Question 1: Differences between Powwows and Stomp Dances

What are the primary differences between stomp dances and powwows? What is the aim of each? What function does each serve in Native American culture? What expectations does each have of the performers? Of the audience?

According to Victoria E. Sanchez in “Intertribal Dance and Cross Cultural Communication: Traditional Powwows in Ohio,” the author begins by explaining exactly what a powwow is. “Powwows are American Indian celebrations of community and spirituality, featuring American Indian drum and dance as well as vendors offering American Indian foods, craft items and various other materials.” The aim of powwows is to celebrate center events or situations. According to Sanchez, they begin as tribal dances for situations like, “healing ceremonies, preparations for and return from war, hunting celebrations, spiritual celebrations.”  However, currently the powwow is more of “a social event emphasizing spirituality.” Therefore, the aim and function of these dances are a celebration of spiritual beliefs held by Native Americans.

Jason Baird Jackson discusses stomp dances in his article, “The Opposite of Powwow: Ignoring and Incorporating the Intertribal War Dance in the Oklahoma Stomp Dance Community.” This article focuses on stomp dances in Oklahoma. The function of the stomp dance is to perform these dances on ceremonial grounds. These dances occur at night. It is different from powwows in the fact that it does not have a drum in the center of the dance. Men also contribute vocals to these performances.

Performers and audience are an important part of stomp dances. According to Jason Baird Jackson, the audience and performers are sometimes connected by powwows, bridging a gap between American Indians and Native Americans.

-Monica Strauss

Q3 Native American Music Crossroad & Bridge

Contemporary Native American Music sits at the crossroad of the past and the future and serves as a bridge to these two times and places. The fact that Native American music even is contemporary shows that the Native American (NA for short) people are not just a part of the past but a part of the musical present and future.  This innovation in music can draw an audience, an audience with money!  These musicians must traverse the musical traditions of the past and combine them with music of the present without losing what makes NA music so special and evocative.  This music can serve to illustrate the world that we are losing alongside the one that we are building.

All music can be blended, mixed and remixed to become a cross pollinization of cultures across the world and NA music is no different.  NA music is crossing into genres like reggae, rap, jazz, musical poetry and new age and these hybrid styles can bring different peoples together- NA music can serve as a bridge because the musicans are basically "in between" the cultures, serving as a link between all of the different styles embodied in their music.  NA hybrid music can introduce a whole new generation of people to the NA stories and way of life.  Music is the common language that allows this communication to take place.

Angela Thurman

Check out some NA contemporary riffs with beautiful images:
http://youtu.be/KQ5ZU1HDPLQ

Q2: Circle up yo

The “voice of the drum is like a heartbeat” that pulses through the participants and serves as the lifeblood to the performance.  The powwow is a spiritual celebration of life that encourages both native and non-native Americans to join as long as all minds are free of drugs and alcohol.  The center of the powwow circle is a large drum considered to be both literally and symbolically the heart.  Everything moves around, is centered by, and operates from the placement and purpose of the drum.  Without it, the powwow is impossible.

The circle stands for equality.  Inside it is a prayer for all relatives.  It is a sacred space in which everyone enters into the same prayer, same understanding, and equality.  It is the sacred circle of life, and the dancers inside it also represent their bonds and support for one another through their dancing patterns.  The motion and geometry of the powwow represent the power of the performance to bring people together.  Through this act, participants seek and maintain connections.

Recently, I attended a wedding where a large dance circle formed on the floor.  Members of the bride and groom’s families all joined together to dance and cheer on other participants despite not knowing each other by name.  In the circle everyone was incorporated and invited.  It served as a bonding mechanism that aided in endearing guests to one another and building communitas. 

Circular symbolism is seen throughout venues including corporate communication.  Businesses keen on complete integration, and not hierarchically driven, often hold meetings around a circular table in order to give equal standing to each voice and perspective.  

- Hailey Drescher

The role of the Ajk'il, or the daykeeper, is an important role in the Mayan culture. These people are both men and women who learn how to interpret and understand unexplained diseases, dreams, and ancient Mayan heritage. Their other jobs include taking care of the Mayan shrines and serve as the head of patrilingeages (p. 144). This role can been seen as similar to a modern day astrologist and similar to a psychic. Although this role may been outdated in some cultures, the Mayan value historical information and rely on their ancient calendar to predict upcoming events.

