The impetus for this thesis came from experience in the worlds of medicine, urgent and disturbing aspects of heath and people meeting to find ways through complex problems about them. The author facilitated policy making and dialogue between people from very different backgrounds for a number of years. The thesis is an engagement with ambiguous and contradictory human reactions to stress while being-in-the-middle of threat and differences of many kinds. These trigger both scapegoating and an urge to mate. The phenomenon is embodied in the symbol and ritual of the pharmakos. The aim of the thesis is to engage with the phenomenon of the pharmakos, in order to bring back its symbolism and practice to conscious attention in dealing with many demanding situations today.
| Date of Award | 2004 |
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| Original language | English |
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- scapegoat
- purity
- ritual
- rites and ceremonies
- sacrifice
The Pharmakos phenomenon
Murray, M. E. (Author). 2004
Western Sydney University thesis: Doctoral thesis