Attaining the mystical body: Indian Sufi ascetic practices

While anthropologists have carefully documented various Sufi orders, the bulk of these studies focus on socio‐historic and organisational aspects of Sufism. This has been especially the case of Sufis in India. There is an apparent lack of examining experiential aspects Sufi mystical practices. In India, many Sufi orders are intrinsically linked with Muslim shrines. Muslim shrines are viewed by Sufi as being invested with barkat (divine blessedness, sacred power), a power generally assumed to be a gift conferred upon the saint by Allah. Consequently, Sufis often engage in their mystical practices in the proximity of Muslim shrines. The shrine of the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya, located in Delhi, is a renowned thaumatological shrine which is a centre for Sufi activities. Sufis spend many years engaged in a rigorous regimen of ascetic and mystical practices. These form a central part of their daily lives at the Nizamuddin shrine. In this article, I explore the notion of mystical mastery among Indian Sufis and ways in which their ascetic practices seek to attain a mystical body. I contend that mystical mastery is a form of re‐authoring the self, in that Sufis’ mystical complexes permit them to transform and modify themselves through various operations on their bodies.     

Sultans of Spin: Syrian Sacred Music on the World Stage

This article examines how the performance of a variety of Islamic music in transnational cultural circuits helps to promote the idea of a style of sacred music within the category of world music. Taking as an example the performance of the mawlawiyya, or "Whirling Dervish," music and dance by a Syrian–based ensemble, I show how the idea of an authentic local Syrian sacred music tradition requires its performance globally. I use the concept of the "world stage" to examine how musical performance practices that are represented as authentic local traditions obtain both their authenticity and their local specificity through their staging in global contexts. I further explore how such musical styles as sacred and Sufi emerge as naturalized categories in world music discourse, and how processes of differentiation and commodification reconfigure both the "local" and "global." [Keywords: world music, globalization, style, Syria, Islam]     

Echoes from Kerizinen: pilgrimage, narrative, and the construction of sacred history at a Marian shrine in northwestern France

Drawing upon theoretical perspectives developed by Coleman and Elsner, this article contributes to the anthropological understanding of pilgrimage by presenting and interpreting oral narratives and published texts about Kerizinen, a Marian apparition shrine in Brittany, France. Since the Kerizinen apparitions have never been recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, pilgrims and shrine promoters construct a corpus of narrative evidence that serves for them to validate the shrine's authenticity, despite the ambivalence and opposition of the institutional Church. Following William A. Christian, Jr, I show how the construction of sacred history at Kerizinen involves a process of selective editing privileging certain types of narratives and narrators.     

The pleasures of ambiguity: pedagogy and musical apprenticeship in an Istanbul art studio

‘Dealing with ambiguity’ has become a pressing concern in many spheres of contemporary life, often presented as a ‘survival skill’ in an uncertain world. Working with ambiguity also plays a crucial role in the musical pedagogy of the Ottoman-Turkish ney (Sufi reed flute), the playing of which I discuss in this article. Rather than a constraint or deficiency to be resolved, in the context of ney apprenticeship, ambiguity emerges as a desired pedagogical force not only valued but also deliberately amplified. My aim is to show how ambiguity is embraced here as a productive condition that maximizes possibilities for artistic exploration, freedom of discernment, and aesthetic pleasures.     

Architecture as animate landscape: circular shrines in the ancient Maya lowlands

In this study, I develop a theory of landscape archaeology that incorporates the concept of “animism” as a cognitive approach. Current trends in anthropology are placing greater emphasis on indigenous perspectives, and in recent decades animism has seen a resurgence in anthropological theory. As a means of relating in (not to) one's world, animism is a mode of thought that has direct bearing on landscape archaeology. Yet, Americanist archaeologists have been slow to incorporate this concept as a component of landscape theory. I consider animism and Nurit Bird-David's (1999) theory of “relatedness” and how such perspectives might be expressed archaeologically in Mesoamerica. I examine the distribution of marine shells and cave formations that appear incorporated as architectural elements on ancient Maya circular shrine architecture. More than just “symbols” of sacred geography, I suggest these materials represent living entities that animate shrines through their ongoing relationships with human and other-than-human agents in the world.     

