bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact of Fiscal Adjustment on Income Distribution in Pakistan
Authors: Zafar Iqbal  , Rizwana Siddiqui
Published: August 2018

This study provides a quantitative assessment of selected fiscal adjustment policies on income distribution in Pakistan. Using a latest social accounting matrix for the year 1989-90 and the static fixed-price model, various simulation exercises have been performed. The results show that reduction in subsidies has more adverse impact •on the incomes of the richest rural and urban households, implying that the richest people In the country are the greater beneficiaries of subsidies provided by the government. The evidence also suggests that a contraction in government current spending appears to have a negative impact on the incomes of all urban and rural household groups but the largest reduction appears in the income of the richest rural, followed by the poorest urban. The simulation results indicate that a decline in public expenditure on education and health affects the poorest urban and poorest rural more than the relatively better-off urban and rural income groups. Further, the estimates of Gini-coefficients show that reduction in consumption subsidies improves income distribution in both rural and urban areas of Pakistan. Conversely, reduction in subsidies on production worsens income distribution both in urban and rural areas, while reducing overall government current expenditure leads to deterioration of income distribution in urban areas but improves it in rural areas marginally. Similarly, reduction in government expenditure on education and health adversely affects income distribution in both urban and rural areas of Pakistan.
M. L. Dantwala, Harsh Sethi and Pravin Visaria. Social Change through Voluntary Action. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1998. Hardback. Indian Rs 325.00. 199 pages.
Authors: Rashida Haq
Published: August 2018

This book is an• extremely valuable addition to a very important topic concerning development issues at the grassroots levels. It has highlighted the contribution of voluntary organisations and proved that voluntary action can• be a potent instrument for bringing about social change, for eliminating poverty and for building an egalitarian and humane society. In the introduction, the editors remind the readers of the unfulfilled promises made before, and after independence, by leaders to banish poverty and inequality. Five of the eleven chapters in this book take a macro view of the context, the nature as well as the future of voluntary action in India: These articles describe the current state of affairs, the degeneration of the values of sacrifices and an unending quest for money and political power. So, it is argued, that basic values in public behaviour can be restored through vigilant and purposive voluntary action. But a major criticism of voluntary groups is their localism, small size, fragmentation and the failure to institutionalise them. The editors are of the view that thousands of such groups can collectively contribute to social transformation through their modest efforts at organising help for the needy, redress their• grievances and fight against atrocities inflicted on them. The articles evaluate the contextual factors influencing the emergence of voluntary organisations and their applicability to the Indian situation.
Social Policy and Development Centre. Social Development in Pakistan: Annual Review 1999. Karachi. Social Policy and Development Centre and Oxford University Press. 1999. Pakistan Rs 395/(Pb). 166 pages.
Authors: A. R. Kemal
Published: August 2018

This Report on Social Development in Pakistan is a welcome addition to the economic literature on Pakistan; it reviews the development and policies during the past year (1999) in the perspective of long-run trends. The 1999 issue has been enriched by an analysis of the impact of economic sanctions on Pakistan's economy. The five chapters of the Report discuss crises in the economy focussing on short- and long-run problems, the impact of the economic sanctions, the IMF package, and, alternative strategies of economic and social development, the future outlook for social development in Pakistan, the Social Action Programme and Social Safety "Nets. Data and important social events during the year are presented in the annexures.
Fisher Effect in Pakistan
Authors: Hamid Hasan
Published: August 2018

This paper attempts to test the validity of the Fisher Hypothesis (FH) in Pakistan by investigating the long-run relationship between interest rate and inflation rate applying cointegration analysis. The FH has serious implications for debtors and creditors in an inflation prone economy since inflationary expectations influence nominal interest rate. Moreover, the effectiveness of monetary policy and efficiency in banking sector has direct bearing on the long-run relationship between nominal interest rate and expected inflation rate. Inflationary expectation has been modeled using adaptive and rational expectation approaches and sensitivity of the result to expectation formation has been compared. The paper finds the long-run relationship between nominal interest rate and inflation rate and accepts the partial Fisher Hypothesis. This result suggests that interest rate does not fully cover or accurately anticipate inflation, which implies that bank deposits deteriorate over time. The result further implies that monetary policy may not be effective in such a situation and households’ savings rate may suffer a decline. The acceptance of partial Fisher Hypothesis in case of rational expectation suggests that the rate of interest does not reflect all relevant information and real interest rate does not exhibit random walk behaviour, which is indicative of inefficiency in banking sector. The analysis clearly shows the failure of interest rate as a hedge against inflation and as a predictor of inflation. Therefore, the paper recommends innovation and financial engineering for better alternative especially in banking. The paper also recommends the growth and encouragement of equity market vis-à-vis prevalent debt-biased market. Finally, the paper advocates the complete replacement of traditional credit-based banking by more efficient trade-based banking in Pakistan.
Sakuntala Narasimhan. Empowering Women: An Alternative Strategy from Rural India. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1999. Indian Rupees 195.00. (Paperback). 236pp.
Authors: Samina Nazli
Published: August 2018