I spent a week in Cancun the summer after my senior year in high school! One of the extra trips we took was to see some of these ancient Mayan ruins, including the Chichen Itza. Check out some personal pictures below!

-Miranda Chesson

In looking at the restoration of the Moreria Nima' K'iche', there are multiple examples of revitalistic techniques. THe activists use indigenous dance troupes, teach classes about Mayan culture, and use musicians that perform traditional music. They also hold fairs that showcase local artisans and craftspeople. This helps the activists spread their knowledge to others, including those outside the Mayan culture.


I tried to think of a tourist attraction in the United States that works to preserve culture in a similar way. The first thought that comes to mind is attractions like Jamestown and old-time frontier military forts that attempt to recreate colonial or frontier life. Actors wear the traditional clothes of the period, and spend their days reenacting the day to day lives of people of the period - churning butter, plowing fields, chasing Native Americans. I also thought about the festivals that happen across the country throughout the year (at least they happen in Kansas) where communities hold festivals that honor the heritage of the town, such as Czechfest or Herzogfest (my hometown's German festival).

However, there are some distinct differences between these tourist attractions and the Moreria. The festivals I described above are similar in that they attempt to attract outsiders to learn above the culture and history of the town. However, they are not as complex or involved as the techniques used with the Moreria. Plus these festivals often pull in much more modern aspects or attractions that aren't culturally based. The reenactment attractions are more similar to the Moreria, but there is still a difference. I think the key difference is reenactment verses revitalization. Jamestown attempts to keep us connected to our past. It does not, however, attempt to revitalize that period's culture. The Moreria is attempting to revitalize the culture and ensure it continues to exist and grow. No one is trying to revitalize us chasing Native Americans or churning our own butter.


Ken Wagner

Question 3: Ajk'ij/Daykeepers

In historical Mayan culture, ajk’il, or daykeepers, “Qualified ajk’ij ‘daykeepers’, men and women who know how to interpret illnesses, omens, dreams, internal bodily sensations, and the workings of the Maya calendar, are quite numerous in a number of Quiche towns. Some male daykeepers hold the title of chuchkajaw ‘mother-father’, which properly belongs to those who serve as the heads of patrilineages and look after shrines that every proper patrilineage has on its lands,” (144-145). 

According to the same article, these daykeepers were responsible for caring for shrines based on the Mayan calendar. “It is without rival among contemporary highland Maya towns in the degree to which its ceremonial life is timed according to the Maya calendar and mapped according to the relative elevations and directional positions of outdoor shrines,” (145). 

Though, this role in society seems to almost reflect those of an astrologist or tarot card reader, this positions are have no superstition in Quiche society.  However, like someone who is a tarot card reader, these readings of Mayan culture and text by daykeepers is a performance of their knowledge. 

However, daykeepers are much more complex than a tarot card reading. Daykeepers are responsible for keeping count of days correlating to the Mayan calendar. However, this still seems to draw ties to the role of something like an astrologer. However, the stars have nothing to do with the calendar. 

-Monica Strauss

Revitalistic techniques used in Nima' K'iche'

There are many examples of revitalistic techniques used by the activists who are restoring the Moreria Nima' K'iche' and they are constant and ongoing, some are:
*teaching classes in tailoring and in Mayan culture
*sponsoring musicians who practicie tradional music
*sponsoring indigenous dance troupes
*holding fair to showcase local artisans
*sponsoring apprentice morero's and craftspeople
*setting realistic rental pricing thus expanding participation
*offering a knowledge base to others

By working with and within the local communities, the activists have recreated the Moreria and made it an active part of the community.

This is unlike most of the tourist attractions that I have visited- the Moreria is alive, the people involved are not performing as a museum piece or only as a tourist attractions, this is living art, this art will continue to grow and expand.  In contrast, most of the performances I have seen at tourist attractions are dead, they are not actively growing, the people involved are not apprenticing for future involvement.  The closest example that I can think of to the Moreria is Charleston, where there are people making bread, beer, soap, cloths, etc, the way that they did in the 17th c.  The people are very involved and take their "jobs" seriously but in the Moreria they are not "acting", this is not just a day job, this is their culture and this is their life!

Angela Thurman

Here is a screen shot that I took from an article about local dance- these are 2 masks used in the Dance of Conquest referred to in the article.