Integrating ecological and cultural values toward conservation and utilization of shrine/temple forests as urban green space in Japanese cities

In Japan, forests associated with shrines and temples are recognized as important components of urban green space, which can potentially function as centers for ecosystem conservation in rapidly urbanizing Japanese cities. In addition to their ecological value, shrine/temple forests have social value, providing recreational and aesthetic needs to residents of urban areas. We review the historical development of shrine/temple forests in Japan and discuss current conservation issues from both ecological and sociological perspectives. Generally, shrine forests are minimally managed and public access is discouraged, whereas temple forests are intensively managed for public display. Shrines tend to be spatially scattered across the landscape but associated with specific geographical features, whereas temples tend to be clustered. Their wide and random distribution in urban areas suggests that shrine forests can potentially be used as stepping stones in the urban green space network, whereas spatially clustered temple forests can be integrated to form large areas of green space. Species diversity of shrine/temple forests declines with decreasing area. The distribution pattern of species is not completely nested, indicating that although conservation of large forest fragments may be effective for maintaining landscape-level biodiversity, smaller forest fragments and adjacent precincts are sometimes significant because rare species occasionally inhabit them. Active management and ecological restoration, such as removal of invasive species, are also important to maintain the desirable near-natural forest conditions. A working group including the owner, community, regional government, and ecologists should be involved in creating an effective, long-term management plan. Because social and cultural values are diverse, basic ecological studies of shrine/temple forests would contribute a scientific basis that fosters public confidence in the process.     

How Do Rituals Affect Cooperation?

Collective rituals have long puzzled anthropologists, yet little is known about how rituals affect participants. Our study investigated the effects of nine naturally occurring rituals on prosociality. We operationalized prosociality as (1) attitudes about fellow ritual participants and (2) decisions in a public goods game. The nine rituals varied in levels of synchrony and levels of sacred attribution. We found that rituals with synchronous body movements were more likely to enhance prosocial attitudes. We also found that rituals judged to be sacred were associated with the largest contributions in the public goods game. Path analysis favored a model in which sacred values mediate the effects of synchronous movements on prosocial behaviors. Our analysis offers the first quantitative evidence for the long-standing anthropological conjecture that rituals orchestrate body motions and sacred values to support prosociality. Our analysis, moreover, adds precision to this old conjecture with evidence of a specific mechanism: ritual synchrony increases perceptions of oneness with others, which increases sacred values to intensify prosocial behaviors.     

Scooping, raking, beckoning luck: luck, agency and the interdependence of people and things in Japan

This article focuses on the circulation and consumption of Japanese commodities invested with an informal, domestic form of spirituality, translated as 'luck'. Tambiah has argued that the dissemination of spiritual power objectified in Thai Buddhist amulets reflects the 'differential power distribution' and 'social control' vested in an hierarchically ordered lay society. My Japanese case study suggests that commodification of religious forms enables a more democratic diffusion of spirituality. Good luck charms are neither sacred nor secular; they challenge the supposed divide between the aesthetic value and utility of objects. They are part of extended networks of human and non-human agents, but through their various trajectories they also retain an independent agency rooted in their material properties.     

Consequences of wooded shrine rituals on vegetation conservation in West Africa: a case study from the Bwaba cultural area (West Burkina Faso)

Anthropological contributions that challenge several common perceptions on sacred sites are still poorly taken into account in conservation and ecological studies. This paper aims at filling this gap and providing a better framework for biological studies. Local concepts of natural sacred sites and their ritual administration were studied and the ritual practices relating to the vegetation of these sites were analyzed in the Bwaba cultural area in West Burkina Faso. Our research shows that these ritual practices are much more diverse and fluid than might have been supposed. Protection ‘by tradition’ is thus rather different from what we call conservation. While vegetation does matter, its presence on sacred sites is not essential. In addition, under certain circumstances, sacred sites may be transferred or reproduced elsewhere. Attention is drawn to the inadequacy of ‘sacred woods’ as a category, in an ecological as well as an anthropological sense. Even if wooded shrines may contribute to biodiversity conservation as a side-effect of their religious purpose, the idea that they fundamentally are ‘endogenous’ nature conservatories must be disproved.     

