (4) In interpersonal communication, we should combine the maintenance mode of Chinese &quot;guanxi&quot; (relationship) with western &quot;principle&quot; on the one hand, and make a difference between them on the other hand. (5) In terms of image adaptation, besides maintaining a good image politically and economically, it is also necessary to improve our individual quality and our cultural cultivation overseas, be a communicator bridging Chinese and foreign excellent culture, and build a positive national image and individual image.

Emotions are largely interpersonal and inextricably intertwined with communication; public performances evoke collective emotions. This article brings together considerations of poetic assemblies known as ‘mushāʿira’ in Pakistan with reflections on sermon congregations known as ‘waʿz mahfil’ in Bangladesh. The public performance spaces and protocols, decisive for building up collective emotions, exhibit many parallels between both genres. The cultural history of the mushāʿira shows how an elite cultural tradition has been popularised in service to the modern nation state. A close reading of the changing forms of reader address shows how the modern nazm genre has been deployed for exhorting the collective, much-expanded Urdu public sphere. Emphasising the sensory aspects of performance, the analysis of contemporary waʿz mahfils focuses on the employment of particular chanting techniques. These relate to both the transcultural Islamic soundsphere and Bengali narrative traditions, and are decisive for the synchronisation of listeners’ experience and a dramaticisation of the preachers’ narratives. Music-rhetorical analysis furthermore shows how the chanting can evoke heightened emotional experiences of utopian Islamic ideology. While the scrutinised performance traditions vary in their respective emphasis on poetry and narrative, they exhibit increasingly common patterns of collective reception. It seems that emotions evoked in public performances cut across ‘religious’, ‘political’, and ‘poetic’ realms—and thereby build on and build up interlinkages between religious, aesthetic and political collectives.

Abstract The aim of my research study is to identify the barriers that cross-cultural and interracial couples are confronted with and the ways they try to overcome these potential obstacles in order for their marriage to work, with a focus on Romanian–Korean couples (Romanian wives and Korean husbands). At stake are many aspects pertaining to culture such as religious or ideological beliefs (Christianity vs. Confucianism), individualism vs. collectivism, egalitarian vs. non-egalitarian treatment of women, the language adopted by the spouses, family expectations, as well as the discrimination of bi-racial children. The hypothesis underlying the study is that no matter how much the spouses love each other, any difference in values, practices, and behaviours can create problems. Derived from this hypothesis, the following research questions will be addressed in the study: (a) Which particular cultural issues may cause (more) frictions in international, interracial marriages? (b) What steps are taken and by which partner in order to solve the possible culturally triggered problems that appear in their relationship? (c) Are there any advantages to international, interracial marriages? To provide answers to these questions, 7 Romanian–Korean couples have been subjected to a semi-structured interview. The information provided by the respondents has been analysed within the framework of “thematic analysis”, defined by Berelson (1952: 18) as “a research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication.

The rapid and radical changes in the life of Ukrainian society, the processes of globalization and integration, the continuous expansion of the spheres of international, interethnic communication indicate that further development of mankind is possible only with the dialogue of representatives of different national-cultural and religious communities that can understand and perceive another culture as equivalent. It is in these conditions that the education of foreign students is considered as a means of safe and comfortable existence in the new society, and the goal of education is the formation of intercultural communication among future foreign doctors, as well as the formation of tolerant consciousness among students at such levels as personality, society, and state. Foreign students from different countries represent different ethnic groups, different cultural, religious, linguistic relations, cultural education, which causes difficulties in the life of foreign students who influence the formation of their intercultural communicative competence. The analysis of scientific literature shows the constant interest of scholars in the problems of the formation of a tolerant linguistic personality of a foreign medical student. It is necessary to create an atmosphere of tolerance, openness, respect for one another and a sense of solidarity. The principle of tolerance implies tolerance and respect for the opinion of another person, impartiality in the assessment of people and events, and the positivity of relationships. The problem of forming the readiness of foreign students to perceive the cultural environment, teaching intercultural communication involves a number of more complex aspects: the formation of a culture of communication in another for them socio-cultural and linguistic environment; Taking into account psychological peculiarities of adult education; Taking into account psychological peculiarities of cognitive communicative activity of foreign students in the natural linguistic environment; Raising the culture of interethnic communication in the group, at the faculty, in the university, etc.; Formation of skills and abilities of the "dialogue of cultures"; the formation and development of theoretical and practical readiness for intercultural communication, which is the main means of educating a tolerant personality. Therefore, tolerance is defined by us as a respectful attitude to someone else's opinion, loyalty in the assessment of actions and behavior of other people, readiness for understanding and cooperation in solving issues of interpersonal, group and interethnic interaction. Formation of a tolerant linguistic personality in the process of teaching intercultural communication is aimed at stabilizing the internal situation in the student collective, ensuring friendship of peoples (social function); Enriching people with spiritual culture; Inducing them to spiritual cooperation (educational function); Formation of socio-ethical qualities facilitating intercultural consent in society (psychological function). The main mechanism for forming a tolerant linguistic personality is that the personality of each student is the subject and the object of intercultural relations and brings its share into the treasury of world experience, each person in one or another degree is a participant in a free political and cultural dialogue, the ownership of which contributes the mental compatibility of people, respect, acceptance and understanding of different cultures, which are the conditions of humanity's movement for spiritual integration, respect for the languages, traditions and culture of other peoples, the formation of a world culture in.

Abstract The goal of this study is to examine the strategies of politeness used in the Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims, to address and represent women. Women have been represented negatively in many different types of texts through face-threatening acts that sustain masculine power and hegemony. This study attempts to investigate the image of women in the most sacred book of Muslims. Two aspects are examined herein: the representation of women in relation to sensitive issues like sex and marriage, and the forms of address and reference to women. A qualitative approach is used to provide interpretations of the hidden meanings in the selected excerpts, adopting Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness and Leech’s maxims of politeness as the guides for the analysis. The analysis has revealed that women all through Qur’an have been addressed and referred to decently and politely. Unlike most of the other topics where bald-on-record strategies are used, the use of off-record strategies and positive and negative face strategies of politeness have been found to be dominant in discussion of issues relevant to women. These strategies have been used to avoid unpleasant communication in spiritual issues, and also to avoid misrepresentation of women, demeaning of their persons, causing any embarrassment, and thereby saving the face of both women and recipients. However, bald-on-record strategies are sometimes used in topics related to legal matters concerning familial and social unity and solidarity. The analysis has demonstrated the means by which language is used in the Glorious Qur’an to courteously address women. Concerning interpersonal maxims, the approbation, modesty, sympathy, tact, and agreement maxims have shown to be evident in addressing and referring to women. This study will contribute to the field of pragmatics and will lead to cross-religious and cross-cultural understanding during a period where Islam and its teachings are being widely questioned and examined.

This article examines the socio-psychological aspects of a tolerant person, as well as the factors that determine the strategies of interethnic interaction in a multinational society, which were formed in historical practice and are determined by the economic and political structure of society as a whole. The student environment is one of the most intense and intense places of interethnic contacts. Traditionally, in an educational institution, an important way to improve the educational process, which involves comfortable psychological interpersonal relationships, is to develop methods that contribute to the formation of interethnic tolerance. The North Ossetian state medical Academy is a modern multi-level system of continuous training of specialists of higher medical and pharmaceutical education belonging to different national confessions. An important activity of SOGMA is the development of international relations and cooperation with foreign students. The annual events are aimed at forming a positive attitude of students to cultural differences. Representatives of various ethnic communities meet at the University, various systems of worldview and perception of the world are formed, as a result, students ' stereotypes of interethnic consciousness and behavior are strengthened. The study involved 50 students of the 1st year of dental and 50 students of the 6th year of medical faculties of the fgbou VO SOGMA. Diagnostics of General communicative tolerance V. V. Boyko allows you to diagnose tolerant and intolerant attitudes that manifest themselves in the process of communication. E. Bogardus ' scale of social distance determines the degree of psychological closeness of people and the ease of their interaction. Tolerance is an important component of effective interethnic interaction of medical students, which serves as the basis for resolving social and interethnic conflicts and achieving mutual respect for the interests of all religious denominations.

Socio-normative life of Ukrainians of the 20th – the beginning of the 21th centuries, that covers aspects of management, self-organization and formation of public institutions, mutual assistance and leisure, regulation of behavior, is a poorly studied topic in ethnological science. During the establishment of the Soviet system, which completely changed the traditional way of life of Ukrainian peasants, a major transformation of the customs of public life took place. Following Ukraine’s independence, modern social normative practices were developing according to the requirements of the new legislation. As the result, nowadays there is a considerable urgency to investigate the specifics and changes that have taken place in public life in the Ukrainian villages in the second half of the 20th – early 21th centuries. In the new socio-economic and national-religious contexts, despite the changes in industrial relations and socio-professional composition of the rural population, the system of traditional social life in Ukraine was able to maintain positive and well-considered skills of social coexistence, forms of daily and festive leisure, as well as the moral and ethical standards of people’s coexistence. The article on the materials of expeditions to Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Zakarpattya, Odessa, Kharkiv regions analyzes the preservation and peculiarities of transformation of traditional social forms of leisure and communication of peasants during the second half of the 20th – early 21th centuries. The types and places of daily (customs of «calling for freshness», «going for liver», mutual assistance, evening meetings) and festive (during the temple holiday, mutual guests, youth entertainment, celebration of the village holiday) leisure of the village community are revealed. Most of the information was recorded on evening meetings. They are a socio-everyday entity that organically combines entertainment and work elements. Usually, the main guideline for their conducting was hand work (spinning, embroidery, sewing), accompanied by songs and entertainment. The made records give a certain idea of the contemporary collective customs and traditions of Ukrainians in rural areas, especially of interpersonal relations in the Ukrainian peasant environment of today. The common belief among the respondents is that some changes in people’s behavior are manifested by a decrease in interest in communication than before (reciprocal guest-houses between the villagers have become a rarity – they only gather on holidays). Today, the customs of collective mutual assistance (in case of distress or distress in one of the villagers) are still preserved among the rural population.

This work is about the spirit of Western civilization and its temptations. Drawing on Hegel's philosophy of history, the text explains why, until recently, this civilization was dominant over the rest of the world. The thing is that she understood the importance of rationality, subordinated all manifestations of life to her and especially, during capitalism (modernism), developed science and technology, and produced powerful weapons. Along the way, she incorporated all the significant achievements of other civilizations and peoples into her system of rationality. In this regard, Hegel says in the introduction to the Philosophy of History: „The only Thought which Philosophy brings with it to the contemplation of History, is the simple conception of Reason; that Reason is the Sovereign of the World; that the history of the world, therefore, presents us with a rational process.“ In other words, history is exclusively occupied with showing how Reason (Mind) comes to a recognition and adoption of the Truth. Of course, rationality is something that belongs to all civilizations and peoples, but other societies, for various reasons (geographical, climatic, religious, etc.) subordinated rationality to some other imperatives. Therefore, many of these communities were non-historical. Whatever it was, the West exploited its supremacy by colonizing other civilizations and destroying some. From the usual moral point of view, it is unacceptable, criminal. However, Hegel's philosophy, somewhat in Marx and Engels's interpretation, says something else. History makes sense. Its primary goal is to preserve humankind from anything that could destroy it, especially from various natural cataclysms and deadly diseases. The meaning of history is also its progress towards civil society as the realization of freedom and the end of history. This was only possible by adopting and practicing absolute rationality. Why guns and violence? Absolute rationality, in order to be histo-rically efficient, had to cover the whole world. In the West, as a "chosen civilization", it was to make it happen and he, militarily superior, did so by submiting other civilizati-ons and nations to the extreme violence. On the other hand, with this relentless exploitation of colonized areas, the West was able to develop rapidly in every way and thus, at the level of possibility, achieve the best destiny of humankind. Especially important was the XX century. Then this civilization, developing medicine, genetics, computer science, nanotechnology and robotics, managed to defeat various deadly diseases, begin space exploration, and turn deserts into fertile soils and, with the "green revolution", produce food for all the inhabitants of the planet. Seeing the advantages of rationality, other areas of the world, with varying success, followed the example of the West. Colonialism disappeared, and human rights and international relations were institutionalized, especially throughout the United Nations. The détente between the two blocs, capitalism and socialism, was established, and the nonaligned movement contributed to the stabilization of the world. As for the world's environmental prob-lems arising from the often-uncontrolled industrialization, they too, although excruciating and slow, seek to be solved on a global scale. Unlike modernism, which was constituted as a modern civil society with the adopted principle of equality of all, the current postmodernism is the opposite of everything civil. The market economy is functioning less and less, major utopian ideas, Christianity and Marxism, have been abandoned, the “new human rights” destroyed everything noble of the already proclaimed universal human rights. In the resulting hopeless chaos, worried about the rise of China and Russia, the most important forces in the West crossed in the "illegal" making a global deep state, the New Leviathan. They operate, as needed, both through formal and in-formal mechanisms. If necessary, they also oppose the authorities of their states if they deem their actions to be collapsing this civilization. As good disciples of Carl Schmitt, the German political philosopher, they are against the humanization of interpersonal relations; they have enormous financial and technical means and inhuman, eugenic ideas about reducing the world's population. There is no longer any doubt that their methods include the production and dissemination of deadly viruses. The action of these anti-liberal shadow minds is the destruction of all existing humanism, and has not-hing to do with history or any sense. Note. Leviathan is a sea monster mentioned in the biblical Book of Job, where it is associated with the forces of chaos and evil. Metaphorically, Leviathan is a huge and powerful social organism living secretly in the darck deep, out of any legal social control.