Popol Vuh

The attempts at understanding and translating the popol vuh into oral performance are speculated on by Dennis Tedlock.  The language was very specific having multiple voice, guttural, and unvoiced nuances.  The transcript of Popol Vuh was written in such a manner that these nuances were difficult and sometimes impossible to determine.  Instead, multiple possible translations existed for simple phrases.  At one point, a character either arrives or dies, the translation makes the verb unclear.  In order to reconstruct this performance and once again give it life, the use of a ethnopaleographer is employed.

It is the job of this translator to not only gain insight from those left in the culture as to the wording of the text, but also the context and implications as well.  It is not enough to simply transcribe as one would from Elizabethan to contemporary English.  Ethnopaleography accounts for the understanding of the shifting cultural dynamics such as power relations and religion.  This is essential for an accurate transcription and performance of the text.  More than a translation, it is a cultural reading and deciphering.  This is also essential to the field of performance studies.  Without this tool, the texts of indigenous or marginalized groups could be lost forever, or worse, over simplified in to oblivion.

I wonder how many people do this work for a living?  How dense is this field?  The performance space for such works seems limited in the contemporary world.  I fully agree with the implications and need to preserve this, but where does it go if not for National Geographic or a research journal.  I wish there was a stronger draw and mass appeal.  It seems very interesting.

- Hailey Drescher

Q1 Revitalistic Techniques

Revitalistic techniques used by the activists involved in the restoration of the Moreria  Nima K’iche are diverse. It’s not a traditional family-run enterprise, but a community directed institution for cultural preservation. Activists work for the resurrection of elements of Mayan culture while prompting governmental reform within the framework of the current (1985) Guatemalan constitution and international law.  The most important effect revitalization has on the day to day operations of the moreria is in the pricing. The rental rates are lower than other prices charged by for-profit morerias. The low rates allow for more participation. Without the participation, the vitality of the dance would not survive.

The Nima K’iche can’t offer the same level of quality that the traditional morerias in San Cristobal provide. They operate with inexperienced staff and a relatively old stock. However, groups that are new to the dance-drama are attracted to the lower prices. Along with lower pricing, they inform the participants with the important knowledge of the dance and culture. Moreover, there are no kin-based relationships among any of the workers. The prototypical moreria traditionally passes craft knowledge and material from parent to offspring. Trainees are usually acquaintances of existing personnel and the possibility of future employment is not the main incentive. Being involved in the preservation of the culture in the community is the main goal. As part of an incentive, the trainees are given small scholarships, but the focus is away from the scholarship itself and more about the cultural agenda.Tourism is a tool to serve the means through which these strategies are enacted. The performances the moreria offers enhance many public events. The costumes, masks, cofradia suits and other artifacts are made available for use. The display enhances the quality of the culture for the sake of tourism.

Another approach utilized in the revitalization is the illustrations from books and other sources about the traditional Maya clothing. The moreria recently made several cofradia suits. The suits are symbolic of the religious brotherhood. Musicians will wear the suits as they play traditional instruments at public events. Along with religious revitalization, other activities are directed towards economic development. The moreria has been involved in several projects to provide people with vocational training. The morero is an ideal teacher of basic sewing.

These are very unlike the tourist attractions that we have in the U.S. When I think of tourism, I think of flashy productions. The best example that is so opposite of this approach is the Universal Studios production in Florida. The approach is more per formative in the U.S versus the interactive approach that the culture uses for their participants. We have limited strategies for engaging individuals in other cultures. In the U.S we highlight entertainment, not interaction. Thus, our tourist focus is more interested in making money and performing a flashy production. The Moreria are more concerned with the preservation of their culture, than they are concerned about making a profit.

-Submitted by Jenna Quinn

Q1: Presentation in Passion Play

So fascinating.  Because this is a primarily a religious experience and not focused on pure entertainment, the audience understands and accepts symbolic sets.  A bowl of water serves as a river.  A palm tree as an entire grove.  I love that a door is held by two men and moved about to represent various entrances and exits.  Nothing about this is meant to seem realistic.  The actors purposely separate themselves from their villianous roles and openly weep when they recite offensive lines.  In an attempt to place as much distance between their true selves and their character, they wave to friends, talk normally to audience members, and frequently break character.  Therefore, it should not be surprising that a bowl of water is the Nile.