Conserving the Sacred Medicine Mountains: A Vegetation Analysis of Tibetan Sacred Sites in Northwest Yunnan

Mount Kawa Karpo of the Menri ('Medicine Mountains' in Tibetan), in the eastern Himalayas, is one of the most sacred mountains to Tibetan Buddhists. Numerous sacred sites are found between 1900 and 4000 m, and at higher elevations the area as a whole is considered a sacred landscape. Religious beliefs may affect the ecology of these sacred areas, resulting in unique ecological characteristics of importance to conservation; recent studies have demonstrated that sacred areas can often play a major role in conservation. The goal of this study is to preliminarily analyze the vegetation of sacred areas in the Menri region using existing vegetation maps and a Geographical Information System (GIS) for remote assessment. Sacred sites are compared to random points in the landscape, in terms of: elevation, vegetation, and nearness to villages; species composition, diversity, and richness; and frequency of useful and endemic plant species. Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) ordination reveals that sacred sites differ significantly in both useful species composition (p=0.034) and endemic species composition (p=0.045). Sacred sites are located at lower elevations, and closer to villages, than randomly selected, non-sacred sites (p< 0.0001), and have higher overall species richness (p=0.033) and diversity (p=0.042). In addition, the high-elevation (> 4000 m) areas of the mountain - a sacred landscape - are found to have significantly more endemics than low-elevation areas (p<0.0001). These findings represent an initial analysis of sacred sites and suggest that sacred sites in the Menri region may be ecologically and ethnobotanically unique.     

Sacred Forest, Hunting, and Conservation in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

In a number of places, sacred forest sites play an important role in conservation and local livelihoods. Here we examine how Iban hunters and animals alike use sacred forest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. To determine the relative importance of different sites in hunting, we compare hunting effort, animal species and their numbers encountered by hunters, and encounters and captures in a variety of forest sites including sacred groves. We relate the results to the role of such sites in the overall Iban agroforestry system and in the conservation of forest habitat that professional conservationists deem precious. Such land use practices, while having social and religious origins, may be important for local economic purposes, but they may also be valuable in promoting and enhancing the more global goals of biodiversity conservation.     

A question of taste

A career in science is shaped by many factors, one of the most important being our tastes in research. These typically form early and are shaped by subsequent successes and failures. My tastes run to microscopes, chemistry, and spatial organization of cytoplasm. I will try to identify where they came from, how they shaped my career, and how they continue to evolve. My hope is to inspire young scientists to identify and celebrate their own unique tastes.     

Catholicism and Conservation: The Potential of Sacred Natural Sites for Biodiversity Management in Central Italy

The connection between religion, nature and conservation has become a prominent topic among scholars and conservation practitioners. Numerous studies have shown that spiritual beliefs have contributed to preserving important biodiversity in sacred areas around the world. In Western contexts, however, that link has been underexplored, perhaps due to a common view of Christianity as anti-naturalistic. Here, I rely on a literature review and first-hand observations to identify patterns and trends characterizing Catholic sacred sites in Central Italy. I show that a high proportion of the sites are located in natural areas, and that some types of sites and strands of Catholicism are associated with natural settings more frequently than others. Further, these natural sacred sites often display ecological features that highlight their important conservation role. Greater awareness and consideration of local spiritual heritages are recommended to guarantee more effective and integrated management of the sites.     

Quantization test of the evolution trend of Paleocosta pervinquieri (Ostracode) during a 10-million year period (Djebel-Dyr section, Paleogene, Algeria).