Background.Rosa, as the "Queen of Flowers" has always occupied a special place in the garden. The emergence of rose gardens is rooted in antiquity. Rose is a kind of “tuning fork” of eras. We can see how the symbolism of the flower was transformed, depending on the philosophy and cultural values of society. And this contributed to the various functions and aesthetic delivery of roses in gardens and parks of different eras. Despite the large number of works on roses, today there are no studies that can combine philosophy, cultural aspects of the era, the history of gardens and parks with symbols of the plant world (in particular roses) with the identification of a number of features and patterns.Objectives.The purpose of the article is to study the symbolism of rosesin landscape gardening art of different eras.Methods.The historical method helps to trace the stages of the transformation of the symbolism of roses in different historical periods. The inductive method allows you to move from the analysis of the symbolism of roses in each era to generalization, the identification of patterns, the connection of the cultural life of society with the participation of roses in it. Graph-analytical method reveals the features of creating various types of gardens with roses, taking into account trends in styles and time.Results.In the gardens of Ancient Greece, the theme of refined aesthetics, reflections on life and death dominated. It is no accident that in ancient times it was an attribute of the goddesses of love. In antiquity, she was a favorite flower of the goddess of beauty and love of Aphrodite (Venus). In connection with the legend of the goddess, there was a custom to draw or hang a white rose in the meeting rooms, as a reminder of the non-disclosure of the said information. It was also believed that roses weaken the effect of wine and therefore garlands of roses decorated feasts, festivities in honor of the god of winemaking Dionysus (Bacchus). The rose was called the gift of the gods. Wreaths of roses were decorated: statues of the gods during religious ceremonies, the bride during weddings. The custom of decorating the floor with rose petals, twisting columns of curly roses in the halls came to the ancient palace life from Ancient Egypt, from Queen Cleopatra, highlighted this flower more than others. In ancient Rome, rose gardens turned into huge plantations. Flowers from them were intended to decorate palace halls during feasts. In Rome, a religious theme was overshadowed by luxurious imperial greatness. It is interesting that in Rome, which constantly spreads its borders, a rose from a "female" flower turned into a "male" one. The soldiers, setting out on a campaign, put on pink wreaths instead of helmets, symbolizing morality and courage, and returning with victory, knocked out the image of a rose on shields. From roses weaved wreaths and garlands, received rose oil, incense and medicine. The banquet emperors needed so many roses, which were also delivered by ships from Egypt. Ironically, it is generally accepted that Nero's passion for roses contributed to the decline of Rome. After the fall of the Roman Empire, rose plantations were abandoned because Christianity first associated this flower with the licentiousness of Roman customs. In the Early Middle Ages, the main theme is the Christian religion and roses are located mainly in the monastery gardens, symbolizing divine love and mercy. Despite the huge number of civil wars, when the crops and gardens of neighbors were violently destroyed, the only place of peace and harmony remained the monastery gardens. They grew medicinal plants and flowers for religious ceremonies. During this period, the rose becomes an attribute of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ and various saints, symbolizing the church as a whole. More deeply, the symbolism of the rose was revealed in Catholic life, when the rosary and a special prayer behind them were called the "rose garden". Now the rose has become the personification of mercy, forgiveness, martyrdom and divine love. In the late Middle Ages, in the era of chivalry, roses became part of the "cult of the beautiful lady." Rose becomes a symbol of love of a nobleman to the wife of his heart. Courtesy was of a socially symbolic nature, described in the novel of the Rose. The lady, like a rose, symbolized mystery, magnificent beauty and temptation. Thus, in the Late Middle Ages, the secular principle manifests itself on a par with the religious vision of the world. And in the Renaissance, the religious and secular component are in balance. The theme of secular pleasures and entertainments was transferred further to the Renaissance gardens. In secular gardens at palaces, villas and castles, it symbolized love, beauty, grace and perfection. In this case, various secret societies appear that choose a rose as an emblem, as a symbol of eternity and mystery. And if the cross in the emblem of the Rosicrucians symbolized Christianity, then the rose symbolized a mystical secret hidden from prying eyes. In modern times, secular life comes to the fore, and with it new ways of communication, for example, in the language of flowers, in particular roses. In the XVII–XVIII centuries. gardening art is becoming secular; sesame, the language of flowers, comes from Europe to the East. White rose symbolized a sigh, pink –an oath of love, tea –a courtship, and bright red –admiration for beauty and passionate love [2]. In aristocratic circles, the creation of lush rose gardens is in fashion. Roses are actively planted in urban and suburban gardens. In modern times, rose gardens carry the idea of aesthetic relaxation and enjoyment. Many new varieties were obtained in the 19th century, during the period of numerous botanical breeding experiments. At this time, gardening ceased to be the property of the elite of society and became publicly available. In the XX–XXI centuries. rosaries, as before, are popular. Many of them are located on the territory of ancient villas, palaces and other structures, continuing the tradition.

The article analyzes the forms of rationalism and fideism proposed by Ukrainian Protestant theologians at the beginning of the XXI century. It turns out that these forms of rationalism and fideism were made possible by overcoming the anti-intellectualism that was characteristic of Protestantism in Soviet times. The opposition of tendencies to rationalism and fideism is connected with the positioning of Ukrainian Protestants in the postmodern times. Proponents of de facto rationalism propose to reconstruct the modern religious worldview, re-synthesizing elements of liberal and fundamentalist concepts. The study shows that hopes for the restoration of the modern worldview in the face of the challenges of the early XXI century contain elements of utopianism. Proponents of Fideism suggest taking full account of the real state of affairs in the postmodern era and recognizing the impossibility for Christians to use modern rationalism in all its forms. At the same time, faith acquires special significance as an expression of the personal relations of the holy people with God. Ukrainian Protestant rationalism in the article is analyzed on the example of the work of Sergei Golovin as the most consistent expression of this worldview. It has been proven that his ideas depend on the concepts of Norman Geisler, a prominent Protestant theologian. Golovin, imitating Geisler, believes that the Christian worldview should be the final superstructure over the foundation of classical logical rationalism and the ontology of being. This logic comes from classical Thomism. Golovin&#39;s rationalism is the rationalism of formal logic. Golovin's first controversial proposal is to reduce the paradoxes and contradictions contained in the Bible. Such a reduction contradicts the biblical studies of the beginning of the 21st century, and therefore can no longer be convincing for professional theologians. For ordinary believers, this reduction is an obscure rationalization of the image of God they have in reading the Scriptures. The second controversial proposition is to convert people first to logical rationality as the ideological foundation of humanity, and then to their conversion to Christianity. Such a proposal is largely outdated, because in the twentieth century it became clear that rationality in itself can be an instrument of any worldview and does not ensure the preservation or rehabilitation of humanity. By comparing it with theological practices of restoring humanity through the ethics of accepting another, the author argues that the restoration of humanity is possible through recourse to the potential of existentialist spirituality, theology of interpersonal communication, and other practical strategies of Christian theology. The biggest shortcoming of Sergei Golovin's rationalism is the proposal to build his own &quot;scientific creationism&quot;, which denies the basic scientific theories of today. The most successful element of Golovin's system was social ethics, which offers the idea of ​​a modern state governed by the rule of law as one that can be deduced from the spirit and letter of the biblical commandments. The fideism of Ukrainian Protestant theology is born from the understanding that the ethical acceptance of others and love for them is possible only on the basis of personal faith. The challenges of the beginning of the 21st century require the acceptance of another, but individuals and communities lack the natural strength to accept such. And only faith and faith-generated love help to be open to others. Also, the post-capitalist economy of mutual gift, proposed by theologians and Christian communities, is based only on personal faith. It has been proven that the fideism of Ukrainian Protestant theology is closer to the ideas of postconservatism than the concepts of postliberalism. It has been found that radical protection of individual rights and humane treatment of others is common to the rationalism and fideism of modern Ukrainian Protestant theology. It is these ideas that are important for understanding what humanity is, which should be a prerequisite for being a true Christian.

Zusammenfassung: In der bisherigen Forschung wurde die Lage der frühmittelalterlichen slawischen Gräberfelder im Bezug zu ihrem naturräumlichen Kontext, zu einer archäo lo gisch nachweisbaren Siedlung sowie zu einem Heiligtum untersucht. Eine derartige Untersuchungsweise erlaubt zwar, die Lage der Gräberfelder genau zu bestimmen und zu beschreiben, jedoch bleibt der Grund dieser Lokalisierung immer noch unbekannt. Die wenigen schriftlichen Quellen erlauben nicht, die ursprünglichen Gründe der Lokalisierung der Bestattungsplätze festzustellen. Trotz dieser unzureichenden Bestätigung in den zeitgenössischen Schriftquellen wird die Lage der slawischen Gräberfelder – besonders derjenigen, die vor der Christianisierung entstanden sind – mit den Bestattungssitten in Zusammenhang gebracht und durch die slawischen Jenseitsvorstellungen erklärt. Aufgrund der archäologischen Nachweise kann man feststellen, dass die slawischen Gräberfelder, sowohl vor als auch nach der Christianisierung, sich in gewisser Entfernung von der Siedlung, meist jenseits eines Wasserlaufes oder tiefer Geländesenken und oft an schwer zugäng lichen Geländeformationen, wie Anhöhen befinden. Eine derartige Lage kann kultische Konnotationen suggerieren. Betrachtet man jedoch den Bestattungsplatz ausschließlich als einen integralen Teil der Siedlungskammer, wird eine andere Interpretation dieses Phänomens möglich. Eine Analyse der Lage der slawischen Gräberfelder aus dem ost- und westslawischen Siedlungsgebiet, die mit Bezug auf die Bodeneigenschaften durchgeführt wurde, lässt erkennen, dass die slawischen Bestattungsplätze sich immer in schwer zugänglichen und wirtschaftlich unattraktiven Bereichen einer Siedlungskammer befinden. Man darf daher vermuten, dass für ein Gräberfeld solche Gebiete einer Siedlungskammer ausgewählt wurden, die entweder von schlechter Bodenqualität waren, oder sich durch eine ungünstige Lage in Bezug zur Siedlung und zu den Transportwegen auszeichneten, sich z. B. hinter einem Geländehindernis befanden. Besonders bemerkenswert ist auch die Tatsache, dass sich eine derartige Lage sowohl für die Gräberfelder mit Brand- als auch jene mit Körperbestattungen nachweisen lässt. Daher muss festgestellt werden, dass der mit dem Religionswandel verbundene Übergang vom Brand- zum Körperritus keine Änderungen der Lage der Gräberfelder verursachte, eine Verbindung zu traditionellen oder christlich beeinflussten Begräbnissitten kann daher ausgeschlossen werden. Die für die Platzwahl in der Forschung vermuteten kultischen Kriterien finden keine Bestätigung in den archäologischen und schriftlichen Quellen. Résumé: Les recherches antérieures ont tenu compte de la situation topographique qu’occupaient les nécropoles slaves du Haut Moyen-Âge par rapport à leur milieu naturel, ou en relation avec un habitat documenté archéologiquement, ou encore envers un sanctuaire, mais une telle approche – bien qu’elle permette d’établir et de décrire précisément l’emplacement d’une nécropole – laisse inexplorées les raisons qui ont mené au choix d’un site. Les rares sources écrites qui ont survécu ne permettent pas de mieux cerner quelles étaient les facteurs à l’origine du choix d’un site funéraire. Malgré les maigres indices que ces sources peuvent nous donner, le présent article tente d’examiner l’emplacement des nécropoles slaves – en particulier celles établies avant la conversion au Christianisme – par rapport aux rites funéraires pratiqués et de mieux comprendre comment les Slaves percevaient l’au-delà. Les données archéologiques indiquent que les nécropoles slaves, avant et après la Christianisation des régions slaves, se trouvaient à une certaine distance des lieux d’habitat, très souvent au-delà d’un cours d’eau ou d’une gorge, et fréquemment situées sur un terrain peu accessible, par exemple sur une hauteur ou au fond d’une dépression. Ces emplacements pourraient avoir des connotations religieuses. Mais si l’on considère les lieux de sépultures exclusivement comme faisant partie intégrale des zones d’habitat, une autre interprétation peut être avancée. L’analyse de la situation topographique des nécropoles slaves dans les zones occupées par les Slaves de l’est et de l’ouest, conduite en prenant en compte les caractéristiques du sol, indique que ces nécropoles étaient toujours situées dans des lieux peu accessibles et peu productifs du point de vue de l’exploitation de la zone d’habitat. On peut en déduire que de telles situations avaient été choisies à dessein, soit à cause de la mauvaise qualité du terrain, soit parce qu’elles étaient mal placées par rapport à l’habitat et aux voies de communication, par exemple derrière un obstacle dans le paysage. Notons que ceci fut le cas tout autant pour les nécropoles contenant des crémations que celles à inhumations. Il en ressort que la transition entre les rites de crémation et les pratiques d’inhumation qui accompagna le changement de religion n’a pas eu de reflet dans le choix de l’emplacement des nécropoles. Le choix du site n’a donc pas été influencé par la transformation des rites funéraires traditionnels et Chrétiens. Les données que nous présentons ici, basées sur la documentation archéologique et un examen des sources écrites, suggèrent que les éléments cultuels n’étaient pas un facteur déterminant dans l’emplacement des nécropoles. Abstract: Research to date has considered the location of Early Medieval Slavic cemeteries in relation to their natural environment, to archaeologically documented settlements, and to the presence of sanctuaries. While such approaches enable us to establish and describe accurately the situation of a given cemetery, they do not address why a specific site was chosen. The few written sources at our disposal do not allow us to fathom the reasons why particular sites were chosen as burial places. Despite this meagre documentary evidence, the present article attempts to relate the location of Slavic cemeteries – especially those that came into being before conversion to Christianity – to burial rites and hence try to explain the Slavs’ perception of the afterworld. The archaeological evidence indicates that Slavic cemeteries, both before and after conversion to Christianity, were located at a certain distance from settlements, most often beyond a water course or a gorge, and frequently in a landscape that was not easily accessible, such as high ground or hollows. Such locations seem to have cultic connotations. But if we consider the place of burial exclusively as forming an integral part of the settlement environment, then another interpretation of the phenomenon becomes possible. The analysis of the location of Slavic cemeteries from the western and eastern Slav regions conducted in relation to an examination of soil properties indicates thatthe Slavic burial grounds were always located on ground that was difficult to access and on land that was unsuitable for agriculture within a given settlement area. It can be inferred that cemetery sites were earmarked for each settlement area either because of the poor quality of the land or because access was unsuitable with respect to the settlement and to transport routes, for example a location behind an obstacle in the landscape. The fact that such locations applied to inhumation as well as to cremation cemeteries is particularly worth noting. Indeed the transition from cremation to inhumation, which was connected to a change in religious practices, did not affect the location of cemeteries, and hence that the position of burial grounds was not related to traditional or newly-introduced Christian burial rites. The observations made here, corroborated by both archaeological and written sources, suggest that cultic aspects did not influence the choice of a specific location for a cemetery.