The positive role of women in economic development cannot be understated; those that are educated and properly empowered can act as catalysts in the development process. This book is about how to empower women so that they can become independent and self-sustaining actors in development. The conventional wisdom is that womens’ empowerment depends on following a simple strategy—alleviate poverty by spending large amounts of money. Having followed this strategy in the past the author feels that it has been far from successful. Monetary inputs by itself is not a sufficient condition to assist women in improving their status. The author puts forward an alternate view that the reasons why women are disadvantaged in India, despite fifty years of development, is due to their ignorance, powerlessness and vulnerability. This is particularly so for those women who belong to the Scheduled Castes (Harijans) and Scheduled Tribes (Girijans or “mountain people”).
Returns to Facilitating Farmers’ Organisations for Distributary Maintenance: Empirical Results from a Pilot Project in Southern Punjab
Authors: Mehmood Ul Hassan
Published: August 2018

Institutional reforms currently underway in Pakistan’s irrigation and drainage sector require that farmers take over the operation and maintenance responsibilities of their secondary canals. However, the farmers need to be organised first, for which investments are a prerequisite. A great deal of skepticism about the farmers’ collective ability and willingness to undertake the needed tasks exists, even now when they are actually organised. This skepticism originates from past experiences when direct subsidies were offered to induce collective action. Theoretically, collective action can be more sustainable if investments are made in capacity building for the tasks that the farmers have to perform to improve the service delivery. Farmers are being organised for distributary operation and maintenance. So far, the delay in formulation of an appropriate legal framework has prevented the irrigation departments from formally transferring the operation and maintenance responsibilities to farmers. Self-help-based maintenance has been the only avenue for farmers to participate in the management of the irrigation system. The paper uses data pertaining to the cost of facilitation and estimates the amount of resources mobilised for two successive years from a pilot project. The analysis shows that investments made for facilitation do pay off. Investment in facilitation returns 69 percent higher than the actual investment per year during the initial years. In the short-run, the returns to facilitation indicate an increasing trend. The paper argues that when compared to previous approaches adopted in Pakistan, investments for facilitation and capacity building have a greater chance of prompting sustainable collective action for irrigation and drainage management.
An Investigation into the Farm Households Consumption Patterns in Punjab, Pakistan
Authors: Umar Farooq  , Trevor Young
Published: August 2018

In the present study, the consumption data of paddy and wheat growing farm households were analysed using the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) model, incorporating the household composition in addition to the usual price/income variables. Although the general restrictions of demand theory were rejected, the overall results were not seriously out of line of a priori expectations. All the own-price elasticities were negative and most of them were significant. Paddy and wheat were found to be gross complements in consumption whereas meat and pulses emerged as gross substitutes. Dairy products and meat were regarded as luxuries by the sample farm households and expenditure on these items was curtailed in response to any addition to household size. Significant quantitative dietary impacts were found associated with change in the age composition of farm households. A more detailed analysis of consumption behaviour of rural families may be merited; this may explore alternative groupings of consumption goods, additional socio-economic factors or use of panel data.
Sunil Misra. Voluntary Action in Health and Population: The Dynamics of Social Transition. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1999. Paperback. Indian Rs 225.00. 273 pages.
Authors: Attiya Y. Javid
Published: August 2018

Health is a coefficient of development. Improvement in the health status of the people is generally preceded by the overall development of the area. Development to a great extent is contingent on the social and economic security of the people, social status of women, female literacy, adoption of new technology, work participation by women, and the internalisation of investments to generate resources and create conditions of economic development. In this process, non-government organisations at the micro level play an important role.
Chris Roche. Social Impact Assessment for Development Agencies: Learning to Value Change. UK: Oxfam, 1999. £ 9.95. 308 pages.
Authors: Jasmin Mirza
Published: August 2018

Chris Roche defines impact assessment as “the systematic analysis of the lasting or significant changes—positive or negative, intended or not—in people’s lives brought about by a given action or series of actions” (p. 21). Consequently, the book intends to provide guidelines for ex-post assessments of the “impacts” development or other social sector projects have had on people’s lives. The reader learns about the various social impact assessment approaches and methods mainly through 11 case studies, which form the backbone of the book. These social impact assessments were carried out for ten development projects in developing countries—five of these are located in South Asia, including Pakistan—, and one social sector project in Europe. These projects vary considerably in scale, objectives, and the target group they purport to work for; and they were at different stages of the project cycle at the time the impact assessment was undertaken.
Multisectoral Initiatives, Sectoral Inertia: A Dilemma of
Governance for Development Policy-makers
Authors: Tahir Pervaiz
Published: August 2018