Using a computerised technique that estimates differences or changes in the pattern defined by the distribution of 24 pore-canals of left valves of Paleocosta pervinquieri (Ostracode), we can speculate about the phylogenic evolution of the species ranging in age from Danian (66 My) to Ypresian (54 My) from the Djebel-Dyr section (North East of Algeria). This method is combined with traditional biometric and statistical studies and the analysis of architectural patterns of shells. Firstly, it reveals that Paleocosta pervinquieri is individualised in 6 morphs which evolve from the 'libyaenisis morph' to the 'mokkatamensis morph', between the P1 zone (66 My) to the P4 zone (56 My). During the P5 zone (55 My), we suggest that there has been a genation between the Paleocosta pervinquieri 'mokkatamensis morph' and the Reymensticosta sp. 'semi-reticulated morph'. Furthermore, the Theta-Rho method could be adapted and used for numerous paleontological and biological studies.     

Long-Term Cycles in the History of Life: Periodic Biodiversity in the Paleobiology Database

Time series analysis of fossil biodiversity of marine invertebrates in the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) shows a significant periodicity at approximately 63 My, in agreement with previous analyses based on the Sepkoski database. I discuss how this result did not appear in a previous analysis of the PBDB. The existence of the 63 My periodicity, despite very different treatment of systematic error in both PBDB and Sepkoski databases strongly argues for consideration of its reality in the fossil record. Cross-spectral analysis of the two datasets finds that a 62 My periodicity coincides in phase by 1.6 My, equivalent to better than the errors in either measurement. Consequently, the two data sets not only contain the same strong periodicity, but its peaks and valleys closely correspond in time. Two other spectral peaks appear in the PBDB analysis, but appear to be artifacts associated with detrending and with the increased interval length. Sampling-standardization procedures implemented by the PBDB collaboration suggest that the signal is not an artifact of sampling bias. Further work should focus on finding the cause of the 62 My periodicity.     

Long-tailed macaques use human hair as dental floss

Long-tailed macaques in Lopburi, Thailand, use human hair as if it were dental floss. This eccentric behavior is seen mainly in a large group of macaques that live at the old Buddhist shrine of Prang Sam Yot. Many monkeys of this group take hair and sort a few pieces to make a string and then brush their teeth by pulling it tightly with right and left hands alternatively between their teeth. This habit is not seen in the other localities near Lopburi and is rare even in the surrounding groups. Monkeys in the Prang Sam Yot shrine are worshipped as servants of God and people respect them, even when they ride on their heads. This behavior could be considered a newly occurring cultural behavior, which has become established under very specialized circumstances.     

Molecular basis of the C-terminal tail-to-tail assembly of the sarcomeric filament protein myomesin

Sarcomeric filament proteins display extraordinary properties in terms of protein length and mechanical elasticity, requiring specific anchoring and assembly mechanisms. To establish the molecular basis of terminal filament assembly, we have selected the sarcomeric M-band protein myomesin as a prototypic filament model. The crystal structure of the myomesin C-terminus, comprising a tandem array of two immunoglobulin (Ig) domains My12 and My13, reveals a dimeric end-to-end filament of 14.3 nm length. Although the two domains share the same fold, an unexpected rearrangement of one beta-strand reveals how they are evolved into unrelated functions, terminal filament assembly (My13) and filament propagation (My12). The two domains are connected by a six-turn alpha-helix, of which two turns are void of any interactions with other protein parts. Thus, the overall structure of the assembled myomesin C-terminus resembles a three-body beads-on-the-string model with potentially elastic properties. We predict that the found My12-helix-My13 domain topology may provide a structural template for the filament architecture of the entire C-terminal Ig domain array My9-My13 of myomesin.     

Position effect variegation in Drosophila: towards a genetics of chromatin assembly

The formation of a highly condensed chromosome structure (heterochromatin) in a region of a eukaryotic chromosome can inactivate the genes within that region. Genetic studies using the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster have identified several essential genes which influence the formation of heterochromatin. My purpose in this review is to summarize some recent work on the genetics of heterochromatin assembly in Drosophila and a recent model for how chromosomal proteins may interact to form a heterochromatic structure.