Background. The problem of self-determination of an artist who apprehends oneself as a representative of a certain nation, but is forced to selfactualize in the cultural space of a multinational empire, remained relevant for a long period for the majority of representatives of the Polish creative intelligentsia. Among them, it is appropriate to recall, in first, Karol Szymanowski, whose creative development took place in a multicultural environment. The outstanding musician was feeling his involvement not only in the European tradition in general, but also in the Antique, Eastern, Polish, Russian, and, especially, Ukrainian culture, because his life for 36 years was related with Ukraine. The temporal distance that has formed between the eras, the changes in cultural paradigms that have now taken place, encourage us to rethink the approaches to the various cultural-creating activities of artists in past eras, to evaluate them from modern positions. If we consider multiculturalism in a positive sense – as a phenomenon of social life characterized by coexistence and active interaction within one society of many cultures, then the analysis of Szymanowski’s creative evolution in this context looks relevant for modern cultural figures. At the same time, in Ukraine, there has not yet been a steady interest of scientists in the work by K. Szymanowski, although certain steps are being taken in this direction: PhD theses by Anatolii Kalynychenko, Hanna Seredenko, Oleksandr Serdiuk, Dmitriy Poliachok have appeared that explore some aspects of the Polish artist’s creativity, taking into account modern methodological tools. An important function of stimulating interest in the creative figure of Szymanowski is performed, in particular, by the “Kropyvnytskyi Museum of Musical Culture named after K. Szymanowski” (headed by Olexandr Polyachok) that initiates various projects related to the popularization of Shimanovsky’s creative heritage, including holding scientific conferences and publishing. A significant contribution to the study of various aspects of the K. Szymanowski’s creative activity was made by Polish scientists, in particular, Malgorzata Komorowska, Zofia Helman, Teresa Chili&#324;ska, but their works are in a greater degree focused on the analysis of the musician’s creativity in the Polish cultural context. Objectives of the study. This article is destined to examine the creative personality of the Polish artist in a new problematic field. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the creative formation and growth of K. Szymanowski in the context of multiculturalism. The object of analysis is the creative activity of K. Szymanowski; the subject, on which the attention is focused, is the peculiarities of cultural and creative attitudes formation, the principles of artistic activity, the means of cultural communication of K. Szymanowski in the conditions of multiculturalism. Research results. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the identification of little-known facts of the creative biography of K. Szymanowski and their new interpretation, the formation of new ideas about the specifics of his creative approaches both in composing and literary work. The important role of self-education in his creative development, the ability for self-development, conscious cultural pluralism formed in the context of multicultural conditions, a tendency to innovate (for example, intense interest in new artistic and stylistic trends) are emphasized. Attention is drawn to the originality of Szymanowski’s relationships with various cultural environments, with which he was closely linked by fate. After all, his formation as a personality took place under the influence of several cultures, the features of which were intertwined, coexisting in the everyday life of his family estate in the Ukrainian village Timoshivka and Elisavetgrad, the city of his childhood and youth. The significant influence of regular visits to European cultural centers and travels to the countries of the Arab East on the formation of the cultural identity of the artist is also noted. The analysis of archival materials, in particular, comments in the margins of the pages of books from the family library, showed the enormous influence of literary texts on the composer’s cultural identity. Szymanowski carefully read, thought over and discussed with his close ones literary works, various works of philosophers and art historians. Szymanowski’s archives contain notes on the history of art of Ancient Greece in French, the history of the culture of Ancient Rome in German and Russian, extracts from the history of the origins of Christianity, the culture of Sicily and the life of King Roger II, notes from the letters by Seneca, Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli, works of Novalis, studies on oriental culture, etc. The composer was fascinated by the ideas of the synthesis of cultures (Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman, Byzantine, Arabic, Proto-Slavic), of religious syncretism in various forms (Christian modernism, paneroticism, etc.). Embodying his creative intentions, Szymanowski went through a fascination with a wide variety of aesthetic ideas. In the process of realizing artistic synthesis, along with the idea of cultural syncretism, signs of aesthetics of romanticism and impressionism, symbolism and modernism, expressionism and neo-folkloric trend often coexisted and intersected in his works. As a conclusion, we note: the creative formation and evolution of K. Szymanowski took place in multicultural conditions. Realizing himself a descendant of the Polish gentry family, he was at the same time a citizen of the Russian Empire and was formed as a person under the influence of many cultures, which were intricately intertwined in the space where the formation of his individuality took place, which, eventually, determined the multicultural profile of his artistic work. Szymanowski’s cultural positioning we propose to consider, to a certain extent, according to the formula: “one of our own among strangers, a stranger among our own”, because his creative searches, in which the polylogue of cultures acquired signs of multiculturalism, were not always perceived adequately by his contemporaries, especially in those cultural centers, where the traditional values of the national culture were considered priority. The artistic, aesthetic and cultural paradigms of the 21st century turn out to be largely consonant with those that determined the creative preferences of the Polish artist, which leads to the actualization of the creativity of the latter in the conditions of the dominance of the postmodern situation in the contemporary cultural space.

The research analyzes the ability of the economic assessment to promote local development. At this stage, we try to shed more light on the importance of this matter, proposing a study on the one hand can highlight the features and the most important aspects of the evaluation and the other is able to demonstrate the operational validity of the latter in promote local development. Local development becomes an important tool for the exploitation of resources of a territory , which takes an active role , offering more and more exploitable resources over time . Finally, it is exposed to the concept of " cultural system " as a model of spatial development can promote the economy of the area and the redevelopment and improvement of the overall livability of a given territory. The culture thus becomes an increasingly important role for the marketi ! ng land , in order to improve the quality of life and promote the attractiveness and competitiveness of the territory, in order to activate the factors necessary for its development . The second part is exposed to the project concerning the creation of the cultural system as a process of planning for the future development of the city. A project that involves many actors, especially citizens increasingly seen as behind the choices of a city more efficient. In the context of the current localization economies , in fact , cities are having to compete with each other in pursuit of a development in the long term through investment in the territory and citizens , as an impetus to innovation and research . The three assets to be followed in order to enhance the city will be the ones to make it more welcoming and attractive , with a strong relational identity , sustainable and innovative . Understand, then , as Reggio Calabria to respond to the characteristics of " cultural system " is the goal of this work. Understand what are the reasons that lead a reality, such as that in question, as if to better integrate , to make a place more innovative, both in terms of territorial and cultural , without losing sight of the centrality of the person, respect and protection of human dignity , freedom, and the promotion of interpersonal relationships. Not far away are the days when any attempt to associate the terms " culture " and "economy" - when not even irreverent - seemed no doubt risky. Yet the idea that culture can be an engine of growth for the economy of a country is today widely demonstrated and shared by the scientific community. This is a significant mutation of trend that is gradually shifting the meaning of the function and use of the cultural property - until recent years reduced to a conceptual category in which the assets were intended as a memory of a cultural identity and therefore a vehicle for education and training - towards a vision that has enriched the profile of a conservative approach much more dynamic and economically productive . If you add to this the picture that is emerging in the era of globalization of markets and which tends , paradoxically, to strengthen the role and significance of territory in its specificity and cultural identity , it is not difficult to imagine how any policy intervention in the sector cultural , if on the one hand can not be separated from the concept of preservation , another must necessarily be open to an interpretation of the territory as a resource , developing planning skills with a strong innovative content. It requires, in this context, the need to "system" and to understand the change as the result of multiple and highly coordinated actions . If the strategies adopted to date , especially in Italy , have failed to ensure a real and sustainable economic development is compatible because, in reality, have segmented the field and separate the processes of development of cultural heritage from the local context in which they gravitate [ 1 ] . The advantage of the cultural consumption of a resource may induce socialized through its reuse by means of enhancement and management is a goal that can be checked with the help of different disciplines. The enhancement projects are a particular case within the realm of architectural design , but the economic evaluation together with the estimation disciplines continues to be a substantial contribution to the development of design processes . It presupposes , in the case of conservation projects , the presence of value judgments Quantitative alongside qualitative judgments , most often related to the historical interpretation of existing artifacts and building complexes . The transition from the formal model , which refers to private assets in the current market environment, the model which refers to the Economy substantial public goods with coordinates outside the market , in effect, shifts the focus from consumer use of resources: assets whose value is tied to the exchange and to the prevalence of the logic of the market, but rather resources whose value depends on the use, directly and indirectly from the use and non-use . The fact that we consider public goods as an economic resource , even if not placed in a context of market rules, raises complex issues , which are not exhausted by simple considerations on the scheme owner of the goods . On the one hand , as I said before, because of the difficulties to attribute a value in the monetary sense , and second, for the different meanings of technical feasibility , economic and financial continue to be a key stage in the planning of interventions on public resources . The territory has always been considered an integral part of our lives, recognized as a place of personal identity , cultural and religious . The desire to tradition, the rediscovery of ancient crafts and the production of typical signs are evident that without a strong local roots there is no significant experience in personal and social life . Among the main human needs is precisely the discovery of the territory, the sense of belonging to someone, even before something. The human being is always looking for a place that satisfies both environmentally and culturally, without which it would live dispersed. Precisely for this reason, in every historical moment has expressed a willingness to change the place where he lived apportandone valid media changes and trying to make it better and appropriate to meet his needs . In an increasingly globalized society , however , many regions are competing with each other and then it is even more difficult to enhance and encourage entrepreneurship in an area, and that is why we need rules and tools , able to promote the product area, also through a communication that is capable of enhancing the development potential and the socio-economic and environmental issues, whilst promoting local entrepreneurship . The territories , in fact, have to fit in the global market , using a fast market and explanatory , communicating the wealth of an area, its entrepreneurial vocations , the location opportunities , business opportunities . These are the tools that support the creation of local businesses and attracting capital from outside the territory , allow you to stimulate economic development . Through the challenges of globalization has been given a new role in the region , from a competition between economic actors in a competition between local systems. The territory is rediscovered as a complex system, hidden in a highly competitive global dimension : in this step to adopt a strategy of cultural system is critical to the necessity of dealing with homogeneous systems . A strategy that is able to exploit the opportunities offered by new communications technologies and extend business opportunities. This work is divided into two parts: the first part will present the concept of cultural and conceptual tools of economic evaluation applied to the product area. In particular, it analyzes the ability of this discipline to promote local development. At this stage, we try to shed more light on the importance of this matter, proposing a study on the one hand can highlight the features and the most important aspects of the evaluation and the other is able to demonstrate the operational validity of the latter in promote local development. The local development , in fact, becomes an important tool for the exploitation of resources of a territory , which takes an active role , offering more and more exploitable resources over time . Finally, it is exposed to the concept of " cultural system " as a model of spatial development can promote the economy of the area and the redevelopment and improvement of the overall livability of a given territory. The pattern of the district, in fact, is a reality for a long time active and dynamic in the industrial sector which today begins to be considered a great potential in the field of culture and urban development. The culture thus becomes an increasingly important role for territorial marketing in order to improve the quality of life and promote the attractiveness and competitiveness of the territory, in order to activate the factors necessary for its development . Concepts such as empowerment , innovation and creativity are , today , conditions that characterize the social, institutional , environmental and demographic constraints to economic growth of the post-industrialized countries . The Cultural District Evolved is based precisely on this assumption , for which this model aspires to become an important development trend in America, Europe and Italy . An example of a city that has been able to use culture as supporting its growth is Linz , a country capable of putting together a social progress , cultural and economic , as to be rated as one of the best achievements of the cultural district . The second part is exposed to the project concerning the creation of the cultural system as a process of planning for the future development of the city. A project that involves many actors, especially citizens increasingly seen as behind the choices of a city more efficient. In the context of the current localization economies , in fact , cities are having to compete with each other in pursuit of a development in the long term through investment in the territory and citizens , as an impetus to innovation and research . The three assets to be followed in order to enhance the city will be the ones to make it more welcoming and attractive , with a strong relational identity , sustainable and innovative . Understand, then , as Reggio Calabria to respond to the characteristics of " cultural system " is the goal of this work. Understand what are the reasons that lead a reality, such as that in question, as if to better integrate , to make a place more innovative, both in terms of territorial and cultural , without losing sight of the centrality of the person, respect and protection of human dignity , freedom, and the promotion of interpersonal relationships.

This research examines white evangelical Christian women's social/religious identity and how this distinctiveness influences their political standpoints, voting behaviors, and opinions of perceived out-groups, including news outlets. While appreciating that numerous theoretical aspects are at play in this multifarious subject matter, an analysis of social/religious identity can provide focal insight and understanding when deliberating Christianity, politics, gender, and the media in reference to the nature of evangelical Christian women's support of Donald J. Trump as the United States President as well as their cynicism of most news outlets. This qualitative study employed focus groups and semi-structured in-depth interviews with evangelical Christian women and examined their responses through the lens of critical discourse analysis and social identity. The participants in this study consider their religious identity a vital aspect of their character; it motivates their viewpoints in numerous aspects of their lives, including individual motivations, group stimuli and political impulses. Consequently, how they construct their religious identity, and how and why they react uncompromisingly to out-group threats is a focal element for this exploration.

