Special Examples of Diffusions in Random Environment

In this note we present some examples of diffusions in random environment whose asymptotic behavior is rather surprising. We construct a family of diffusions that are small perturbations of Brownian motion with non-vanishing expected local drift under the static measure of the environment but where the ballistic behavior is lost. As slight modifications of this collection of diffusions we also provide examples with ballistic behavior where the non-vanishing limiting velocity points to a direction opposite to the expected local drift under the static measure.Comment: 16 pages; accepted for publication in "Stochastic Processes and their Applications

The Practice of Wearing Crystals in Contemporary New Spirituality in Estonia: Supporting Oneself in Everyday Life

This article concentrates on the practice of wearing crystals in Estonia. The practice is currently a popular phenomenon in New Spirituality on a global scale, although it is not an entirely novel trend. Crystals are part of the materiality of New Spirituality and so the aim of the article is to emphasize the meaning-making process of this materiality and of vernacular interpretations in the practice. Following the methodology of material culture studies, I focus on mutual relationships and interaction between humans and crystals and the significances gained through practice. Based on the perspectives of vernacular religion, the practice is embedded in people’s everyday lives. People wear crystals to support their human qualities and daily activities, and in practice crystals as material objects evolve intimate and profound relationship with people

35th Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference in Reykjavik

The 35th Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference, titled RE:22, was held from June 13th to 16th, 2022 was held in Reykjavik, Iceland

The Material Agency of Crystals in New Spirituality: Significance of Decay and Failure of Materials

This paper studies crystals in New Spirituality in Estonia not only as things, or objects, used in certain practices, but also as agentive materials. My research participants, who wear crystals, take their material properties seriously, finding the properties to have supportive qualities, according to esoteric interpretation. Nevertheless, things and materials, objects and minerals, are never permanent; they have material lives of their own. Sometimes minerals lose their gloss, crack, break or just become lost. Physical decay and displacement, which are the focus of this paper, have meaning-making potential, which my interlocutors interpret within the framework of the esoteric. Their perception of these minerals can be understood in posthumanist and new materialist terms. The paper uses the concept of material agency to demonstrate how natural processes of decay acquire cultural meaning by connecting material properties and human interpretation. This work was supported by an Estonian Research Council grant (PUT number PRG670), ‘Vernacular Interpretations of the Incomprehensible: Folkloristic Perspectives Towards Uncertainty’

Cut Points and Diffusions in Random Environment

In this article we investigate the asymptotic behavior of a new class of multidimensional diffusions in random environment. We introduce cut times in the spirit of the work done by Bolthausen et al. (Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré 39(5):527-555, 2003) in the discrete setting providing a decoupling effect in the process. This allows us to take advantage of an ergodic structure to derive a strong law of large numbers with possibly vanishing limiting velocity and a central limit theorem under the quenched measur

Religious Deviance in the Elizabethan Diocese of Durham

Siiri Tenno Religious Deviance in the Elizabethan Diocese of Durham Abstract This study explores the subject of religious deviance in its multiple forms in the Elizabethan diocese of Durham. Based on the information from the deposition books of Durham Consistory Court, dating from 1565 until the end of Elizabeth’s reign in 1603, the acts of deviance are divided into three categories, extending from the Northern Rebellion of 1569 to the occurrence of deviance in the daily life of Elizabethan parishioners and to the manifestation of beliefs in witchcraft and magic. The outcome of this research testifies to deviant religious beliefs and practices having coexisted alongside orthodox Protestantism whilst the line between unorthodox and orthodox beliefs was often blurred. Regarding the attitudes towards religion and the nature of the acts of deviance, the material at hand did not allow to detect any significant changes over the time in focus. The acts of religious deviance with similar nature were noted throughout the diocese which is confuting the often presented assumption of remote and rural upland areas having been more superstitious and change resistant than urban and lowland areas. Moreover, the differences between educated and popular views were not as distinct as some of the previous studies have indicated. It has found proof that the popular and learned beliefs were more interwoven in the Elizabethan diocese of Durham than previously suggested

Neošamanistlikest vabavormidest Lõuna-Siberi põlisrahvaste näitel

On the Free Forms of Neoshamanism Based on the Indigenous Peoples of Southern Siberia Starting from the second half of the 1980s, the indigenous areas of Southern Siberia in the Soviet Union saw the beginning of the liberation movement know as perestroika, which brought on in the region an active, versatile and purposeful restoration of shamanism – the historic religion of the peoples of Southern Siberia. This article explores the new shamanistic forms and practices characteristic only to Southern Siberia formed during these processes, which have common features with similar trends that occurred in other parts of the world. The research methods used in this article include the synthesis and meta-analytic comparison of the data obtained from source materials, which has been the basis for drawing general conclusions giving an overview of the modern specificities and characteristics of neoshamanism in Southern Siberia