The opinion of development professionals at home and abroad
has converged on the point that bad governance lies at the root of the
loss of the momentum of economic growth, increasing poverty and failed
investment in social sectors. Early concern of development economists
with market failure brought in the arguments for the role of government.
Government failure was the dominant issue of the eighties. The last
decade of the twentieth century is witnessing a focus on governance
failure, a broader concept in that the government is not viewed as the
only governing entity. This paper addresses an issue which has been
there during the reigns of all these “failure” paradigms. It arises from
the inability of governments, organised traditionally into the
vertically operating line departments, to deal effectively with
multisectoral or cross-sectoral problems and cross-cutting issues. The
paper traces the evolution of multisectoral issues and looks at the
standard approach of treating multisectoral initiatives as a
horizontally fathomed coordination problem to show that it has been an
unmitigated disaster. It argues that the multisectoral issues can be
better addressed by internalising the elements of coordination,
particularly in social sectors, though there have been situations which
raise questions about this approach as well
State, Education, and the Market
Authors: Khan Naheed Zia
Published: August 2018

The tail of the tail-end of the 2nd millennium has taught the
humankind two valuable lessons: democracy and the market, although
imperfect, have succeeded where other systems have failed. What is clear
is that the most successful systems are aligned to humankind’s
predispositions rather than being inimical to them. Insofar as it aligns
itself with the predisposition to greed, consistently regulated
capitalism terms out to be the most efficient economic system hitherto
observed in human society. Likewise, democracy works by aligning many
people’s desire for power with a governance system which on balance is
helpful to the general population, unlike various forms of
totalitarianism. But recent movements for both capitalism and democracy
in many developing countries largely do not subscribe to humankind’s
predispositions, rather they appear to be a part of the headlong global
trend towards these paradigms. The reason being that the most important
ingredient, common to both recipes, is lacking in many developing
countries: that is the popular pressure and mobilisation which is
sufficiently informed of its duties and rights. This ingredient is most
important as it forces out the authoritarian rule whether, totalitarian
or ‘democratic’, and makes democratic governance drive the market to the
maximum benefit of society. The central thesis of this work is that this
most important ingredient is the result of an effective and efficient
system of public institutions for free and compulsory universal primary
schooling which, if the resource constraint could be overcome, ought to
be supplemented by free and compulsory secondary schooling.
Poverty, Gender, and Primary School Enrolment in Pakistan
Authors: Arif G. M. , Saqib Najam Us , Zahid G. M.
Published: August 2018

Primary education is at the base of the pyramid of education,
and is regarded as a fundamental human right today. In addition, it has
several tangible social and economic effects. As an essential component
of human capital, primary education plays an important role in the
economic growth and development of a country.1 Its impact on several
other socioeconomic variables has also been documented in the
literature. To quote a few examples, Butt (1984) has found that five or
more years of a farmer’s education lead to increased farm productivity,
reduced use of farm labour, and increased use of yield augmenting
inputs. Azhar (1988) also reports a significant relationship between the
number of years of schooling and increase in farm output due to
increased technical efficiency. Studies of the rates of returns to
education attribute a positive value to the rate of returns to primary
education.2 This means that by acquiring primary education one can
increase one’s earnings.
A Governance Perspective on Development Issues (The Presidential
Address)
Authors: Qureshi Sarfraz Khan
Published: August 2018

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the 15th
Annual General Meeting of the Pakistan Society of Development
Economists. I have had the proud privilege of being associated with this
Society since its inception, initially as its Founding Secretary and
member and later as its President. I have watched it flourish and helped
ensure that it grows from strength to strength. In this, the last
meeting of the Society with me as its President, I am really cheered by
the presence of so many colleagues here, particularly as we know that we
live in troubled times. But I can assure you of a frank and open
discussion of the key development issues of the day. Economic growth and
poverty reduction are difficult to achieve in the best of times. With
decaying institutions and poor governance, these goals become an
impossible dream. That is why the theme of this year’s annual meeting is
“Governance, Institutional Reform, and Economic Growth”. I hope that the
papers being presented and the discussions on or around this theme
during these four days will indicate the way forward from the current
morass. I shall not bore you with the details of the economy’s
deplorable condition—most of you are familiar with them. Its
deterioration is best judged by the International Country Risk Guide
(ICRG) ratings for Pakistan, which are computed by weighting three
elements—corruption, rule of law, and bureaucratic quality. These
ratings for Pakistan in 1998 are three times what they were in 1982.
This means that on a relative scale, things in Pakistan are three times
as bad in 1998 as the 1982 levels.
Governing for Results in a Globalised and Localised World (The
Mahbub ul Haq Memorial Lecture)
Authors: Shah Anwar
Published: August 2018