In the era of Society 5.0, the role of communication technology was further enhanced so that it made it easier for humans in various aspects, such as economic, social, cultural, educational, health, business, and so on. However, the sophistication of information and communication technology causes interpersonal to interact less rarely face to face and face to face because it is more comfortable interacting through cyberspace through social media. This research was conducted to illustrate how social communication from understanding anxiety in the digital age. In conducting interactions, each individual can experience communication fears where individuals tend to experience anxiety because too much information is received. The group can be one of the very positive spheres of communication. The object of this research is Basmala members, who have various backgrounds as members of Islamic spiritual groups who uphold religious values. This research uses a qualitative research method with an ethnomethodology type that looks at how the disclosure of reality in people's lives and how individuals receive, learn, apply information provided in the community. Basmala is an Islamic spiritual organization whose members are students. As a religious organization where the culture and activities of the organization also have characteristics that can lead to the basic rules of religion that are expected to familiarize its members to deal with differences in the communication process to overcome the causes of communication apprehension

In its preamble, The Western Australian Charter of Multiculturalism (WA) commits the state to becoming: “A society in which respect for mutual difference is accompanied by equality of opportunity within a framework of democratic citizenship”. One of the principles of multiculturalism, as enunciated in the Charter, is “equality of opportunity for all members of society to achieve their full potential in a free and democratic society where every individual is equal before and under the law”. An important element of this principle is the “equality of opportunity … to achieve … full potential”. The implication here is that those who start from a position of disadvantage when it comes to achieving that potential deserve more than ‘equal’ treatment. Implicitly, equality can be achieved only through the recognition of and response to differential needs and according to the likelihood of achieving full potential. This is encapsulated in Kymlicka’s argument that neutrality is “hopelessly inadequate once we look at the diversity of cultural membership which exists in contemporary liberal democracies” (903). Yet such a potential commitment to differential support might seem unequal to some, where equality is constructed as the same or equal treatment regardless of differing circumstances. Until the past half-century or more, this problematic has been a hotly-contested element of the struggle for Civil Rights for African-Americans in the United States, especially as these rights related to educational opportunity during the years of racial segregation. For some, providing resources to achieve equal outcomes (rather than be committed to equal inputs) may appear to undermine the very ethos of liberal democracy. In Australia, this perspective has been the central argument of Pauline Hanson and her supporters who denounce programs designed as measures to achieve equality for specific disadvantaged groups; including Indigenous Australians and humanitarian refugees. Nevertheless, equality for all on all grounds of legally-accepted difference: gender, race, age, family status, sexual orientation, political conviction, to name a few; is often held as the hallmark of progressive liberal societies such as Australia. In the matter of religious freedoms the situation seems much less complex. All that is required for religious equality, it seems, is to define religion as a private matter – carried out, as it were, between consenting parties away from the public sphere. This necessitates, effectively, the separation of state and religion. This separation of religious belief from the apparatus of the state is referred to as ‘secularism’ and it tends to be regarded as a cornerstone of a liberal democracy, given the general assumption that secularism is a necessary precursor to equal treatment of and respect for different religious beliefs, and the association of secularism with the Western project of the Enlightenment when liberty, equality and science replaced religion and superstition. By this token, western nations committed to equality are also committed to being liberal, democratic and secular in nature; and it is a matter of state indifference as to which religious faith a citizen embraces – Wiccan, Christian, Judaism, etc – if any. Historically, and arguably more so in the past decade, the terms ‘democratic’, ‘secular’, ‘liberal’ and ‘equal’ have all been used to inscribe characteristics of the collective ‘West’. Individuals and states whom the West ascribe as ‘other’ are therefore either or all of: not democratic; not liberal; or not secular – and failing any one of these characteristics (for any country other than Britain, with its parliamentary-established Church of England, headed by the Queen as Supreme Governor) means that that country certainly does not espouse equality. The West and the ‘Other’ in Popular Discourse The constructed polarisation between the free, secular and democratic West that values equality; and the oppressive ‘other’ that perpetuates theocracies, religious discrimination and – at the ultimate – human rights abuses, is a common theme in much of the West’s media and popular discourse on Islam. The same themes are also applied in some measure to Muslims in Australia, in particular to constructions of the rights of Muslim women in Australia. Typically, Muslim women’s dress is deemed by some secular Australians to be a symbol of religious subjugation, rather than of free choice. Arguably, this polemic has come to the fore since the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001. However, as Aly and Walker note, the comparisons between the West and the ‘other’ are historically constructed and inherited (Said) and have tended latterly to focus western attention on the role and status of Muslim women as evidence of the West’s progression comparative to its antithesis, Eastern oppression. An examination of studies of the United States media coverage of the September 11 attacks, and the ensuing ‘war on terror’, reveals some common media constructions around good versus evil. There is no equal status between these. Good must necessarily triumph. In the media coverage, the evil ‘other’ is Islamic terrorism, personified by Osama bin Laden. Part of the justification for the war on terror is a perception that the West, as a force for good in this world, must battle evil and protect freedom and democracy (Erjavec and Volcic): to do otherwise is to allow the terror of the ‘other’ to seep into western lives. The war on terror becomes the defence of the west, and hence the defence of equality and freedom. A commitment to equality entails a defeat of all things constructed as denying the rights of people to be equal. Hutcheson, Domke, Billeaudeaux and Garland analysed the range of discourses evident in Time and Newsweek magazines in the five weeks following September 11 and found that journalists replicated themes of national identity present in the communication strategies of US leaders and elites. The political and media response to the threat of the evil ‘other’ is to create a monolithic appeal to liberal values which are constructed as being a monopoly of the ‘free’ West. A brief look at just a few instances of public communication by US political leaders confirms Hutcheson et al.’s contention that the official construction of the 2001 attacks invoked discourses of good and evil reminiscent of the Cold War. In reference to the actions of the four teams of plane hijackers, US president George W Bush opened his Address to the Nation on the evening of September 11: “Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts” (“Statement by the President in His Address to the Nation”). After enjoining Americans to recite Psalm 23 in prayer for the victims and their families, President Bush ended his address with a clear message of national unity and a further reference to the battle between good and evil: “This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world” (“Statement by the President in His Address to the Nation”). In his address to the joint houses of Congress shortly after September 11, President Bush implicated not just the United States in this fight against evil, but the entire international community stating: “This is the world’s fight. This is civilisation’s fight” (cited by Brown 295). Addressing the California Business Association a month later, in October 2001, Bush reiterated the notion of the United States as the leading nation in the moral fight against evil, and identified this as a possible reason for the attack: “This great state is known for its diversity – people of all races, all religions, and all nationalities. They’ve come here to live a better life, to find freedom, to live in peace and security, with tolerance and with justice. When the terrorists attacked America, this is what they attacked”. While the US media framed the events of September 11 as an attack on the values of democracy and liberalism as these are embodied in US democratic traditions, work by scholars analysing the Australian media’s representation of the attacks suggested that this perspective was echoed and internationalised for an Australian audience. Green asserts that global media coverage of the attacks positioned the global audience, including Australians, as ‘American’. The localisation of the discourses of patriotism and national identity for Australian audiences has mainly been attributed to the media’s use of the good versus evil frame that constructed the West as good, virtuous and moral and invited Australian audiences to subscribe to this argument as members of a shared Western democratic identity (Osuri and Banerjee). Further, where the ‘we’ are defenders of justice, equality and the rule of law; the opposing ‘others’ are necessarily barbaric. Secularism and the Muslim Diaspora Secularism is a historically laden term that has been harnessed to symbolise the emancipation of social life from the forced imposition of religious doctrine. The struggle between the essentially voluntary and private demands of religion, and the enjoyment of a public social life distinct from religious obligations, is historically entrenched in the cultural identities of many modern Western societies (Dallmayr). The concept of religious freedom in the West has evolved into a principle based on the bifurcation of life into the objective public sphere and the subjective private sphere within which individuals are free to practice their religion of choice (Yousif), or no religion at all. Secularism, then, is contingent on the maintenance of a separation between the public (religion-free) and the private or non- public (which may include religion). The debate regarding the feasibility or lack thereof of maintaining this separation has been a matter of concern for democratic theorists for some time, and has been made somewhat more complicated with the growing presence of religious diasporas in liberal democratic states (Charney). In fact, secularism is often cited as a precondition for the existence of religious pluralism. By removing religion from the public domain of the state, religious freedom, in so far as it constitutes the ability of an individual to freely choose which religion, if any, to practice, is deemed to be ensured. However, as Yousif notes, the Western conception of religious freedom is based on a narrow notion of religion as a personal matter, possibly a private emotional response to the idea of God, separate from the rational aspects of life which reside in the public domain. Arguably, religion is conceived of as recognising (or creating) a supernatural dimension to life that involves faith and belief, and the suspension of rational thought. This Western notion of religion as separate from the state, dividing the private from the public sphere, is constructed as a necessary basis for the liberal democratic commitment to secularism, and the notional equality of all religions, or none. Rawls questioned how people with conflicting political views and ideologies can freely endorse a common political regime in secular nations. The answer, he posits, lies in the conception of justice as a mechanism to regulate society independently of plural (and often opposing) religious or political conceptions. Thus, secularism can be constructed as an indicator of pluralism and justice; and political reason becomes the “common currency of debate in a pluralist society” (Charney 7). A corollary of this is that religious minorities must learn to use the language of political reason to represent and articulate their views and opinions in the public context, especially when talking with non-religious others. This imposes a need for religious minorities to support their views and opinions with political reason that appeals to the community at large as citizens, and not just to members of the minority religion concerned. The common ground becomes one of secularism, in which all speakers are deemed to be indifferent as to the (private) claims of religion upon believers. Minority religious groups, such as fundamentalist Mormons, invoke secular language of moral tolerance and civil rights to be acknowledged by the state, and to carry out their door-to-door ‘information’ evangelisation/campaigns. Right wing fundamentalist Christian groups and Catholics opposed to abortion couch their views in terms of an extension of the secular right to life, and in terms of the human rights and civil liberties of the yet-to-be-born. In doing this, these religious groups express an acceptance of the plurality of the liberal state and engage in debates in the public sphere through the language of political values and political principles of the liberal democratic state. The same principles do not apply within their own associations and communities where the language of the private religious realm prevails, and indeed is expected. This embracing of a political rhetoric for discussions of religion in the public sphere presents a dilemma for the Muslim diaspora in liberal democratic states. For many Muslims, religion is a complete way of life, incapable of compartmentalisation. The narrow Western concept of religious expression as a