This article seeks to examine seventeenth-century public diplomacy through the combined lens of print and pageantry. Both are rarely discussed alongside each other in contributions on early modern... Show moreThis article seeks to examine seventeenth-century public diplomacy through the combined lens of print and pageantry. Both are rarely discussed alongside each other in contributions on early modern diplomacy, news media, and correspondence networks. It will be shown that ceremonial rituals and theatrical entertainments were nonetheless oft-discussed subjects in French-language pamphlets of the seventeenth century on diplomatic events, policies, and debates. This study argues that such events could constitute the focus of a pamphlet or surface as an important theme or reference point on the basis of which authors could build arguments, introduce or defend diplomatic agendas, or propose new solutions to a political conflict or dilemma. Pamphlets on the Habsburg-Bourbon marriages of 1614–1615, held at Marsh’s Library in Dublin within the collection of the English theologian and scholar Edward Stillingfleet (1635–1699), and the tour of Marie de Médicis (1575–1642), the exiled Queen Mother of France, across the Low Countries in 1638, kept in the Bibliotheca Thysiana of the Leiden University Library, will be discussed as tools for the public diplomacy of a wide range of transnational stakeholders. Show less
This book is based on Cynthia A. Olufade’s Master’s thesis ‘Oath taking and the transnationalism of silence among Edo female sex workers in Italy’, winner of the African Studies Centre, Leiden’s... Show moreThis book is based on Cynthia A. Olufade’s Master’s thesis ‘Oath taking and the transnationalism of silence among Edo female sex workers in Italy’, winner of the African Studies Centre, Leiden’s 2018 Africa Thesis Award. This annual award for Master’s students encourages student research and writing on Africa and promotes the study of African cultures and societies. This study aimed to interrogate the oath taking phenomena among Edo female sex workers in Italy. In a bid to understand how the oaths taken in Edo State, translates into an intangible aspect of the trafficking process. To achieve the aims of the study, the research utilised the qualitative method of data collection, it involved the use of in-depth interviews and observations. The study reveals that the transnational silence exhibited by different categories of actors in the Edo sex work network sustains the industry. The research also highlights that the oaths form only a part, albeit important of the construction of debt and bondage in the context of Edo transnational sex work. In light of its findings, the study concludes that the idea of transnationalism of silence is as effective as the oaths taken. Show less
With a focus on Cameroonian migrants from Pinyin and Mankon who are currently living in Cape Town and the Netherlands, this volume examines the workings of the social fabric of mobile communities.... Show moreWith a focus on Cameroonian migrants from Pinyin and Mankon who are currently living in Cape Town and the Netherlands, this volume examines the workings of the social fabric of mobile communities. It sheds light on how these communities are crafting lives for themselves in the host country and simultaneously linking up with the home country thanks to advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and road and air transport. ICTs and mobilities have complemented social relational interaction and provide migrants today with opportunities to partake in cultural practices that express their Pinyin-ness and Mankon-ness. Pinyin and Mankon migrants are still as rooted in the past as they are in the present. They were born into a community with its own sense of home, moral ethos and cultural pride but live in a context of accelerated ICTs and mobility that is fast changing the way they live their lives Show less
The present dissertation concentrates on the study of construction rituals of the Hindu tradition, with special attention to the prathameshtakaanyaasa (the laying of the first stones), the... Show moreThe present dissertation concentrates on the study of construction rituals of the Hindu tradition, with special attention to the prathameshtakaanyaasa (the laying of the first stones), the garbhanyaasa (the placing of the consecration deposit) and the muurdheshtakaanyaasa (the placing of the crowning bricks). The basis for the study is formed, on the one hand, by Sanskrit texts on architecture and ritual, dating from ca. the 7th to the 15th centuries AD, and, on the other hand, by the archaeological material. The chief textual source is the Kaashyapashilpa, a South Indian treatise on art and architecture and ritual, usually dated 11 – 12th century AD. Three chapters from the Kaashyapashilpa, which deal with the three aforementioned construction rituals, have been critically edited, translated and provided with a commentary. In order to answer the questions whether construction rituals mentioned in the ancient Sanskrit treatises were ever performed and if so, whether they were performed according to the textual prescriptions, the information given by the Sanskrit texts have been compared with the material traces of construction rituals originating from various regions of South and Southeast Asia. Show less
Negotiating Life analyzes the funerals of the Garo, a matrilineal hill society of the Indian State of Meghalaya. Garo funerals serve to dispose of the corpse, and to guide the soul of the deceased... Show moreNegotiating Life analyzes the funerals of the Garo, a matrilineal hill society of the Indian State of Meghalaya. Garo funerals serve to dispose of the corpse, and to guide the soul of the deceased to the afterworld. In addition, the rituals allow for the reorganization of social relationships among people and their Houses. Mortuary rituals are instrumental in the transformation of the dead from social persons into anonymous ancestors. Particularly in the latter sense, the dead are a source of authority and prestige, and play an important role in structuring social relationships among people. The author argues that Garo mortuary rituals derive much of their significance from the transfer of gifts between representatives of the deceased and the people who attend a mortuary ritual. The kind of gifts that can be offered depend on the relationship that people trace to the deceased. The acceptance and rejection of these gifts is decided in processes of negotiation. Consequently, gift exchange plays an important role in defining and (re)constructing social relationships. It is shown that people's participation in rituals of death is of structural importance to Garo society and allows them to reconstruct life in the context of death. Show less