This paper addresses three complementary themes in bringing
about responsive and accountable public governance in developing
countries—namely globalisation, localisation and a results oriented
management and evaluation (ROME). The first theme recognises
interdependencies in an interconnected world and discusses how these
influences would shape partnership within and across nations. The second
theme is concerned with public sector realignments within nations to
meet the challenges associated with heightened expectations from an
informed citizenry. The third theme relates to creating a new culture of
public governance that is responsive and accountable to citizens. The
paper argues that a road to ROME holds significant promise of overcoming
the ills of a dysfunctional, command and control, overbearing and rent
seeking public sector in many developing countries. ROME de-emphasises
traditional input controls and instead is concerned with creating an
authorising environment in which the public officials are given the
flexibility to manage for results but are held accountable for
delivering public services consistent with citizen preferences. Further
under ROME incentive mechanisms induce public and non-public (private
and nongovernment) sectors to compete in the delivery of public services
and match public services with citizen preferences at lower tax cost to
society per unit of output.
La madurez ante el espejo: Interrelación entre la satisfacción corporal y vital de personas mayores en España
Authors: Sanchez Cabrero Roberto , Barrientos Fernández Amelia , Arigita García Amaya
Published: August 2018

La satisfacción corporal y vital está íntimamente relacionadas durante la juventud y edad adulta. No obstante, en la vejez ambos procesos padecen severas transformaciones de forma aislada que podrían modificar la naturaleza de esta relación significativamente. Este estudio se plantea evaluar si la relación entre satisfacción corporal y vejez se mantiene estable durante la vejez y cuáles son los factores que determinan la naturaleza de dicha relación, valorando la edad, el sexo, la presencia de pareja y el entorno como variables de estudio. Se utiliza el Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ. Cooper, Taylor, Cooper, y Fairburn, 1987, adaptado y validado sobre población española por Raich et al., 1996) para medir la satisfacción corporal, y el Cuestionario de satisfacción Vital (CSV. Sánchez, 2012) para medir la satisfacción vital. Los resultados indican que la mayor insatisfacción corporal a partir de los 65 años se asocia directamente con ser mujer, habitar en un entorno urbano y tener pareja actual. A partir de los 50 años la satisfacción corporal y vital sigue correlacionando fuertemente para las mujeres, pero las diferencias observadas según sexo están mediatizadas por la presencia de pareja, que tiene un funcionamiento inverso para hombres y mujeres, y enmascara la posible influencia del factor sexo en los participantes al estudio.
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF COASTAL STATES AGAINST THE SHIP CRASH IN INTERNATIONAL STRAIT (MALACCA STRAIT)
Authors: Asdiana Femmy , Chomariyah Chomariyah , Dewanto Wisnu Aryo
Published: August 2018

Malacca Strait is globally recognized as a strait for international shipping as mentioned in UNCLOS 1982 and is under the sovereignty of three states; Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Seeing the position of Malacca Strait that becomes the most crowded lane of international trade and oil, it often raises problems in navigation. In addition, many rocks, corals and strong waves may increase the potential of ship wrecking, sinking, and crashes. In regard to the safety issue of shipping lane in Malacca Strait, it becomes the responsibility of the coastal states and thus, they should organize an integrated safety management among them, particularly in Malacca Strait. They are Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The safety assurance of shipping in Malacca Strait may increase the global economy as international oil trading and distribution is well-conducted, and finally it may increase the economy of the coastal states in Malacca Strait.
Die osteuropäischen Volkssagen vom vorherbestimmten Schicksal
Authors: Brednich Rolf
Published: August 2018

to be added
Shamanism as a research subject: some methodological viewpoints
Authors: Ränk Gustav
Published: August 2018

There is hardly any other ethnological or historico-religious subject that has had such a great power of attraction on scholars or on other more or less popular writers as shamanism, particularly in its North-Eurasian version, the one dealt with in this essay. To be convinced of this one need only look at the bibliographical works on the subject. The bibliography on the Russian literature dealing with this subject, published by the Russian scholar A. Popov in 1932, on its own includes more than 65o articles and long essays. Thirty years have passed since then, and interest in shamanism has far from died out among Russian scholars. In addition there are essays on the subject written in other languages. North-Eurasian shamanism, as is known, does not comprise a completely unified phenomenon, but exists in different gradated forms that not seldom take on a strong local colouring. Not only does the personality make-up of the shamans vary, but so do their authority, their pattern of behaviour, and professional equipment, and all this provides a fertile soil for different theoretical reconstructions and generalizations.
Shamanistic ecstasy and supernatural beings: a study based on field-work among the Kalash Kafirs of Chitral
Authors: Siiger Halfdan
Published: August 2018