private matter is somewhat alien to Muslims who are either unable or unwilling to separate their religious needs from their needs as citizens of the nation state. Problems become apparent when religious needs challenge what seems to be publicly acceptable, and conflicts occur between what the state perceives to be matters of rational state interest and what Muslims perceive to be matters of religious identity. Muslim women’s groups in Western Australia for example have for some years discussed the desirability of a Sharia divorce court which would enable Muslims to obtain divorces according to Islamic law. It should be noted here that not all Muslims agree with the need for such a court and many – probably a majority – are satisfied with the existing processes that allow Muslim men and women to obtain a divorce through the Australian family court. For some Muslims however, this secular process does not satisfy their religious needs and it is perceived as having an adverse impact on their ability to adhere to their faith. A similar situation pertains to divorced Catholics who, according to a strict interpretation of their doctrine, are unable to take the Eucharist if they form a subsequent relationship (even if married according to the state), unless their prior marriage has been annulled by the Catholic Church or their previous partner has died. Whereas divorce is considered by the state as a public and legal concern, for some Muslims and others it is undeniably a religious matter. The suggestion by the Anglican Communion’s Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, that the adoption of certain aspects of Sharia law regarding marital disputes or financial matters is ultimately unavoidable, sparked controversy in Britain and in Australia. Attempts by some Australian Muslim scholars to elaborate on Dr Williams’s suggestions, such as an article by Anisa Buckley in The Herald Sun (Buckley), drew responses that, typically, called for Muslims to ‘go home’. A common theme in these responses is that proponents of Sharia law (and Islam in general) do not share a commitment to the Australian values of freedom and equality. The following excerpts from the online pages of Herald Sun Readers’ Comments (Herald Sun) demonstrate this perception: “These people come to Australia for freedoms they have never experienced before and to escape repression which is generally brought about by such ‘laws’ as Sharia! How very dare they even think that this would be an option. Go home if you want such a regime. Such an insult to want to come over to this country on our very goodwill and our humanity and want to change our systems and ways. Simply, No!” Posted 1:58am February 12, 2008 “Under our English derived common law statutes, the law is supposed to protect an individual’s rights to life, liberty and property. That is the basis of democracy in Australia and most other western nations. Sharia law does not adequately share these philosophies and principles, thus it is incompatible with our system of law.” Posted 12:55am February 11, 2008 “Incorporating religious laws in the secular legal system is just plain wrong. No fundamentalist religion (Islam in particular) is compatible with a liberal-democracy.” Posted 2:23pm February 10, 2008 “It should not be allowed in Australia the Muslims come her for a better life and we give them that opportunity but they still believe in covering them selfs why do they even come to Australia for when they don’t follow owe [our] rules but if we went to there [their] country we have to cover owe selfs [sic]” Posted 11:28am February 10, 2008 Conflicts similar to this one – over any overt or non-private religious practice in Australia – may also be observed in public debates concerning the wearing of traditional Islamic dress; the slaughter of animals for consumption; Islamic burial rites, and other religious practices which cannot be confined to the private realm. Such conflicts highlight the inability of the rational liberal approach to solve all controversies arising from religious traditions that enjoin a broader world view than merely private spirituality. In order to adhere to the liberal reduction of religion to the private sphere, Muslims in the West must negotiate some religious practices that are constructed as being at odds with the rational state and practice a form of Islam that is consistent with secularism. At the extreme, this Western-acceptable form is what the Australian government has termed ‘moderate Islam’. The implication here is that, for the state, ‘non-moderate Islam’ – Islam that pervades the public realm – is just a descriptor away from ‘extreme’. The divide between Christianity and Islam has been historically played out in European Christendom as a refusal to recognise Islam as a world religion, preferring instead to classify it according to race or ethnicity: a Moorish tendency, perhaps. The secular state prefers to engage with Muslims as an ethnic, linguistic or cultural group or groups (Yousif). Thus, in order to engage with the state as political citizens, Muslims must find ways to present their needs that meet the expectations of the state – ways that do not use their religious identity as a frame of reference. They can do this by utilizing the language of political reason in the public domain or by framing their needs, views and opinions exclusively in terms of their ethnic or cultural identity with no reference to their shared faith. Neither option is ideal, or indeed even viable. This is partly because many Muslims find it difficult if not impossible to separate their religious needs from their needs as political citizens; and also because the prevailing perception of Muslims in the media and public arena is constructed on the basis of an understanding of Islam as a religion that conflicts with the values of liberal democracy. In the media and public arena, little consideration is given to the vast differences that exist among Muslims in Australia, not only in terms of ethnicity and culture, but also in terms of practice and doctrine (Shia or Sunni). The dominant construction of Muslims in the Australian popular media is of religious purists committed to annihilating liberal, secular governments and replacing them with anti-modernist theocratic regimes (Brasted). It becomes a talking point for some, for example, to realise that there are international campaigns to recognise Gay Muslims’ rights within their faith (ABC) (in the same way that there are campaigns to recognise Gay Christians as full members of their churches and denominations and equally able to hold high office, as followers of the Anglican Communion will appreciate). Secularism, Preference and Equality Modood asserts that the extent to which a minority religious community can fully participate in the public and political life of the secular nation state is contingent on the extent to which religion is the primary marker of identity. “It may well be the case therefore that if a faith is the primary identity of any community then that community cannot fully identify with and participate in a polity to the extent that it privileges a rival faith. Or privileges secularism” (60). Modood is not saying here that Islam has to be privileged in order for Muslims to participate fully in the polity; but that no other religion, nor secularism, should be so privileged. None should be first, or last, among equals. For such a situation to occur, Islam would have to be equally acceptable both with other religions and with secularism. Following a 2006 address by the former treasurer (and self-avowed Christian) Peter Costello to the Sydney Institute, in which Costello suggested that people who feel a dual claim from both Islamic law and Australian law should be stripped of their citizenship (Costello), the former Prime Minister, John Howard, affirmed what he considers to be Australia’s primary identity when he stated that ‘Australia’s core set of values flowed from its Anglo Saxon identity’ and that any one who did not embrace those values should not be allowed into the country (Humphries). The (then) Prime Minister’s statement is an unequivocal assertion of the privileged position of the Anglo Saxon tradition in Australia, a tradition with which many Muslims and others in Australia find it difficult to identify. Conclusion Religious identity is increasingly becoming the identity of choice for Muslims in Australia, partly because it is perceived that their faith is under attack and that it needs defending (Aly). They construct the defence of their faith as a choice and an obligation; but also as a right that they have under Australian law as equal citizens in a secular state (Aly and Green). Australian Muslims who have no difficulty in reconciling their core Australianness with their deep faith take it as a responsibility to live their lives in ways that model the reconciliation of each identity – civil and religious – with the other. In this respect, the political call to Australian Muslims to embrace a ‘moderate Islam’, where this is seen as an Islam without a public or political dimension, is constructed as treating their faith as less than equal. Religious identity is generally deemed to have no place in the liberal democratic model, particularly where that religion is constructed to be at odds with the principles and values of liberal democracy, namely tolerance and adherence to the rule of law. Indeed, it is as if the national commitment to secularism rules as out-of-bounds any identity that is grounded in religion, giving precedence instead to accepting and negotiating cultural and ethnic differences. Religion becomes a taboo topic in these terms, an affront against secularism and the values of the Enlightenment that include liberty and equality. In these circumstances, it is not the case that all religions are equally ignored in a secular framework. What is the case is that the secular framework has been constructed as a way of ‘privatising’ one religion, Christianity; leaving others – including Islam – as having nowhere to go. Islam thus becomes constructed as less than equal since it appears that, unlike Christians, Muslims are not willing to play the secular game. In fact, Muslims are puzzling over how they can play the secular game, and why they should play the secular game, given that – as is the case with Christians – they see no contradiction in performing ‘good Muslim’ and ‘good Australian’, if given an equal chance to embrace both. Acknowledgements This paper is based on the findings of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, 2005-7, involving 10 focus groups and 60 in-depth interviews. The authors wish to acknowledge the participation and contributions of WA community members. References ABC. “A Jihad for Love.” Life Matters (Radio National), 21 Feb. 2008. 11 March 2008. < http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/stories/2008/2167874.htm >.Aly, Anne. “Australian Muslim Responses to the Discourse on Terrorism in the Australian Popular Media.” Australian Journal of Social Issues 42.1 (2007): 27-40.Aly, Anne, and Lelia Green. “‘Moderate Islam’: Defining the Good Citizen.” M/C Journal 10.6/11.1 (2008). 13 April 2008 < http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0804/08aly-green.php >.Aly, Anne, and David Walker. “Veiled Threats: Recurrent Anxieties in Australia.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 27.2 (2007): 203-14.Brasted, Howard.V. “Contested Representations in Historical Perspective: Images of Islam and the Australian Press 1950-2000.” Muslim Communities in Australia. Eds. Abdullah Saeed and Akbarzadeh, Shahram. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2001. 206-28.Brown, Chris. “Narratives of Religion, Civilization and Modernity.” Worlds in Collision: Terror and the Future of Global Order. Eds. Ken Booth and Tim Dunne. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 293-324. Buckley, Anisa. “Should We Allow Sharia Law?” Sunday Herald Sun 10 Feb. 2008. 8 March 2008 < http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,231869735000117,00.html >.Bush, George. W. “President Outlines War Effort: Remarks by the President at the California Business Association Breakfast.” California Business Association 2001. 17 April 2007 < http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011017-15.html >.———. “Statement by the President in His Address to the Nation”. Washington, 2001. 17 April 2007 < http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010911-16.html >.Charney, Evan. “Political Liberalism, Deliberative Democracy, and the Public Sphere.” The American Political Science Review 92.1 (1998): 97- 111.Costello, Peter. “Worth Promoting, Worth Defending: Australian Citizenship, What It Means and How to Nurture It.” Address to the Sydney Institute, 23 February 2006. 24 Apr. 2008 < http://www.treasurer.gov.au/DisplayDocs.aspx?doc=speeches/2006/004.htm &pageID=05&min=phc&Year=2006&DocType=1 >.Dallmayr, Fred. “Rethinking Secularism.” The Review of Politics 61.4 (1999): 715-36.Erjavec, Karmen, and Zala Volcic. “‘War on Terrorism’ as Discursive Battleground: Serbian Recontextualisation of G. W. Bush’s Discourse.” Discourse and Society 18 (2007): 123- 37.Green, Lelia. “Did the World Really Change on 9/11?” Australian Journal of Communication 29.2 (2002): 1-14.Herald Sun. “Readers’ Comments: Should We Allow Sharia Law?” Herald Sun Online Feb. 2008. 8 March 2008. < http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/comments/0,22023,23186973-5000117,00.html >.Humphries, David. “Live Here, Be Australian.” The Sydney Morning Herald 25 Feb. 2006, 1 ed.Hutcheson, John S., David Domke, Andre Billeaudeaux, and Philip Garland. “U.S. National Identity, Political Elites, and Patriotic Press Following September 11.” Political Communication 21.1 (2004): 27-50.Kymlicka, Will. “Liberal Individualism and Liberal Neutrality.” Ethics 99.4 (1989): 883-905.Modood, Tariq. “Establishment, Multiculturalism and British Citizenship.” The Political Quarterly (1994): 53-74.Osuri, Goldie, and Subhabrata B. Banerjee. “White Diasporas: Media Representations of September 11 and the Unbearable Whiteness of Being in Australia.” Social Semiotics 14.2 (2004): 151- 71.Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1971.Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books 1978.Western Australian Charter of Multiculturalism. WA: Government of Western Australia, Nov. 2004. 11 March 2008 < http://www.equalopportunity.wa.gov.au/pdf/wa_charter_multiculturalism.pdf >.Yousif, Ahmad. “Islam, Minorities and Religious Freedom: A Challenge to Modern Theory of Pluralism.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 20.1 (2000): 30-43.

