Suchergebnisse

What place is there for holy play in experience-oriented society? Is it possible and useful to make analytic distinctions between the liturgical quality of events? I explored these questions by doing research on the boundaries between the religious field and the field of leisure. Fifty site visits to public events in the Netherlands (2006–2014) resulted in a collection of ethnographic data. I used the concept of play as introduced by the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga and the tools of ritual studies to explore whether these could help to produce an account of the liturgical quality of ritualized meetings. Holy play might be found in unexpected places, such as in a bingo hall. Huizinga's broad diagnosis of modernity may be outdated, but the tools he introduced remain useful to distinguish the elements that constitute late-modern meetings as more or less playful – even when this involves combinations that seem contradictory from Huizinga's own point of view.

Purpose: Preparing citizens for participation in pluralist democracies also requires a type of citizenship education that fosters critical democratic citizenship (CDC). This study inquires into an educational activity with a long history in many EU-countries: mock elections. It explores the extent to which elements of CDC-literacy, competences and identity are commonly fostered in education related to mock elections in the Netherlands, and teacher rationales in this regard. Methodology: A qualitative study was conducted. Data from semi-structured interviews with teachers from eight schools were analysed using thematic analysis.Findings and implications: Data analysis revealed an emphasis on offering a participatory experience. Five elements of critical democratic citizenship were commonly advanced in mock election related education in these schools. Teacher narratives also revealed how teachers had different understandings about political identity and their role in advancing identity development. Findings suggest that there is ample opportunity to intensify attention to CDC-development in education related to mock elections in Dutch schools. Further research into students' political identity development processes during political simulations in different political and educational contexts is required to further academic debate about desirable support by teachers and governments in high-quality political education projects

The Court of Justice of the European Union should decide in the case Bogendorff von Wolffersdorff that Articles 18 TFEU and 21 TFEU have to be interpreted as meaning that the authorities of a Member State are obliged to recognise the change of name of a national of that State if he is at the same time a national of another Member State and has acquired in that Member State during habitual residence any change of name in accordance with the law of that Member State.