However, there is a vast array of spectacle.  Depending on the size of the arena or theatre, horses may be used in battle scenes as if galloping into war.  Actors move about the space freely and may relocate the action of the play to the roof.  The prop list contains a vast amount of weaponry, chain mail, helmets, swords, and spears.  These items are not symbolized, and used throughout the ongoing battles in the play. The costumes are also colorful and detailed.

The closest I've seen to this was my One Act Play director who believed that strong acting should not be overshadowed by spectacle.  He used one tree stump for five different things... it was a chair, a forest, a table, a trunk,... you get the idea...  he loved that stump...  We were definitely not allowed to wave at the audience though...

- Hailey Drescher

Iranian Passion Play- Actors Responsibilities

What are the responsibilities of an actor in a Taziyeh?  How do the traditions and purposes of this dramatic form limit the actor's freedom to interpret his role in a unique & individual manner?

There are no actual "actors" in the traditional sense in a Taziyeh.  There are only men who "represent" their character.  There are no "lines", rather the participants "recite" the verses written in their scripts, which they carry with them throughout the presentation and read aloud from.  They must read from this script to maintain immediacy and spiritual truth and there is no deviation or interpretation of the lines or the role.  The actor's do not "get into" the role so there is never a concern about "falling out of character". The performers must always maintain distance from their characters- they are not actors so much as narrators.

There is a main narrator who is allowed to move the action along, or stop it altogether and offer clarification or perhaps a prayer- this is the Ostad.  The Ostad also gives an overview of the performance as a prelude.  The overview is not really neccessary since everyone already knows the story and there is no deviation from it.

There is no characater development and none is expected- all know who is "good" and who is "evil", the participants might even announce their characters "character".   Likewise, nothing new should be introduced into the play- the audience must never be surprised, alarmed or repelled.  There are elements of story-telling in the plays, the participants might stomp their feet or clap to emphasize a certain point.

The actor does have the freedom to move around- he (always a "he") can walk around, move to a new location, even climb onto a roof if that seems appropriate.  They can portray darkness or light by pantomiming groping in the dark or squinting into the sunlight.  They can also talk freely to the audience in their "true form" since they are never "in character" to begin with!

The Iranian Passion Play does appear to be full of passion, and it certainly entertains its audience but it is a watered down version of a "play" since the actors have limited ability- or even desire- to develop their characters or to change their performances in any way. However, this is what is expected and this is what the audience comes to see so it would be unfair to judge this performance by the norms of typical Western performances.  If the audience is happy, these plays are obviously successful in achieving their goal.

Angela Thurman

http://youtu.be/8aKAPL9Fkz4  Check out this You Tube video of a Taziyeh!

Presentational Elements in Passion Plays

List presentational elements of the Iranian Taziyeh. Why does this performance format rely so heavily on non-realistic techniques?

Iranian passion plays’ primary purpose is rooted in the Islamic faith. The play is meant to honor the death of Imam Hussein and his family, and is an emotional and spiritual experience for both the audience and the performers. Because the purpose of the performance is religious and not simply for entertainment, the performances do not need to be realistic in order to be effective in their purposes. The plays include many symbolic and presentational elements to convey the story. The actors dress in elaborate costumes with symbolic colors that indicate to the audience the type of character each actor portrays. Props are also symbolic. A chair used to symbolize a hill, for example, is unrealistic; however, the realism of the actual performance is not important in Taziyeh. So little emphasis is placed on realism that the performers often break character in order to wave to a family member in the crowd and even hold their scripts in hand while performing. Actors typically maintain a great distance between themselves and the characters they portray in the plays, and it does not affect the audience’s experience at the performance. Since the performance depicts a religious story that the audience and performers know well, the performance does not require realistic performance techniques or convincing acting. The performance is about the experience of witnessing the familiar religious story, not just about entertainment for the audience. Although I cannot think of any parallels in our culture off hand, this seems to be the case for any kind of reenactment performance. The purpose is for the audience to feel the emotional connection to the events portrayed rather than entertainment. 

- Jenna Barclay

Iranian Passion Plays

Q3: How do performance conventions of the Taziyeh reflect or contradict Islamic principles of truth or truthfulness?