Introduction The decline of marriage in the West has been extensively researched over the last three decades (Carmichael and Whittaker; de Vaus; Coontz; Beck-Gernshein). Indeed, it was fears that the institution would be further eroded by the legalisation of same sex unions internationally that provided the impetus for the Australian government to amend the Marriage Act (1961). These amendments in 2004 sought to strengthen marriage by explicitly defining, for the first time, marriage as a legal partnership between one man and one woman. The subsequent heated debates over the discriminatory nature of this definition have been illuminating, particularly in the way they have highlighted the ongoing social significance of marriage, even at a time it is seen to be in decline. Demographic research about partnering practices (Carmichael and Whittaker; Simons; Parker; Penman) indicates that contemporary marriages are more temporary, fragile and uncertain than in previous generations. Modern marriages are now less about a permanent and “inescapable” union between a dominant man and a submissive female for the purposes of authorised sex, legal progeny and financial security, and more about a commitment between two social equals for the mutual exchange of affection and companionship (Croome). Less research is available, however, about how couples themselves reconcile the inherited constructions of romantic love as selfless and unending, with trends that clearly indicate that romantic love is not forever, ideal or exclusive. Civil marriage ceremonies provide one source of data about representations of love. Civil unions constituted almost 70 per cent of all marriages in Australia in 2010, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The civil marriage ceremony has both a legal and symbolic role. It is a legal contract insofar as it prescribes a legal arrangement with certain rights and responsibilities between two consenting adults and outlines an expectation that marriage is voluntarily entered into for life. The ceremony is also a public ritual that requires couples to take what are usually private feelings for each other and turn them into a public performance as a way of legitimating their relationship. Consistent with the conventions of performance, couples generally customise the rest of the ceremony by telling the story of their courtship, and in so doing they often draw upon the language and imagery of the Western Romantic tradition to convey the personal meaning and social significance of their decision. This paper explores how couples construct the idea of love in their relationship, first by examining the western history of romantic love and then by looking at how this discourse is invoked by Australians in the course of developing civil marriage ceremonies in collaboration with the author. A History of Romantic Love There are many definitions of romantic love, but all share similar elements including an intense emotional and physical attraction, an idealisation of each other, and a desire for an enduring and unending commitment that can overcome all obstacles (Gottschall and Nordlund; Janowiak and Fischer). Romantic love has historically been associated with heightened passions and intense almost irrational or adolescent feelings. Charles Lindholm’s list of clichés that accompany the idea of romantic love include: “love is blind, love overwhelms, a life without love is not worth living, marriage should be for love alone and anything less is worthless and a sham” (5). These elements, which invoke love as sacred, unending and unique, perpetuate past cultural associations of the term. Romantic love was first documented in Ancient Rome where intense feelings were seen as highly suspect and a threat to the stability of the family, which was the primary economic, social and political unit. Roman historian Plutarch viewed romantic love based upon strong personal attraction as disruptive to the family, and he expressed a fear that romantic love would become the norm for Romans (Lantz 352). During the Middle Ages romantic love emerged as courtly love and, once again, the conventions that shaped its expression grew out of an effort to control excessive emotions and sublimate sexual desire, which were seen as threats to social stability. Courtly love, according to Marilyn Yalom, was seen as an “irresistible and inexhaustible passion; a fatal love that overcomes suffering and even death” (66). Feudal social structures had grounded marriage in property, while the Catholic Church had declared marriage a sacrament and a ceremony through which God’s grace could be obtained. In this context courtly love emerged as a way of dealing with the conflict between the individual and family choices over the martial partner. Courtly love is about a pure ideal of love in which the knight serves his unattainable lady, and, by carrying out feats in her honour, reaches spiritual perfection. The focus on the aesthetic ideal was a way to fulfil male and female emotional needs outside of marriage, while avoiding adultery. Romantic love re-appeared again in the mid-eighteenth century, but this time it was associated with marriage. Intellectuals and writers led the trend normalising romantic love in marriage as a reaction to the Enlightenment’s valorisation of reason, science and materialism over emotion. Romantics objected to the pragmatism and functionality induced by industrialisation, which they felt destroyed the idea of the mysterious and transcendental nature of love, which could operate as a form of secular salvation. Love could not be bought or sold, argued the Romantics, “it is mysterious, true and deep, spontaneous and compelling” (Lindholm 5). Romantic love also emerged as an expression of the personal autonomy and individualisation that accompanied the rise of industrial society. As Lanz suggests, romantic love was part of the critical reflexivity of the Enlightenment and a growing belief that individuals could find self actualisation through the expression and expansion of their “emotional and intellectual capacities in union with another” (354). Thus it was romantic love, which privileges the feelings and wishes of an individual in mate selection, that came to be seen as a bid for freedom by the offspring of the growing middle classes coerced into marriage for financial or property reasons. Throughout the 19th century romantic love was seen as a solution to the dehumanising forces of industrialisation and urbanisation. The growth of the competitive workplace—which required men to operate in a restrained and rational manner—saw an increase in the search for emotional support and intimacy within the domestic domain. It has been argued that “love was the central preoccupation of middle class men from the 1830s until the end of the 19th century” (Stearns and Knapp 771). However, the idealisation of the aesthetic and purity of love impacted marriage relations by casting the wife as pure and marital sex as a duty. As a result, husbands pursued sexual and romantic relationships outside marriage. It should be noted that even though love became cemented as the basis for marriage in the 19th century, romantic love was still viewed suspiciously by religious groups who saw strong affection between couples as an erosion of the fundamental role of the husband in disciplining his wife. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries romantic love was further impacted by urbanisation and migration, which undermined the emotional support provided by extended families. According to Stephanie Coontz, it was the growing independence and mobility of couples that saw romantic love in marriage consolidated as the place in which an individual’s emotional and social needs could be fully satisfied. Coontz says that the idea that women could only be fulfilled through marriage, and that men needed women to organise their social life, reached its heights in the 1950s (25-30). Changes occurred to the structure of marriage in the 1960s when control over fertility meant that sex was available outside of marriage. Education, equality and feminism also saw women reject marriage as their only option for fulfilment. Changes to Family Law Acts in western jurisdictions in the 1970s provided for no-fault divorce, and as divorce lost its stigma it became acceptable for women to leave failing marriages. These social shifts removed institutional controls on marriage and uncoupled the original sexual, emotional and financial benefits packaged into marriage. The resulting individualisation of personal lifestyle choices for men and women disrupted romantic conventions, and according to James Dowd romantic love came to be seen as an “investment” in the “future” that must be “approached carefully and rationally” (552). It therefore became increasingly difficult to sustain the idea of love as a powerful, mysterious and divine force beyond reason. Methodology In seeking to understand how contemporary partnering practices are reconstituting romantic love, I draw upon anecdotal data gathered over a nine-year period from my experiences as a marriage celebrant. In the course of personalising marriage ceremonies, I pose a series of questions designed to assist couples to explain the significance of their relationship. I generally ask brides and grooms why they love their fiancé, why they want to legalise their relationship, what they most treasure about their partner, and how their lives have been changed by their relationship. These questions help couples to reflexively interrogate their own relationship, and by talking about their commitment in concrete terms, they produce the images and descriptions that can be used to describe for guests the internal motivations and sentiments that have led to their decision to marry. I have had couples, when prompted to explain how they know the other person loves them say, in effect: “I know that he loves me because he brings me a cup of coffee every morning” or “I know that she loves me because she takes care of me so well.” These responses are grounded in a realism that helps to convey a sense of sincerity and authenticity about the relationship to the couple’s guests. This realism also helps to address the cynicism about the plausibility of enduring love. The brides and grooms in this sample of 300 couples were a socially, culturally and economically diverse group, and they provided a wide variety of responses ranging from deeply nuanced insights into the nature of their relationship, to admissions that their feelings were so private and deeply felt that words were insufficient to convey their significance. Reoccurring themes, however, emerged across the cases, and it is evident that even as marriage partnerships may be entered into for a variety of reasons, romantic love remains the mechanism by which couples talk of their feelings for each other. Australian Love and Marriage Australians' attitudes to romantic love and marriage have, understandably, been shaped by western understandings of romantic love. It is evident, however, that the demands of late modern capitalist society, with its increased literacy, economic independence and sexual equality between men and women, have produced marriage as a negotiable contract between social equals. For some, like Carol Pateman, this sense of equality within marriage may be illusory. Nonetheless, the drive for individual self-fulfilment by both the bride and groom produces a raft of challenges to traditional ideas of marriage as couples struggle to find a balance between independence and intimacy; between family and career; and between pursuing personal goals and the goals of their partners. This shift in the nature of marriage has implications for the “quest for undying romantic love,” which according to Anthony Giddens has been replaced by other forms of relationship, "each entered into for its own sake, for what can be derived by each person from a sustained association with another; and which is continued only in so far as it is thought by both parties to deliver enough satisfactions for each individual to stay within it” (qtd. in Lindholm 6). The impact of these social changes on the nature of romantic love in marriage is evident in how couples talk about their relationship in the course of preparing a ceremony. Many couples describe the person they are marrying as their best friend, and friendship is central to their commitment. This description supports research by V.K. Oppenheimer which indicates that many contemporary couples have a more “egalitarian collaborative approach to marriage” (qtd. in Carmichael and Whittaker 25). It is also standard for couples to note in ceremonies that they make each other happy and contented, with many commenting upon how their partners have helped to bring focus and perspective to their work-oriented lives. These comments tend to invoke marriage as a refuge from the isolation, competition, and dehumanising elements of workplaces. Since emotional support is central to the marriage contract, it is not surprising that care for each other is another reoccurring theme in ceremonies. Many brides and grooms not only explicitly say they are well taken care of by their partner, but also express admiration for their partner’s treatment of their families and friends. This behaviour appears to be seen as an indicator of the individual’s capacity for support and commitment to family values. Many couples admire partner’s kindness, generosity and level of personal self-sacrifice in maintaining the relationship. It is also not uncommon for brides and grooms to say they have been changed by their love: become kinder, more considerate and more tolerant. Honesty, communication skills and persistence are also attributes that are valued. Brides and grooms who have strong communication skills are also praised. This may refer to interpersonal competency and the willingness to acquire the skills necessary to negotiate the endless compromises in contemporary marriage now that individualisation has undermined established rules, rituals and roles. Persistence and the ability not to be discouraged by setbacks is also a reoccurring theme, and this connects with the idea that marriage is work. Many couples promise to grow together in their marriage and to both take responsibility for the health of their relationship. This promise implies awareness that marriage is not the fantasy of happily ever after produced in romantic popular culture, but rather an arrangement that requires hard work and conscious commitment, particularly in building a union amidst many competing options and distractions. Many couples talk about their relationship in terms of companionship and shared interests, values and goals. It is also not uncommon for couples to say that they admire their partner for supporting them to achieve their life goals or for exposing them to a wider array of lifestyle choices and options like travel or study. These examples of interdependence appear to make explicit that couples still see marriage as a vehicle for personal freedom and self-realisation. The death of love is also alluded to in marriage ceremonies. Couples talk of failed past relationships, but these are produced positively as a mechanism that enables the couple to know that they have now found an enduring relationship. It is also evident that for many couples the decision to marry is seen as the formalisation of a preexisting commitment rather than the gateway to a new life. This is consistent with figures that show that 72 per cent of Australian couples chose to cohabit before marriage (Simons 48), and that cohabitation has become the “normative pathway to marriage” (Penman 26). References to children also feature in marriage ceremonies, and for the couples I have worked with marriage is generally seen as the pre-requisite for children. Couples also often talk about “being ready” for marriage. This seems to refer to being financially prepared. Robyn Parker citing the research of K. Edin concludes that for many modern couples “rushing into marriage before being ‘set’ is irresponsible—marrying well (in the sense of being well prepared) is the way to avoid divorce” (qtd. in Parker 81). From this overview of reoccurring themes in the production of Australian ceremonies it is clear that romantic love continues to be associated with marriage. However, couples describe a more grounded and companionable attachment. These more practical and personalised sentiments serve to meet both the public expectation that romantic love is a precondition for marriage, while also avoiding the production of romantic love in the ceremony as an empty cliché. Grounded descriptions of love reveal that attraction does not have to be overwhelming and unconquerable. Indeed, couples who have lived together and are intimately acquainted with each other’s habits and disposition, appear to be most comfortable expressing their commitment to each other in more temperate, but no less deeply felt, terms. Conclusion This paper has considered how brides and grooms constitute romantic love within the shifting partnering practices of contemporary Australia. It is evident “in the midst of significant social and economic change and at a time when individual rights and freedom of choice are important cultural values” marriage remains socially significant (Simons 50). This significance is partially conveyed through the language of romantic love, which, while freighted with an array of cultural and historical associations, remains the lingua franca of marriage, perhaps because as Roberto Unger observes, romantic love is “the most influential mode of moral vision in our culture” (qtd. in Lindholm 5). It is thus possible to conclude, that while marriage may be declining and becoming more fragile and impermanent, the institution remains important to couples in contemporary Australia. Moreover, the language and imagery of romantic love, which publicly conveys this importance, remains the primary mode of expressing care, affection and hope for a partnership, even though the changed partnering practices of late modern capitalist society have exposed the utopian quality of romantic love and produced a cynicism about the viability of its longevity. It is evident in the marriage ceremonies prepared by the author that while the language of romantic love has come to signify a broader range of more practical associations consistent with the individualised nature of modern marriage and demystification of romantic love, it also remains the best way to express what Dowd and Pallotta describe as a fundamental human “yearning for communion with and acceptance by another human being” (571). References Beck, U., and E. Beck-Gernsheim, Individualisation: Institutionalised Individualism and Its Social and Political Consequences. London: Sage, 2002. Beigel, Hugo G. “Romantic Love.” American Sociological Review 16.3 (1951): 326–34. Carmichael, Gordon A, and Andrea Whittaker. “Forming Relationships in Australia: Qualitative Insights into a Process Important to Human Well Being.” Journal of Population Research 24.1 (2007): 23–49. Coontz, Stephanie. Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage. New York: Viking, 2005. Croome, Rodney. “Love and Commitment, To Equality.” The Drum Opinion, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News. 8 June 2011. 14 Aug. 2012 < http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2749898.html >. de Vaus, D.L. Qu, and R. Weston. “Family Trends: Changing Patterns of Partnering.” Family Matters 64 (2003): 10–15. Dowd, James T, and Nicole R. Pallotta. “The End of Romance: The Demystification of Love in the Postmodern Age.” Sociological Perspectives 43.4 (2000): 549–80. Gottschall, Jonathan, and Marcus Nordlund. “Romantic Love: A Literary Universal?” Philosophy and Literature 30 (2006): 450–70. Jankowiak, William, and Ted Fischer, “A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Romantic Love,” Ethnology 31 (1992): 149–55. Lantz, Herman R. “Romantic Love in the Pre-Modern Period: A Sociological Commentary.” Journal of Social History 15.3 (1982): 349–70. Lindholm, Charles. “Romantic Love and Anthropology.” Etnofoor 19:1 Romantic Love (2006): 5–21. Parker, Robyn. “Perspectives on the Future of Marriage.” Australian Institute of Family Studies 72 Summer (2005): 78–82.Pateman, Carole. “Women and Consent.” Political Theory (1980): 149–68. Penman, Robyn. “Current Approaches to Marriage and Relationship Research in the United States and Australia.” Family Matters 70 Autumn (2005): 26–35. Simons, Michelle. “(Re)-forming Marriage in Australia?” Australian Institute of Family Matters 73 (2006): 46–51.Stearns, Peter N, and Mark Knapp. “Men and Romantic Love: Pinpointing a 20th-Century Change.” Journal of Social History 26.4 (1993): 769–95. Yalom, Marilyn. A History of the Wife. New York: Harper Collins, 2001.

