Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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In the Roman imperial period in the region of Tongres, Cologne, and Trier the inhumation burial ritual started to be used as the dominant funerary practice and thereby replaced the cremation burial...Show moreIn the Roman imperial period in the region of Tongres, Cologne, and Trier the inhumation burial ritual started to be used as the dominant funerary practice and thereby replaced the cremation burial. This transition to the use of inhumation burials had first occurred in Rome and it had also been in use in the east of the Roman empire before inhumations were used in Rome. Therefore, interpretations of this spread in burial practices over the empire had focussed on ex oriente lux cultural diffusions from the east to the west and several explanations saw the shift to the inhumation burial in the Roman empire as the result of emulations of Rome. Other empire wide theories were centred on relating the inhumation burial practice to early Christianization, the oriental mystery religions, the Crisis of the Third Century, ethic migrations, persistent local rituals, and the maintenance of the intact body. Whereas most of these explanations interpreted the inhumation burial rite on a regional scale this research tried to also incorporate a more local approach by re-examining the developments in funerary rites in the case-study sites Tongres and Cologne (as well as a sample of other cemetery sites with early inhumation burials). As it was also aimed to study the funerary rites at the regional scale the general developments in funerary rites in the research region were described and overview maps of sites with early inhumations in the research region were presented. Furthermore, following the recent scholars’ interpretations of the inhumation burial rites in terms of the maintenance of the intact body and a possible new meaning of the burial ritual it was attempted to interpreted the inhumation burial ritual along the lines of the concept of fractal personhood (and how this could be constructed in the funerary rituals). The interpretation of the inhumation and cremation burial rituals as two diametrically opposed rites or as exclusively connected to either the individual or dividual self did not seem to correspond with the results from the research region which indicated less rigid views of what the funerary practices could look like may have been prevailing. Possibly, the newly developing urban contexts of Tongres and Cologne where many different people and ideas of funerary practices came together made these places relatively receptive contexts towards other funerary ideas. Hence, the cremation and inhumation rites can be viewed as possibilities among the variability in funerary practices, which could have been selectively used to best fit the specific social situation, aims of the burying groups, and identity of the deceased.Show less
This thesis contains an analysis of the concept 'li', often translated as 'rites', within the received text of the Confucian "Analects". It discusses several meanings which li takes on in the text:...Show moreThis thesis contains an analysis of the concept 'li', often translated as 'rites', within the received text of the Confucian "Analects". It discusses several meanings which li takes on in the text: li as rituals from earlier times; li as ritual propriety, an accompaniment of 'ren' [humaneness]; and li as order in one’s daily life. Thereafter, it discusses the possible value of these meanings of li in battling stress in the modern time, using some literature from the field of psychology.Show less
In deze scriptie wordt de reactie op de aanslag op het hoofdkantoor van Charlie Hebdo (d.d. 7 januari 2015) geanalyseerd aan de hand van enkele godsdienstwetenschappelijke en sociaalpsychologische...Show moreIn deze scriptie wordt de reactie op de aanslag op het hoofdkantoor van Charlie Hebdo (d.d. 7 januari 2015) geanalyseerd aan de hand van enkele godsdienstwetenschappelijke en sociaalpsychologische theorieën. De massale reacties in de vorm van de wijdverspreide leus “Je suis Charlie” en de massademonstraties die door Frankrijk werden gehouden impliceren dat deze gebeurtenis als zeer heftig werd ervaren. Welke rol speelt het Franse wereldbeeld in de betekenistoekenning van de aanslag en in hoeverre verschilt dit wereldbeeld kwalitatief van een religieus wereldbeeld, in overweging nemend welke emoties hiermee gepaard gaan? De verschillende theorieën wekken tezamen de suggestie dat een seculier en een religieus wereldbeeld in functie weinig verschillen; zij fungeren beiden als angstbuffer. “Je suis Charlie” kan hierbij als sacraal symbool geïnterpreteerd worden en de massademonstraties als collectief ritueel.Show less
