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Vision of Theophilus
Title
The Vision of Theophilus: resistance through orality among the persecuted Copts.
Creator
Guirguis, Fatin Morris., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description
This study is a literary and ethnographic examination of The Vision of Theophilus, a fourth century Coptic narrative, as influential counter-narrative and source of counterdiscourse against the narrative created by the historically dominant Egyptian Arab Muslim state. It shows that The Vision has provided the Copts with the means to articulate their identity as different from their oppressors through its function as a repository of Coptic ideology, history and knowledge. Specifically, it has...
Show moreThis study is a literary and ethnographic examination of The Vision of Theophilus, a fourth century Coptic narrative, as influential counter-narrative and source of counterdiscourse against the narrative created by the historically dominant Egyptian Arab Muslim state. It shows that The Vision has provided the Copts with the means to articulate their identity as different from their oppressors through its function as a repository of Coptic ideology, history and knowledge. Specifically, it has helped them resist the erosion of those aspects of their cultural identity targeted by colonial practices through its promotion of the Coptic language, pride in Coptic history, and Christianization of the landscape. This study also suggests that The Vision tradition has helped alleviate the conditions of material and economic oppression of Copts. Drawing upon theories of Foucauldian genealogy and postcolonialism my research examines the development of Coptic identity and subjectivity in relation to assimilation practices. Using oral studies and ethnopoetics, this study traces the process of composition, transmission, stabilization and systemization of The Vision over sixteen hundred years and its dispersion over a wide geographic region from Egypt to Ethiopia, Syria, and the US. My research suggests that the resilience and effectiveness of The Vision as oral tradition lies in the stability of its core message and its ability to absorb and adapt peripheral changes to the needs of each given historical period. Close analysis of this core message as gleaned through comparative manuscript study also supports important revisions to its datation, and enables us to claim its Coptic authenticity. Previously, the only academic scholarly work concerning The Vision centered on its diffused Syrian and Ethiopian variants while its Coptic manuscript history remained largely unknown., This study, which emphasizes the specifically Coptic origins, history and significance of The Vision of Theophilus, therefore fills a vital scholarly gap: Locating cultural resistance and agency in orality, this study shows how The Vision has historically acted (and still acts today) as a repository of Coptic history and culture enabling Copts to articulate a separate identity over long periods of time, and amidst a wide range of historical and socio-economic factors.
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Date Issued
2010
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1927607
Subject Headings
Copts, History, Oral tradition, Religion and politics, Persecution, History, Copts, Ethnic identity, Ethnic relations, Social aspects
Format
Document (PDF)
novel on Albanian emigration to Italy
Title
A novel on Albanian emigration to Italy: "They Were Seeking Happiness" a translation of Ata Kerkonin Lumturine by Viktor Canosinaj.
Creator
Lubonja, Edna, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Date Issued
2010
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3337188
Subject Headings
Criticism and interpretation, History, Politics and government, Emigration and immigration
Format
Document (PDF)
mariage et la maternitâe chez Marie de France
Title
Le mariage et la maternitâe chez Marie de France.
Creator
Firmino Palazzolo, Danielle., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description
Twelfth century French feudal culture witnesses the codification of new marriage laws and a rapid rise in popularity of the Cult of the Virgin Mary, with correspondingly renewed attention being paid to women by ecclesiastical intellectuals of all sects. Of particular interest to these churchmen was the duty of the medieval wife to bear children. The Lais of Marie de France, a late twelfth-century text, often focus explicitly on motherhood (both biological and symbolic) and therefore allow a...
Show moreTwelfth century French feudal culture witnesses the codification of new marriage laws and a rapid rise in popularity of the Cult of the Virgin Mary, with correspondingly renewed attention being paid to women by ecclesiastical intellectuals of all sects. Of particular interest to these churchmen was the duty of the medieval wife to bear children. The Lais of Marie de France, a late twelfth-century text, often focus explicitly on motherhood (both biological and symbolic) and therefore allow a deeper examination of the new cultural representations of women in the dual role of spouse and mother. The Lais further highlight the symbolic role of the child as guarantor both of a woman's social value and of the validity of the love relationship based on the tenets of fin'amors instead of formal marriage.
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Date Issued
2009
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2182086
Subject Headings
Cult, History, History and criticism, Women, Women in Christianity, Social conditions, History
Format
Document (PDF)