IllegitimacyBack in 1987, Gregory Bateson argued that:Kurt Vonnegut gives us wary advice – that we should be careful what we pretend because we become what we pretend. And something like that, some sort of self-fulfilment, occurs in all organisations and human cultures. What people presume to be ‘human’ is what they will build in as premises of their social arrangements, and what they build in is sure to be learned, is sure to become a part of the character of those who participate. (178)The human capacity to marginalise and discriminate against others on the basis of innate and constructed characteristics is evident from the long history of discrimination against people whose existence is ‘illegitimate’, defined as being outside the law. What is inside or outside the law depends upon the context under consideration. For example, in societies such as ancient Greece and the antebellum United States, where slavery was legal, people who were constructed as ‘slaves’ could legitimately be treated very differently from ‘citizens’: free people who benefit from a range of human rights (Northup). The discernment of what is legitimate from that which is illegitimate is thus implicated within the law but extends into the wider experience of community life and is evident within the civil structures through which society is organised and regulated.The division between the legitimate and illegitimate is an arbitrary one, susceptible to changing circumstances. Within recent memory a romantic/sexual relationship between two people of the same sex was constructed as illegitimate and actively persecuted. This was particularly the case for same-sex attracted men, since the societies regulating these relationships generally permitted women a wider repertoire of emotional response than men were allowed. Even when lesbian and gay relationships were legalised, they were constructed as less legitimate in the sense that they often had different rules around the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual couples. In Australia, the refusal to allow same sex couples to marry perpetuates ways in which these relationships are constructed as illegitimate – beyond the remit of the legislation concerning marriage.The archetypal incidence of illegitimacy has historically referred to people born out of wedlock. The circumstances of birth, for example whether a person was born as a result of a legally-sanctioned marital relationship or not, could have ramifications throughout an individual’s life. Stories abound (for example, Cookson) of the implications of being illegitimate. In some social stings, such as Catherine Cookson’s north-eastern England at the turn of the twentieth century, illegitimate children were often shunned. Parents frequently refused permission for their (legitimate) children to play with illegitimate classmates, as if these children born out of wedlock embodied a contaminating variety of evil. Illegitimate children were treated differently in the law in matters of inheritance, for example, and may still be. They frequently lived in fear of needing to show a birth certificate to gain a passport, for example, or to marry. Sometimes, it was at this point in adult life, that a person first discovered their illegitimacy, changing their entire understanding of their family and their place in the world. It might be possible to argue that the emphasis upon the legitimacy of a birth has lessened in proportion to an acceptance of genetic markers as an indicator of biological paternity, but that is not the endeavour here.Given the arbitrariness and mutability of the division between legitimacy and illegitimacy as a constructed boundary, it is policed by social and legal sanctions. Boundaries, such as the differentiation between the raw and the cooked (Lévi-Strauss), or S/Z (Barthes), or purity and danger (Douglas), serve important cultural functions and also convey critical information about the societies that enforce them. Categories of person, place or thing which are closest to boundaries between the legitimate and the illegitimate can prompt existential anxiety since the capacity to discern between these categories is most challenged at the margins. The legal shenanigans which can result speak volumes for which aspects of life have the potential to unsettle a culture. One example of this which is writ large in the recent history of Australia is our treatment of refugees and asylum seekers and the impact of this upon Australia’s multicultural project.Foreshadowing the sexual connotations of the illegitimate, one of us has written elsewhere (Green, ‘Bordering on the Inconceivable’) about the inconceivability of the Howard administration’s ‘Pacific solution’. This used legal devices to rewrite Australia’s borders to limit access to the rights accruing to refugees upon landing in a safe haven entitling them to seek asylum. Internationally condemned as an illegitimate construction of an artificial ‘migration zone’, this policy has been revisited and made more brutal under the Abbot regime with at least two people – Reza Barati and Hamid Khazaei – dying in the past year in what is supposed to be a place of safety provided by Australian authorities under their legal obligations to those fleeing from persecution. Crock points out, echoing the discourse of illegitimacy, that it is and always has been inappropriate to label “undocumented asylum seekers” as “‘illegal’” because: “until such people cross the border onto Australian territory, the language of illegality is nonsense. People who have no visas to enter Australia can hardly be ‘illegals’ until they enter Australia” (77). For Australians who identify in some ways – religion, culture, fellow feeling – with the detainees incarcerated on Nauru and Manus Island, it is hard to ignore the disparity between the government’s treatment of visa overstayers and “illegals” who arrive by boat (Wilson). It is a comparatively short step to construct this disparity as reflecting upon the legitimacy within Australia of communities who share salient characteristics with detained asylum seekers: “The overwhelmingly negative discourse which links asylum seekers, Islam and terrorism” (McKay, Thomas & Kneebone, 129). Some communities feel themselves constructed in the public and political spheres as less legitimately Australian than others. This is particularly true of communities where members can be identified via markers of visible difference, including indicators of ethnic, cultural and religious identities: “a group who [some 585 respondent Australians …] perceived would maintain their own languages, customs and traditions […] this cultural diversity posed an extreme threat to Australian national identity” (McKay, Thomas & Kneebone, 129). Where a community shares salient characteristics such as ethnicity or religion with many detained asylum seekers they can become fearful of the discourses around keeping borders strong and protecting Australia from illegitimate entrants. MethodologyThe qualitative fieldwork upon which this paper is based took place some 6-8 years ago (2006-2008), but the project remains one of the most recent and extensive studies of its kind. There are no grounds for believing that any of the findings are less valid than previously. On the contrary, if political actions are constructed as a proxy for mainstream public consent, opinions have become more polarised and have hardened. Ten focus groups were held involving 86 participants with a variety of backgrounds including differences in age, gender, religious observance, religious identification and ethnicity. Four focus groups involved solely Muslim participants; six drew from the wider Australian community. The aim was to examine the response of different communities to mainstream Australian media representations of Islam, Muslims, and terrorism. Research questions included: “Are there differences in the ways in which Australian Muslims respond to messages about ‘fear’ and ‘terror’ compared with broader community Australians’ responses to the same messages?” and “How do Australian Muslims construct the perceptions and attitudes of the broader Australian community based on the messages that circulate in the media?” Recent examples of kinds of messages investigated include media coverage of Islamic State’s (ISIS’s) activities (Karam & Salama), and the fear-provoking coverage around the possible recruitment of Australians to join the fighting in Syria and Iraq (Cox). The ten focus groups were augmented by 60 interviews, 30 with respondents who identified as Muslim (15 males, 15 female) and 30 respondents from the broader community (same gender divisions). Finally, a market research company was commissioned to conduct a ‘fear survey’, based on an established ‘fear of rape’ inventory (Aly and Balnaves), delivered by telephone to a random sample of 750 over-18 y.o. Australians in which Muslims formed a deliberative sub-group, to ensure they were over-sampled and constituted at least 150 respondents. The face-to-face surveys and focus groups were conducted by co-author, Dr Anne Aly. General FindingsMuslim respondents indicate a heightened intensity of reaction to media messages around fear and terror. In addition to a generalised fear of the potential impact of terrorism upon Australian society and culture, Muslim respondents experienced a specific fear that any terrorist-related media coverage might trigger hostility towards Muslim Australian communities and their own family members. According to the ‘fear survey’ scale, Muslim Australians at the time of the research experienced approximately twice the fear level of mainstream Australian respondents. Broader Australian community Australian Muslim communityFear of a terrorist attackFear of a terrorist attack combines with the fear of a community backlashSpecific victims: dead, injured, bereavedCommunity is full of general victims in addition to any specific victimsShort-term; intense impactsProtracted, diffuse impactsSociety-wide sympathy and support for specific victims and all those involved in dealing with the trauma and aftermathSociety-wide suspicion and a marginalisation of those affected by the backlashVictims of a terrorist attack are embraced by broader communityVictims of backlash experience hostility from the broader communityFour main fears were identified by Australian Muslims as a component of the fear of terrorism:Fear of physical harm. In addition to the fear of actual terrorist acts, Australian Muslims fear backlash reprisals such as those experienced after such events as 9/11, the Bali bombings, and attacks upon public transport passengers in Spain and the UK. These and similar events were constructed as precipitating increased aggression against identifiable Australian Muslims, along with shunning of Muslims and avoidance of their company.The construction of politically-motivated fear. Although fear is an understandable response to concerns around terrorism, many respondents perceived fears as being deliberately exacerbated for political motives. Such strategies as “Be alert, not alarmed” (Bassio), labelling asylum seekers as potential terrorists, and talk about home-grown terrorists, are among the kinds of fears which were identified as politically motivated. The political motivation behind such actions might include presenting a particular party as strong, resolute and effective. Some Muslim Australians construct such approaches as indicating that their government is more interested in political advantage than social harmony.Fear of losing civil liberties. As well as sharing the alarm of the broader Australian community at the dozens of legislative changes banning people, organisations and materials, and increasing surveillance and security checks, Muslim Australians fear for the human rights implications across their community, up to and including the lives of their young people. This fear is heightened when community members may look visibly different from the mainstream. Examples of the events fuelling such fears include the London police killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian Catholic working as an electrician in the UK and shot in the month following the 7/7 attacks on the London Underground system (Pugliese). In Australia, the case of Mohamed Hannef indicated that innocent people could easily be unjustly accused and wrongly targeted, and even when this was evident the political agenda made it almost impossible for authorities to admit their error (Rix).Feeling insecure. Australian Muslims argue that personal insecurity has become “the new normal” (Massumi), disproportionately affecting Muslim communities in both physical and psychological ways. Physical insecurity is triggered by the routine avoidance, shunning and animosity experienced by many community members in public places. Psychological insecurity includes fear for the safety of younger members of the community compounded by concern that young people may become ‘radicalised’ as a result of the discrimination they experience. Australian Muslims fear the backlash following any possible terrorist attack on Australian soil and describe the possible impact as ‘unimaginable’ (Aly and Green, ‘Moderate Islam’).In addition to this range of fears expressed by Australian Muslims and constructed in response to wider societal reactions to increased concerns over radical Islam and the threat of terrorist activity, an analysis of respondents’ statements indicate that Muslim Australians construct the broader community as exhibiting:Fear of religious conviction (without recognising the role of their own secular/religious convictions underpinning this fear);Fear of extremism (expressed in various extreme ways);Fear of powerlessness (responded to by disempowering others); andFear of political action overseas having political effects at home (without acknowledging that it is the broader community’s response to such overseas events, such as 9/11 [Green ‘Did the world really change?’], which has also had impacts at home).These constructions, extrapolations and understandings by Australian Muslims of the fears of the broader community underpinning the responses to the threat of terror have been addressed elsewhere (Green and Aly). Legitimate Australian MuslimsOne frustration identified by many Muslim respondents centres upon a perceived ‘acceptable’ way to be an Australian Muslim. Arguing that the broader community construct Muslims as a homogenous group defined by their religious affiliation, these interviewees felt that the many differences within and between the twenty-plus national, linguistic, ethnic, cultural and faith-based groupings that constitute WA’s Muslim population were being ignored. Being treated as a homogenised group on a basis of faith appears to have the effect of putting that religious identity under pressure, paradoxically strengthening and reinforcing it (Aly, ‘Australian Muslim Responses to the Discourse on Terrorism’). The appeal to Australian Muslims to embrace membership in a secular society and treat religion as a private matter also led some respondents to suggest they were expected to deny their own view of their faith, in which they express their religious identity across their social spheres and in public and private contexts. Such expression is common in observant Judaism, Hinduism and some forms of Christianity, as well as in some expressions of Islam (Aly and Green, ‘Less than equal’). Massumi argues that even the ways in which some Muslims dress, indicating faith-based behaviour, can lead to what he terms as ‘affective modulation’ (Massumi), repeating and amplifying the fear affect as a result of experiencing the wider community’s fear response to such triggers as water bottles (from airport travel) and backpacks, on the basis of perceived physical difference and a supposed identification with Muslim communities, regardless of the situation. Such respondents constructed this (implied) injunction to suppress their religious and cultural affiliation as akin to constructing the expression of their identity as illegitimate and somehow shameful. Parallels can be drawn with previous social responses to a person born out of wedlock, and to people in same-sex relationships: a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ kind of denial.Australian Muslims who see their faith as denied or marginalised may respond by identifying more strongly with other Muslims in their community, since the community-based context is one in which they feel welcomed and understood. The faith-based community also allows and encourages a wider repertoire of acceptable beliefs and actions entailed in the performance of ‘being Muslim’. Hand in hand with a perception of being required to express their religious identity in ways that were acceptable to the majority community, these respondents provided a range of examples of self-protective behaviours to defend themselves and others from the impacts of perceived marginalisation. Such behaviours included: changing their surnames to deflect discrimination based solely on a name (Aly and Green, ‘Fear, Anxiety and the State of Terror’); keeping their opinions private, even when they were in line with those being expressed by the majority community (Aly and Green, ‘Moderate Islam’); the identification of ‘less safe’ and ‘safe’ activities and areas; concerns about visibly different young men in the Muslim community and discussions with them about their public behaviour and demeanour; and women who chose not to leave their homes for fear of being targeted in public places (all discussed in Aly, ‘Australian Muslim Responses to the Discourse on Terrorism’). Many of these behaviours, including changing surnames, restricting socialisation to people who know a person well, and the identification of safe and less safe activities in relation to the risk of self-revelation, were common strategies used by people who were stigmatised in previous times as a result of their illegitimacy.ConclusionConstructions of the legitimate and illegitimate provide one means through which we can investigate complex negotiations around Australianness and citizenship, thrown into sharp relief by the Australian government’s treatment of asylum seekers, also deemed “illegals”. Because they arrive in Australia (or, as the government would prefer, on Australia’s doorstep) by illegitimate channels these would-be citizens are treated very differently from people who arrive at an airport and overstay their visa. The impetus to exclude aspects of geographical Australia from the migration zone, and to house asylum seekers offshore, reveals an anxiety about borders which physically reflects the anxiety of western nations in the post-9/11 world. Asylum seekers who arrive by boat have rarely had safe opportunity to secure passports or visas, or to purchase tickets from commercial airlines or shipping companies. They represent those ethnicities and cultures which are currently in turmoil: a turmoil frequently exacerbated by western intervention, variously constructed as an il/legitimate expression of western power and interests.What this paper has demonstrated is that the boundary between Australia and the rest, the legitimate and the illegitimate, is failing in its aim of creating a stronger Australia. The means through which this project is pursued is making visible a range of motivations and concerns which are variously interpreted depending upon the position of the interpreter. The United Nations, for example, has expressed strong concern over Australia’s reneging upon its treaty obligations to refugees (Gordon). Less vocal, and more fearful, are those communities within Australia which identify as community members with the excluded illegals. The Australian government’s treatment of detainees on Manus Island and Nauru, who generally exhibit markers of visible difference as a result of ethnicity or culture, is one aspect of a raft of government policies which serve to make some people feel that their Australianness is somehow less legitimate than that of the broader community. AcknowledgementsThis paper is based on the findings of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP0559707), 2005-7, “Australian responses to the images and discourses of terrorism and the other: establishing a metric of fear”, awarded to Professors Lelia Green and Mark Balnaves. The research involved 10 focus groups and 60 individual in-depth interviews and a telephone ‘fear of terrorism’ survey. The authors wish to acknowledge the participation and contributions of WA community members and wider Australian respondents to the telephone survey. ReferencesAly, Anne. “Australian Muslim Responses to the Discourse on Terrorism in the Australian Popular Media.” Australian Journal of Social Issues 42.1 (2007): 27-40.Aly, Anne, and Lelia Green. “Fear, Anxiety and the State of Terror.” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 33.3 (Feb 2010): 268-81.Aly, Anne, and Lelia Green. “Less than Equal: Secularism, Religious Pluralism and Privilege.” M/C Journal 11.2 (2008). 15 Oct. 2009 ‹http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/32›.Aly, Anne, and Lelia Green. “‘Moderate Islam’: Defining the Good Citizen”. 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Australian Journal of Communication 31.1 (2004): 19-36.Green, Lelia. “Did the World Really Change on 9/11?” Australian Journal of Communication 29.2 (2002): 1-14.Green, Lelia, and Anne Aly. “How Australian Muslims Construct Western Fear of the Muslim Other”. Negotiating Identities: Constructed Selves and Others. Ed. Helen Vella Bonavita. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011. 65-90. Karam, Zeina, and Vivian Salama. “US President Barack Obama Powers Up to Shut Down Islamic State”. The Australian 11 Sep. 2014. 11 Sep. 2014 ‹http://www.theaustralian/world/%20us-president-barak-obama-powers-up-to-shut-down-islamic-state-20140911-10f9dh.html›.Lévi-Strauss, Claude. The Raw and the Cooked: Mythologiques, Volume 1. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1969.Massumi, Brian. “Fear (the Spectrum Said).” Positions 13.1 (2005): 31-48.McKay, Fiona H., Samantha, L. Thomas, and Susan Kneebone. “‘It Would Be Okay If They Came through the Proper Channels’: Community Perceptions and Attitudes toward Asylum Seekers in Australia”. Journal of Refugee Studies 25.1 (2011): 113-133.Northup, Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave. New York: Derby & Miller, 1853.Pugliese, Joseph. “Asymmetries of Terror: Visual Regimes of Racial Profiling and the Shooting of John Charles de Menezes in the Context of the War in Iraq.” Borderlands 5.1 (2006). 11 Sep. 2014 ‹http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol5no1_2006/pugliese.htm›.Rix, M. “With Reckless Abandon: Haneef and Ul-Haque in Australia’s ‘War on Terror’.” In K. Michael and M.G. Micheal (eds.), The Third Workshop on the Social Implications of National Security Australia. Canberra, July 2008. 107-122. 11 Sep. 2014 ‹http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=gsbpapers›.Said, Edward. Orientalism. London: Penguin, 1977.Wilson, Lauren. “More Visa Over-Stayers than Asylum-Seekers”. 