The paper presents Kafir shamanism and discusses the problem of the relationship of the supernatural beings and the shaman. When approached in the proper way, the supernatural beings may intervene in favour of the people. This intervention becomes manifest through symptoms beyond human control, i.e. through ceremonial shivering, etc. The supernatural beings may also give their help in a higher degree through replies to questions, and through dreams to the dehar when he is in an unconscious state. These interventions may take two forms: either the solving of an immediate problem which the people cannot solve for themselves, or warnings concerning future dangerous events.
Hungarian shamanism, material and history of research
Authors: Fazekas Jenö
Published: August 2018

It is claimed that it is possible to recover an important segment of the religion of pre-Christian Hungary and its intellectual culture by attempting to isolate the shamanistic survival in Hungarian folk tradition. According to certain scholars this shamanistic element came from the East some thousand years ago to the region now dominated by Hungarian folk tradition along with the migrant Hungarians. It should consequently be compared foremost with shamanism in the Eastern lands where the Hungarians originated and where shamanistic beliefs and practices were living until quite recently, principally Siberia. At the same time, however, one must also take into account the contact between the invaders and other tribes in Central-Asia and South-East Europe. Furthermore, the Hungarians encountered and underwent the influence of beliefs that already existed in the land of their adoption before their arrival. Finally, all these traditions were again modified and overlaid by Christian ideas and customs.
Les identifications de Gayomart à l'époque islamique
Authors: Hartman Sven
Published: August 2018

In this paper, the author explores who was identified as the First man in the context of the arrival of Islam in Persia. Was Gayomart the first man, or Adam, or are they the same person? This question was not only religious but also political, as they represented two different peoples, the Persians and the Arabs.
Maoism - a New Religious formation in the People's Republic of China
Authors: Haglund Åke
Published: August 2018

A few words may first be said of the fate of the established religions in China, when Mao Tse-tung in 1949 from T'ien An Men, Peking, declared the new regime, the People's Republic of China (PRC), which like other Communist regimes, looked upon religion as opium for the people. Karl Marx wrote: "The abolition of religion as illusionary happiness of the people is required for real happiness."' Very soon after the take over of power, Chow En-lai called representatives of various religions to Peking as Government guests to discuss the future of these religious organisations and assured them they could go ahead as usual, provided they co-operated with the government. Mao had stated before 1949 that everyone is free to believe or not to believe in religion, which statement was later on passed as Article 88 of the National Constitution. Moreover, Mao's attitude towards religion was declared in his article On New Democracy: "In the field of political action Communists may form an anti-imperialist and anti-feudal front with some idealists and even religious people, but we can never approve of their idealism or religious doctrine." Working under strict limitations the religious groups, at the outbreak of Cultural Revolution in 1966, had to stop all religious activities. Maoism has led to a new unity. Ceremonies include standing before a portrait of Mao each morning asking instruction for the day, reading portions of the works of Mao before meals with gratitude, also reporting from the work of the day at night. As prayer is at the core of all religions as well as meditation it would seem that this is practised in China today.
Millerism - an historical enigma?
Authors: Lindén Ingemar
Published: August 2018

It is a wellknown fact in history that strong bias in the writers and a wishful thinking radically prevent the analysis of any event or religious activity. For this reason Catholic ecclesiastical writers of the old school distorted the role of Martin Luther and his movement; likewise the Radical Reformation fared badly in old handbooks, whether they were composed by Catholics or Lutherans. Again the same principle applies to many of the modern "sects" in America and in Europe. Millerism is an excellent case for illustrating this unfelicitious type of writing. The layman-evangelist William Miller (1782-1849) claimed that the world would never be converted; only the second coming of Christ could usher in the millennium. In order to obtain a better understanding of Millerism, the movement should be divided into three main periods, which differed in character. At first, Miller's own development needs to be ascertained. Though he lacked any thorough intellectual training and remained an autodidact, he nevertheless belonged to the wide range of middle class Yankees. To be sure, Miller lived not too far from the famous frontier in his youth, but despite preconceived ideas in some writers, Miller had his cultural roots in the built-up areas of a New England society. The second important stratum in his personality was the warm Baptist revivalism, which prevailed in his home. Deism and revivalism thus contended for the supremacy of his soul; admitting the later dominance of evangelical revivalism, reason and order continued to hold a place in his mental set-up.
Verzeichnis der Usina-Lieder
Authors: Biezais Haralds
Published: August 2018

to be added
The professional ecstatic in his social and ritual position
Authors: Sonne Birgitte
Published: August 2018