     The source of the plays lie not in fact but in the Islamic faith. Taziyeh can be used as a vehicle of education and enlightenment. The writers, however do not have any interest in the historical research and have never been constrained to tell a true story. Thus, it has no value at all as historical evidence. The theme of Taziyeh is a confrontation between good and evil. Taziyeh as a religious play includes a collection of stories dedicated to religious acts. The patterns exists in a uniform way through the saints and devils of confrontation. The Taziyeh has been defined as both a passion play and an indigenous drama. It's traditional function as a religious observance is clear. However, there are aspects which some find unacceptable in this respect. The play entails violent actions, gashing oneself with knives, pricking the arms and cheeks with needles, and various other violent acts. These are all common among some of the demonstrators of Ashura. These were strictly prohibited immediately following a constitutional change. Taziyeh manuscripts and the manner in which the performances are carried out, require careful reconsideration. If this form is to continue to fulfill its role as a didactic drama by seeking to reinforce ideological morality in religion and politics, than the play should modify the violent contradictions within the play.

Submitted by Jenna Quinn

African ritual drama

Q2. Pick a form of African ritual drama. What is the role of the actor in this performance form? What are her/his responsibilities? Privileges? Limitations?

Oral narratives in African culture has been described by Mzo Sirayi in “Indigenous African Theatre in South Africa.” In this article, Sirayi acknowledges that many people have chosen to disregard oral narratives as a worthy subject of study. However, Sirayi argues that indeed is worth looking more closely at. Sirayi explains that, “The time limit is determined by the language and artistic skills of the performer that captivate the audience. If the performer has the artistic ability to arouse the interest of the audience, the story is prolonged, but if the performer cannot sustain the interest of the audience, the performance becomes short,” (352).

Sirayi describes important aspects to the performer as language, voice, songs and gestures. Performers use these features of performance to portray their story, such as using a big voice or singing a song “to expose the culprit to other people,” (353).

In oral narratives the most important aspect of the performance is the story teller, who helps bring narration to action (351). The story teller plays all characters in the story and does not dress in costume. Due to the lack of advantages other performances have (actors, costumes, stages) story tellers use their voice to depict characters. Such as a deep voice to show a bad character, mumbling for stupid characters, etc. (351). How fast and how slow the story teller speaks is also important to the mood of the narration.

-Monica Strauss

Wedding celebration rituals

The articles on indigenous African performance forms devote a good amount of time refuting the notion that these forms are not Theatre. Pick a performance type described in the articles. Discuss how this form differs from traditional Western dramatic forms. How is it similar?

The ritual performance of indigenous African wedding celebrations differs from theatre in several ways; however it does include aspects similar to theatre. Sirayi describes the ritual preparations and the performances involved in a Xhosa wedding celebration. Although the performance includes music, dance, and costumes that hold aesthetic value and are included as means of entertainment, the performance has strong traditional value in the culture, and each step of the preparation and the performance itself holds meaning. Like theatre, the Xhosa wedding celebration is rehearsed ahead of time and consists of a set series of events, which are performed by participants for an audience. However, in the wedding celebration the audience members are often also the performers, and their roles shift during the different parts of the rituals.

The actors and audience members in the preparation rituals are the families of the bride and groom. The bride’s family performs dances and music while negotiations occur. Negotiations take place much as a scripted scene would unfold. The interactions always include the same discussions, and are accompanied by rituals, such as when the groom’s family presents tobacco to the family members at the negotiation. The organized, structured series of events that occurs during these preparations is much like a scripted performance. The family members, or performers, from both sides of the family rehearse songs and dances prior to the celebration. However, the ritual performances differ greatly from theatre because of the significant meanings and the different purposes of the performances.

The songs and dances are entertaining to the audience, but their purpose goes beyond aesthetic. The songs and dance can teach lessons, illustrate tradition and values, and evoke emotions. These purposes of song in the wedding celebration seem similar to the purpose of music in western culture. We often use music for both entertainment value and to stimulate some emotional reaction, tell a story, or teach a lesson. Unlike most theatre, the audience at a Xhosa wedding celebration can also respond to the performer’s singing, indicating that the audience pays attention not just to the song, but to the way it is performed. So much audience interaction and the shifts between performers and audience make it distinct from how we generally understand theatre, where performers put on a prepared show for an audience. Much like ritual performances the United States, the wedding celebration ritual follows a familiar pattern that individuals within the culture know.