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IntroductionThe common origin of the adjective “corporeal” and the noun “corpse” in the Latin root corpus points to the value of mortuary practices for investigating how the human body is objectified. In post-mortem rituals, the body—formerly the manipulator of objects—becomes itself the object that is manipulated. Thus, these funerary rituals provide a type of double reflexivity, where the object and subject of manipulation can be used to reciprocally illuminate one another. To this extent, any consideration of corporeality can only benefit from a discussion of how the body is objectified through mortuary practices. This paper offers just such a discussion with respect to a selection of two contrasting mortuary practices, in the context of the prehistoric past and the Classical Era respectively. At the most general level, we are motivated by the same intellectual impulse that has stimulated expositions on corporeality, materiality, and incarnation in areas like phenomenology (Merleau-Ponty 77–234), Marxism (Adorno 112–119), gender studies (Grosz vii–xvi), history (Laqueur 193–244), and theology (Henry 33–53). That is to say, our goal is to show that the body, far from being a transparent frame through which we encounter the world, is in fact a locus where historical, social, cultural, and psychological forces intersect. On this view, “the body vanishes as a biological entity and becomes an infinitely malleable and highly unstable culturally constructed product” (Shilling 78). However, for all that the cited paradigms offer culturally situated appreciations of corporeality; our particular intellectual framework will be provided by cognitive science. Two reasons impel us towards this methodological choice.In the first instance, the study of ritual has, after several decades of stagnation, been rewarded—even revolutionised—by the application of insights from the new sciences of the mind (Whitehouse 1–12; McCauley and Lawson 1–37). Thus, there are good reasons to think that ritual treatments of the body will refract historical and social forces through empirically attested tendencies in human cognition. In the present connection, this means that knowledge of these tendencies will reward any attempt to theorise the objectification of the body in mortuary rituals.In the second instance, because beliefs concerning the afterlife can never be definitively judged to be true or false, they give free expression to tendencies in cognition that are otherwise constrained by the need to reflect external realities accurately. To this extent, they grant direct access to the intuitive ideas and biases that shape how we think about the world. Already, this idea has been exploited to good effect in areas like the cognitive anthropology of religion, which explores how counterfactual beings like ghosts, spirits, and gods conform to (and deviate from) pre-reflective cognitive patterns (Atran 83–112; Barrett and Keil 219–224; Barrett and Reed 252–255; Boyer 876–886). Necessarily, this implies that targeting post-mortem treatments of the body will offer unmediated access to some of the conceptual schemes that inform thinking about human corporeality.At a more detailed level, the specific methodology we propose to use will be provided by conceptual blending theory—a framework developed by Gilles Fauconnier, Mark Turner, and others to describe how structures from different areas of experience are creatively blended to form a new conceptual frame. In this system, a generic space provides the ground for coordinating two or more input spaces into a blended space that synthesises them into a single output. Here this would entail using natural or technological processes to structure mortuary practices in a way that satisfies various psychological needs.Take, for instance, W.B. Yeats’s famous claim that “Too long a sacrifice / Can make a stone of the heart” (“Easter 1916” in Yeats 57-8). Here, the poet exploits a generic space—that of everyday objects and the effort involved in manipulating them—to coordinate an organic input from that taxonomy (the heart) with an inorganic input (a stone) to create the blended idea that too energetic a pursuit of an abstract ideal turns a person into an unfeeling object (the heart-as-stone). Although this particular example corresponds to a familiar rhetorical figure (the metaphor), the value of conceptual blending theory is that it cuts across distinctions of genre, media, language, and discourse level to provide a versatile framework for expressing how one area of human experience is related to another.As indicated, we will exploit this versatility to investigate two ways of objectifying the body through the examination of two contrasting mortuary practices—cremation and inhumation—against different cultural horizons. The first of these is the conceptualisation of the body as an object of a technical process, where the post-mortem cremation of the corpse is analogically correlated with the metallurgical refining of ore into base metal. Our area of focus here will be Bronze Age cremation practices. The second conceptual scheme we will investigate focuses on treatments of the body as a vegetable object; here, the relevant analogy likens the inhumation of the corpse to the planting of a seed in the soil from which future growth will come. This discussion will centre on the Classical Era. Burning: The Body as Manufactured ObjectThe Early and Middle Bronze Age in Western Europe (2500-1200 BCE) represented a period of change in funerary practices relative to the preceding Neolithic, exemplified by a move away from the use of Megalithic monuments, a proliferation of grave goods, and an increase in the use of cremation (Barrett 38-9; Cooney and Grogan 105-121; Brück, Material Metaphors 308; Waddell, Bronze Age 141-149). Moreover, the Western European Bronze Age is characterised by a shift away from communal burial towards single interment (Barrett 32; Bradley 158-168). Equally, the Bronze Age in Western Europe provides us with evidence of an increased use of cist and pit cremation burials concentrated in low-lying areas (Woodman 254; Waddell, Prehistoric 16; Cooney and Grogan 105-121; Bettencourt 103). This greater preference for lower-lying location appears to reflect a distinctive change in comparison to the distribution patterns of the Neolithic burials; these are often located on prominent, visible aspects of a landscape (Cooney and Grogan 53-61). These new Bronze Age burial practices appear to reflect a distancing in relation to the territories of the “old ancestors” typified by Megalithic monuments (Bettencourt 101-103). Crucially, the Bronze Age archaeological record provides us with evidence that indicates that cremation was becoming the dominant form of deposition of human remains throughout Central and Western Europe (Sørensen and Rebay 59-60).The activities associated with Bronze Age cremations such as the burning of the body and the fragmentation of the remains have often been considered as corporeal equivalents (or expressions) of the activities involved in metal (bronze) production (Brück, Death 84-86; Sørensen and Rebay 60–1; Rebay-Salisbury, Cremations 66-67). There are unequivocal similarities between the practices of cremation and contemporary bronze production technologies—particularly as both processes involve the transformation of material through the application of fire at temperatures between 700 ºC to 1000 ºC (Musgrove 272-276; Walker et al. 132; de Becdelievre et al. 222-223).We assert that the technologies that define the European Bronze Age—those involved in alloying copper and tin to produce bronze—offered a new conceptual frame that enabled the body to be objectified in new ways. The fundamental idea explored here is that the displacement of inhumation by cremation in the European Bronze Age was motivated by a cognitive shift, where new smelting technologies provided novel conceptual metaphors for thinking about age-old problems concerning human mortality and post-mortem survival. The increased use of cremation in the European Bronze Age contrasts with the archaeological record of the Near Eastern—where, despite the earlier emergence of metallurgy (3300–3000 BCE), we do not see a notable proliferation in the use of cremation in this region. Thus, mortuary practices (i.e. cremation) provide us with an insight into how Western European Bronze Age cultures mediated the body through changes in technological objects and processes.In the terminology of conceptual blending, the generic space in question centres on the technical manipulation of the material world. The first input space is associated with the anxiety attending mortality—specifically, the cessation of personal identity and the extinction of interpersonal relationships. The second input space represents the technical knowledge associated with bronze production; in particular, the extraction of ore from source material and its mixing with other metals to form an alloy. The blended space coordinates these inputs to objectify the human body as an object that is ritually transformed into a new but more durable substance via the cremation process. In this contention we use the archaeological record to draw a conceptual parallel between the emergence of bronze production technology—centring on transition of naturally occurring material to a new subsistence (bronze)—and the transitional nature of the cremation process.In this theoretical framework, treating the body as a mixture of substances that can be reduced to its constituents and transformed through technologies of cremation enabled Western European Bronze Age society to intervene in the natural process of putrefaction and transform the organic matter into something more permanent. This transformative aspect of the cremation is seen in the evidence we have for secondary burial practices involving the curation and circulation of cremated bones of deceased members of a group (Brück, Death 87-93). This evidence allows us to assert that cremated human remains and objects were considered products of the same transformation into a more permanent state via burning, fragmentation, dispersal, and curation. Sofaer (62-69) states that the living body is regarded as a person, but as soon as the transition to death is made, the body becomes an object; this is an “ontological shift in the perception of the body that assumes a sudden change in its qualities” (62).Moreover, some authors have proposed that the exchange of fragmented human remains was central to mortuary practices and was central in establishing and maintaining social relations (Brück, Death 76-88). It is suggested that in the Early Bronze Age the perceptions of the human body mirrored the perceptions of objects associated with the arrival of the new bronze technology (Brück, Death 88-92). This idea is more pronounced if we consider the emergence of bronze technology as the beginning of a period of capital intensification of natural resources. Through this connection, the Bronze Age can be regarded as the point at which a particular natural resource—in this case, copper—went through myriad intensive manufacturing stages, which are still present today (intensive extraction, production/manufacturing, and distribution). Unlike stone tool production, bronze production had the addition of fire as the explicit method of transformation (Brück, Death 88-92). Thus, such views maintain that the transition achieved by cremation—i.e. reducing the human remains to objects or tokens that could be exchanged and curated relatively soon after the death of the individual—is equivalent to the framework of commodification connected with bronze production.A sample of cremated remains from Castlehyde in County Cork, Ireland, provides us with an example of a Bronze Age cremation burial in a Western European context (McCarthy). This is chosen because it is a typical example of a Bronze Age cremation burial in the context of Western Europe; also, one of the authors (MG) has first-hand experience in the analysis of its associated remains. The Castlehyde cremation burial consisted of a rectangular, stone-lined cist (McCarthy). The cist contained cremated, calcined human remains, with the fragments generally ranging from a greyish white to white in colour; this indicates that the bones were subject to a temperature range of 700-900ºC. The organic content of bone was destroyed during the cremation process, leaving only the inorganic matrix (brittle bone which is, often, described as metallic in consistency—e.g. Gejvall 470-475). There is evidence that remains may have been circulated in a manner akin to valuable metal objects. First of all, the absence of long bones indicates that there may have been a practice of removing salient remains as curatable records of ancestral ties. Secondly, remains show traces of metal staining from objects that are no longer extant, which suggests that graves were subject to secondary burial practices involving the removal of metal objects and/or human bone. To this extent, we can discern that human remains were being processed, curated, and circulated in a similar manner to metal objects.Thus, there are remarkable similarities between the treatment of the human body in cremation and bronze metal production technologies in the European Bronze Age. On the one hand, the parallel between smelting and cremation allowed death to be understood as a process of transformation in which the individual was removed from processes of organic decay. On the other hand, the circulation of the transformed remains conferred a type of post-mortem survival on the deceased. In this way, cremation practices may have enabled Bronze Age society to symbolically overcome the existential anxiety concerning the loss of personhood and the breaking of human relationships through death. In relation to the former point, the resurgence of cremation in nineteenth century Europe provides us with an example of how the disposal of a human body can be contextualised in relation to socio-technological advancements. The (re)emergence of cremation in this period reflects the post-Enlightenment shift from an understanding of the world through religious beliefs to the use of rational, scientific approaches to examine the natural world, including the human body (and death). The controlled use of fire in the cremation process, as well as the architecture of crematories, reflected the industrial context of the period (Rebay-Salisbury, Inhumation 16).With respect to the circulation of cremated remains, Smith suggests that Early Medieval Christian relics of individual bones or bone fragments reflect a reconceptualised continuation of pre-Christian practices (beginning in Christian areas of the Roman Empire). In this context, it is claimed, firstly, that the curation of bone relics and the use of mobile bone relics of important, saintly individuals provided an embodied connection between the sacred sphere and the earthly world; and secondly, that the use of individual bones or fragments of bone made the Christian message something portable, which could be used to reinforce individual or collective adherence to Christianity (Smith 143-167). Using the example of the Christian bone relics, we can thus propose that the curation and circulation of Bronze Age cremated material may have served a role similar to tools for focusing religiously oriented cognition. Burying: The Body as a Vegetable ObjectGiven that the designation “the Classical Era” nominates the entirety of the Graeco-Roman world (including the Near East and North Africa) from about 800 BCE to 600 CE, there were obviously no mortuary practices common to all cultures. Nevertheless, in both classical Greece and Rome, we have examples of periods when either cremation or inhumation was the principal funerary custom (Rebay-Salisbury, Inhumation 19-21).For instance, the ancient Homeric texts inform us that the ancient Greeks believed that “the spirit of the departed was sentient and still in the world of the living as long as the flesh was in existence […] and would rather have the body devoured by purifying fire than by dogs or worms” (Mylonas 484). However, the primary sources and archaeological record indicate that cremation practices declined in Athens circa 400 BCE (Rebay-Salisbury, Inhumation 20). With respect to the Roman Empire, scholarly opinion argues that inhumation was the dominant funerary rite in the eastern part of the Empire (Rebay-Salisbury, Inhumation 17-21; Morris 52). Complementing this, the archaeological and historical record indicates that inhumation became the primary rite throughout the Roman Empire in the first century CE. Inhumation was considered to be an essential rite in the context of an emerging belief that a peaceful afterlife was reflected by a peaceful burial in which bodily integrity was maintained (Rebay-Salisbury, Inhumation 19-21; Morris 52; Toynbee 41). The question that this poses is how these beliefs were framed in the broader discourses of Classical culture.In this regard, our claim is that the growth in inhumation was driven (at least in part) by the spread of a conceptual scheme, implicit in Greek fertility myths that objectify the body as a seed. The conceptual logic here is that the post-mortem continuation of personal identity is (symbolically) achieved by objectifying the body as a vegetable object that will re-grow from its own physical remains. Although the dominant metaphor here is vegetable, there is no doubt that the motivating concern of this mythological fabulation is human mortality. As Jon Davies notes, “the myths of Hades, Persephone and Demeter, of Orpheus and Eurydice, of Adonis and Aphrodite, of Selene and Endymion, of Herakles and Dionysus, are myths of death and rebirth, of journeys into and out of the underworld, of transactions and transformations between gods and humans” (128). Thus, such myths reveal important patterns in how the post-mortem fate of the body was conceptualised.In the terminology of mental mapping, the generic space relevant to inhumation contains knowledge pertaining to folk biology—specifically, pre-theoretical ideas concerning regeneration, survival, and mortality. The first input space attaches to human mortality; it departs from the anxiety associated with the seeming cessation of personal identity and dissolution of kin relationships subsequent to death. The second input space is the subset of knowledge concerning vegetable life, and how the immersion of seeds in the soil produces a new generation of plants with the passage of time. The blended space combines the two input spaces by way of the funerary script, which involves depositing the body in the soil with a view to securing its eventual rebirth by analogy with the sprouting of a planted seed.As indicated, the most important illustration of this conceptual pattern can be found in the fertility myths of ancient Greece. The Homeric Hymns, in particular, provide a number of narratives that trace out correspondences between vegetation cycles, human mortality, and inhumation, which inform ritual practice (Frazer 223–404; Carney 355–65; Sowa 121–44). The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, for instance, charts how Persephone is abducted by Hades, god of the dead, and taken to his underground kingdom. While searching for her missing daughter, Demeter, goddess of fertility, neglects the earth, causing widespread devastation. Matters are resolved when Zeus intervenes to restore Persephone to Demeter. However, having ingested part of Hades’s kingdom (a pomegranate seed), Persephone is obliged to spend half the year below ground with her captor and the other half above ground with her mother.The objectification of Persephone as both a seed and a corpse in this narrative is clearly signalled by her seasonal inhumation in Hades’ chthonic realm, which is at once both the soil and the grave. And, just as the planting of seeds in autumn ensures rebirth in spring, Persephone’s seasonal passage from the Kingdom of the Dead nominates the individual human life as just one season in an endless cycle of death and rebirth. A further signifying element is added by the ingestion of the pomegranate seed. This is evocative of her being inseminated by Hades; thus, the coordination of vegetation cycles with life and death is correlated with secondary transition—that from childhood to adulthood (Kerényi 119–183).In the examples given, we can see how the Homeric Hymn objectifies both the mortal and sexual destiny of the body in terms of thresholds derived from the vegetable world. Moreover, this mapping is not merely an intellectual exercise. Its emotional and social appeal is visible in the fact that the Eleusinian mysteries—which offered the ritual homologue to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter—persisted from the Mycenaean period to 396 CE, one of the longest recorded durations for any ritual (Ferguson 254–9; Cosmopoulos 1–24). In sum, then, classical myth provided a precedent for treating the body as a vegetable object—most often, a seed—that would, in turn, have driven the move towards inhumation as an important mortuary practice. The result is to create a ritual form that makes key aspects of human experience intelligible by connecting them with cyclical processes like the seasons of the year, the harvesting of crops, and the intergenerational oscillation between the roles of parent and child. Indeed, this pattern remains visible in the germination metaphors and burial practices of contemporary religions such as Christianity, which draw heavily on the symbolism associated with mystery cults like that at Eleusis (Nock 177–213).ConclusionWe acknowledge that our examples offer a limited reflection of the ethnographic and archaeological data, and that they need to be expanded to a much greater degree if they are to be more than merely suggestive. Nevertheless, suggestiveness has its value, too, and we submit that the speculations explored here may well offer a useful starting point for a larger survey. In particular, they showcase how a recurring existential anxiety concerning death—involving the fear of loss of personal identity and kinship relations—is addressed by different ways of objectifying the body. Given that the body is not reducible to the objects with which it is identified, these objectifications can never be entirely successful in negotiating the boundary between life and death. In the words of Jon Davies, “there is simply no let-up in the efforts by human beings to transcend this boundary, no matter how poignantly each failure seemed to reinforce it” (128). For this reason, we can expect that the record will be replete with conceptual and cognitive schemes that mediate the experience of death.At a more general level, it should also be clear that our understanding of human corporeality is rewarded by the study of mortuary practices. 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