The professional ecstatic is a religious specialist, who has become recognized as a person able to carry out an ecstatic ritual, corresponding with the local cultural expectations in force. The ecstatic ritual per se comprises a number of persons, i.e. it is a collective ritual. Part of the criteria that may be employed as a measure of the professional ecstatic's social status, is covered by the determining designation, social and cultic position. What ecstatic ritual duties does he have, and how large a part in the whole range of collective rituals within his society will his duties comprise? This question is examined through the social and ritual position among the Eskimos in their traditional, and thus relatively stable, societal cultures. The professional ecstatics among the Eskimos may be defined as shamans. However, the shamans were only part-time specialists among the Eskimos. They did have ritual tasks in the economic rituals of their society, and most of them had to pass a special ritual of initiation to obtain recognition as a shaman. The Eskimos have no juridical institutions, and as their informal leaders have no juridical authority, the shaman must exercise a considerable control of social morality. The shaman can here function simultaneously as informal leader, which is an impossible combination in societies with some degree of political organization. A shaman never became a leader due to his shaman powers in isolation. In societies where hunting demanded organized cooperation under a single man's leadership, he should also have organisatorial gifts. If a shaman, apart from his recognized shaman powers, possessed these qualities, he could attain a leader's status. His advice as a shaman, in common situations of crisis, combined with his authority as a leader, would endow him with particularly great authority.
Spirit-possession in theory and practice: séances with Tibetan spirit-mediums in Nepal
Authors: Berglie Per-Arne
Published: August 2018

This paper describes a short study of the séances and trance-performances of three Tibetan spirit-mediums (dpa' bo) from a refugee-community in Nepal. The field-work on which this study is based was carried out in a Tibetan refugee-village in Nepal during 1970 and 1971. For each dpa' bo:  dBang phyug, Sri gcod, and Nyi ma don grub, a summary of personal thoughts and beliefs concerning possession is provided, followed by an example of how a séance was structured. A common feature is that when all the gods summoned have arrived, possession took place by the god most suited to carry out the task of the evening. The actual change of the ritual status of the spirit-medium is marked by the putting on of the headdress. From now on, until it falls off at the end of the séance, it is the god who speaks and acts through the medium, who afterwards claims that he has no recollection whatsoever of what then passes. A necessary condition for the activity of a spirit-medium is, of course, the conviction that their possession is genuine. Theoretically, when a dpa' bo has passed the period of calling and has been tested and has received the necessary training, this genuineness is proved. Of an established dpa' bo no further proofs are therefore required in addition to the satisfactory solution of the problems put to him at the séances. If, after all, someone has doubts about a dpa' bo, he can call a lama.
Concepts of ecstasy in Euripides’ “Bacchanals” and their interpretation
Authors: Portefaix Lilian
Published: August 2018

In dealing with ecstasy in antiquity, scholars usually refer to Euripides'  "Bacchanals"' as one of the most reliable sources with regard to this phenomenon. This drama can also be supplemented by vase paintings, which to a great extent deal with motives from the circle of Dionysos. We can observe that the ecstatic experience, as depicted by Euripides contains such psychological phenomena as hallucinations, including optical, acoustic and olfactive delusion, anesthesia, delusion as to one's own strength and possession. Euripides' description can be explained in different ways according to the view taken of religion and its function.
Lars Levi Laestadius' attitude to Saami religion
Authors: Hallencreutz Carl
Published: August 2018

How Læstadianism became the "religion of the Saamis" is a process of church and religious history which has not been fully explained. It is a comprehensive development which includes most of Læstadius' entire ministry. In this work he did not regard the Saami religion as something exclusively out of date. Instead, he put his message in a more concrete form by making use of Saami ideas. A central question is how Læstadius took account of—or afforded expression to motives from traditional Saami mythology when he formulated and adapted his own interpretation of Christianity to the Saami environment. For instance, the existence of the mother goddess (Madder-akka) and other female deities was something extremely concrete in Saami pre-Christian. In Læstadius' time conceptions and the worship of these deities had ceased. Despite this, Læstadius may have found it of value, in a living Saami interpretation of Christianity, to give a more rounded picture of the deity that was expressed in Christian usage by the old Saami god of thunder and sky, Jubmela by keeping alive the mother aspect of "the heavenly parent". Therefore he may have consciously chosen to use mother symbolism when talking of the secret of atonement.
Child abandonment as an indicator of Christianization in the Nordic countries
Authors: Pentikäinen Juha
Published: August 2018

In the Nordic countries, child abandonment seems to have been a commonly accepted social tradition until the acceptance of Christianity. When Christian influences reached the Far North, this old practice was gradually criminalized. When the old practice was criminalized by Christian sanctions and norms, the abandoned, murdered or aborted unbaptized children were experienced supernaturally. Their supranormal manifestations are described in Nordic folk beliefs and narratives concerning dead children; in Old Norse sagas, Swedish and Norwegian provincial and ecclesiastical laws and in Finnish runic poetry, all stemming from the Middle Ages.
Singing of incantations in Nordic tradition
Authors: Siikala Anna-Leena
Published: August 2018

Spoken recitation became established as the mode of delivering the Finnish incantation. The ordinary incantations connected with everyday life in agrarian society were recited with little ceremony, in a mumble, a whisper. Finnish researchers of folk belief have described the incantation as a genre characterised by spoken delivery and a verbatim adherence to a traditional scheme. The European incantations noted down in the past few centuries are indeed formulae with a seemingly mechanical effect. The performer aims not at personal contact with the other world or an opponent, but believes rather that he will achieve his goal through his command of secret knowledge and magic techniques. Anyone is capable of reciting an incantation, and the mode of delivery is of no vital significance. This description, however, only partially corresponds to the essence of the Finnish incantation tradition. The incantations of Eastern Finland differ from those of the western tradition in their breadth and wordiness. They have also been characterised by a wealth of variation. These characteristics are reinforced by the tietäjä institution which persisted late in the area. From what we know of the tietäjä's behaviour, the incantation uttered in a normal speaking voice is a late phenomenon. It also appears that the Eastern Finnish and Karelian tietäjä institution in particular retained elements of the pre-Christian, Scandinavian belief tradition longer than any other.
Shamanic Rites Seen from a Shamanic Perspective
Authors: Horwitz Jonathan
Published: August 2018

Most of the previously practiced methods of investigating the shamanic rite have only shown half the picture. For a deeper understanding, it is also necessary to examine the rite's content. Taking the shaman's point of view into consideration, listening to how the shaman describes his experiences, and honoring that description as valid, is the first step.The work of the shaman has always been a matter of experience, experience which outside observers could not accept as being "real" because of their own limited understanding of reality, and so they labeled it as religious faith, imagination, beliefs, superstitions, insanity, or even play-acting.
The Hindu Confrontation with the Jaina and the Buddhist. Saint Tirunacampantar's Polemical Writings
Authors: Veluppillai Alvappillai
Published: August 2018

The seventh century A.D. was a period of religious conflict when Hinduism, especially the Saiva Bhakti movement came to collusion with Jainism and Buddhism in Tamilnadu. Saint Tiruñanacampantamurtti (Campantar) is a dominating figure in Tamil Saivism, who seems to reflect a unique blend of Vedic tradition, Saiva faith and Tamil culture. Campantar's outbursts against the Jains and the Buddhists were one of the underlying themes throughout his career. He seems to have made admirable use of Tamil nationalism in his confrontation with Jainism and Buddhism. It was probably the most important factor that favoured the success of the Saiva bhakti movement. He was able to bring out a synthesis of the interests of his caste along with those of  Saivism. The Jains and the Buddhists could not withstand the movement launched by Campantar. Islam and Christianity came to Tamilnadu later but still the main stream among the Tamils continues to be Saivite.
Does the sacred make a difference? Category formation in comparative religion
Authors: Anttonen Veikko
Published: August 2018

When taken at face value, the sacred seems to be an unproblematic concept. Times, places, persons, animals and objects are classified as `sacred', because they have or have had a religious or spiritual significance for people in specific historical and social contexts. Religious traditions and their systems of signification are taken to explain why people have set aside specific things and considered them qualitatively different from other things. Deeming something as sacred means that it is disconnected from the category in social life in which similar things are classified and bestowed with special meaning and value. Sacredness of an object means that it stands in direct relationship to specific power-laden super-human entity by which members in a given culture mirror their self-consciousness or some aspects of it. A sanctuary for instance is a place that is set apart from the rest of the social space, because it is valued as a point of contact between man and the super-human agent worshipped by the local community.
Tradition, experience, interpretation: a dialectical model for describing the development of religious thought
Authors: Räisänen Heikki
Published: August 2018

The term "experience" points to that "something" which stands "between" a tradition and its reinterpretation. From one point of view that means new situations or new contexts. But reinterpretation is accomplished by persons and groups. "New experience" equals "new situation" as perceived by persons or groups. Tradition and experience are inseparably connected. Both in trying to work out a history-of-religion account of early Christian thought', and in trying to understand the Qur'an with empathy, the author has often found it useful to envisage religious thought in terms of a dialectic between tradition, experience and interpretation. This means that religious thought develops in a process in which traditions are time and again interpreted in the light of new experiences, and vice versa: experiences are interpreted in the light of traditions. In other words, elements of the tradition are reinterpreted, but this happens in the framework of the very tradition in question. The emphasis can be put on different sides, either on tradition or on experience. The point is to underline the "process" and its dynamics — to call attention to change, reinterpretation, actualization and reapplication of traditions.
Rereading Finno-Ugrian religion from a gender point of view
Authors: Keinänen Marja-Liisa
Published: August 2018

The male "normal subject" underlying the prior religious descriptions has been constructed in two intertwining processes. Firstly, the scholar, by focusing on men's ideas and practices in the culture he has studied, has created concepts, models and a classificatory system forreligious phenomena, which tends to exclude and distort the phenomena which are based on women's perhaps differing ideas and practices. Secondly, these ideas and practices have been filtered through the male scholar's frame of reference. His ethnocentrism and preconceived ideas as well as the tendency to view his object of study in hierarchical terms has coloured the phenomena studied as well as his overall religious constructs. The challenge of the gender perspective on religious studies is to deconstruct the male normal subject and to elaborate more nuanced and comprehensive models and classificatory systems which also would encompass women's religious ideas and practices. The author illustrates the issue at hand by analysing the overviews in some central handbooks and entries in encyclopaedias on the Finno-Ugrian religions as well as the central monographs in the series Suomen suvun uskonnot (The Religions of the Finnic Peoples) on which these overviews are largely based.
The sacred geography of Kapila: the Kapilasrama of Sidhpur
Authors: Jacobsen Knut
Published: August 2018

To most scholars of Hinduism, the sage Kapila is a person associated only with ancient India and known mainly as the mythical founder of the Sāmkhya system of religious thought. This is the Kapila whose teaching is known through Yuktidīpikā, the Sāmkhyakārikā by Isvarakrsna and other Sāmkhya texts and the tradition of technical commentaries on them. In India this Kapila belongs to a scholarly tradition preserved mainly by pandits with a knowledge of Sanskrit and, for the last hundred years, also by professors in the Indian university system. In this article, the symbolic significance of one of the most important pilgrimage centres connected with Kapila, Sidhpur in Gujarat, is explored. The close connection between the sacred narratives and the rituals performed at the pilgrimage centre is a significant feature of the sacred places devoted to Kapila. At every place of pilgrimage to Kapila there are narratives about him which account for the sacredness of the place. These narratives belong to the geography of Hindu India as much as to the mythology of the Hindu tradition. The life history of Kapila is engraved in a sacred landscape. The place where Kapila was born, the place where he gave the sacred knowledge of ultimate reality to his mother, the different places where he performed tapas, the place where he killed the sons of King Sagara are all part of India's imagined landscape. The promise of the Kapila pilgrimage sites is that these places have power in themselves to remove moral impurity and grant moksa to the pilgrims. The sacred narratives of Kapila function to make this promise trustworthy.
On-line rituals: a new field of research: neo-pagan and Muslim cyber rituals
Authors: Larsson Göran
Published: August 2018

Although secularisation and institutional specialisation have reduced the importance and influence of churchoriented religion, people still have a need for religion and transcendence. By looking at two so-called on-line rituals — a neo-pagan blot and a Muslim dhikr, the author examines and illustrates how religiosity may be articulated on the Internet. Although Internet research is often discussed in relation to methodological and theoretical problems, rituals performed on-line should be included in the academic study of religion. Common problems associated with Internet research (questions of representation, source criticism, etc.) in themselves stimulate the development of new methods and theories for studying on-line religiosity.
“Conjuring up spirits of the past”: identifications in public ritual of living persons with persons of the past
Authors: Schalk Peter
Published: August 2018

Approximisation refers to milieu/space and synchronisation to time. Such approximation/synchronisation requires a special mode of expression, which makes the replacement of room and the reversal of time plausible to the spectator. This mode of expression is myth/ritual or theatre, or both. Here we face both. We face the imitation of an original symbolic act, the handing over of sovereignty, but on a theatre-like stage, the "Court" around the present President of Lanka in 1995. Here the sober borders between theatre and ritual become blurred. The author gives an example of a recent approximisation/ synchronisation by representatives of the PA Government of Lanka in the 1990s. The event is the conquering of Yalppanam (Jaffna) by the Lankan armed forces in November/December 1995. This event is approximated to, and synchronised with, the event of conquering of Yalppanam by the war hero Sapumal Kumaraya in the 15th century. On the modern political stage, the role of King was taken up by the President Chandra Kumaranatunga-Bandaranayka, and the role of Sapumal Kumaraya by her General Anuruddha Ratwatte. The role of the conquered King Kanakacuriyan is by implication ascribed to the present leader of the Ilavar, to Veluppillai Pirapakaran, who also leads his military organisation known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamililam (LTTE). The Ilavar are those who go for independence or autonomy of Tamililam. Lankans are those who go for a unitary or united state of Lanka. The aim of the ritual public performance on the highest state level is to eliminate an experience of contingency surrounding war in a Buddhist country, killing to conquer an area, and establish a unitary state in a country that is already mentally fragmented.