- Jenna Barclay

Colonialism has served as a hegemonic trope that shifts and changes cultural understandings of African performance. Theater focuses on the dramatic mode of texts and are formed from Western Greek understandings of performance. Colonialism is a function of discrediting ritual performances by the 'other'. If performances by the 'other' are deemed less intelligent than the dominate (Caucasian) ruling elite maintain power by claiming authority of power and knowledge. African performances are often seen as exoticised dances and repetition of tribal rudimentary play. Imperialists tend to criticize, exoticise, and fetishize the 'other' thus African performances are tropicalized. Despite the hegemonic attempt to reduce the significance of precolonial African performance those performances still have strong similarities to Western theater. Some performances are housed in doors in a theater of the round formats, some are out doors, but they contain actors, performers, and audiences. For instance, Uhmlanga is a ritual performance that contains dance, a spectacle, equally entertaining as Greek Drama and as culturally significant. Dhlomo performances are ritualistic, highly symbolic, and imaginative. Again Greek theater stemmed from oral history and ritualistic re-telling of events performatively for entertainment. In African performances the same ideas are present, some have similar staging although African performances are more ritualistic they still contain an equal cultural significance from a cultural relativism stance. It is critical that social scientist and performance studies scholars engage in cultural relativism in order to not culturally exploit the 'other'
-Travis L Williams

Q2. Pick a form of African ritual drama. What is the role of the actor in this performance form? What are her/his responsibilities? Privileges? Limitations?


The Kurova guva is an africain ritual that take places after someone has passed away. This ceremony is performed for those members who died after becoming adults and bearing children (p. 345). The kurova guva is performed for the people who died without any explanation (including suicide) and are in need of cleansing. 


The person in charge of the ritual is the sekuru, also known as the eldest member of the family. The elders within the family must consult the deceased immediate family before the process begins. The kurova gata is done in order to understand the wishes of the spirit (p. 345).


The n'anga, the diviner, works as a medium between the living family and the deceased spirit. The n'anga makes the final decision on the kurova guva in order to treat the spirit with respect. 

Music and dancing is a requirement for the the kurova guva and acts as part of the entertainment during the ritual. The whole ritual represents "the transition from life to death and back to life" (p. 345).


-Miranda

Q2. Pick a form of African ritual drama. What is the role of the actor in this performance form? What are her/his responsibilities? Privileges? Limitations?

Kupira mudzimu, also called biru, is an interesting African ritual. This ritual is "intended to obtain the guardianship and protection of the ancestral spirits" (p. 346). The Shona believe that spirit elders can control almost everything in their lives, from drought and weather, to marriage success or divorces. Through biru, the Shona can communicate with the spirit once the spirit has possessed the body of a living person.

The person possessed by the spirit is called the svikiro. The svikiro is one of the main actors in the ritual. After the possession of the svikiro by the spirit, the svikiro is no longer himself. Instead, he speaks for the spirit. This is the main role of svikiro for the ritual. The svikiro is privileged in that what ever he or she says is viewed as from the spirit.

The other actor in the ritual is the dunzvi. The dunszvi has the responsibility of being the caretaker of the svikiro while possessed by the spirit. Once the svikiro is possessed, the dunsvi dresses the svikiro and brings him ritual objects. The dunsvi also serves almost in a director role, guiding the interaction between the audience member and the svikiro. This role seems to have a lot of privilege in that the actor filling it controls the entire experience for both the svikiro and the audience member.

I would love to see one of these rituals live. Any ritual with music and beer drinking sounds good to me,

Ken W.

It's theatre yo.

Because the African rituals depicted in the articles do not follow a familiar Western dramatic format, it has been questioned whether they qualify as theatre.  While the rituals of the indigenous do not follow a linear plot strategy or contain Aristotelian or Shakespearean elements that largely define theatre to a Western audience- the ritual performances are theatrical.  Ritual performances like Kurova guva, despite not being a traditional form of theatre, contain audience, actor, character, props, costumes, and music.  The eldest member directs the events similar to a dalang or narrator, or director.  The millet used in the ceremony is a necessary prop in order to enact the performance.  In the same way, the text used to call for the dead acts as a narrative discourse through which the performance unfolds.  An actor takes on the character of practitioner calling for the spirit between the world of the living and the dead.  Props such as pots, sticks, axes, and sacrificial goats are also paramount to the performance. 

This practice of Kurova guva is not just meant for the deceased, but as a method of relieving tension among the living.  In this way, the release of emotion is somewhat cathartic for those intimately involved in the performance and those observing it.  The music played is not only functioning as a part of the ritual, but as entertainment to the audience that has come to observe the ritual.  Regardless of the difference in formats, this indigenous performance cannot be discounted and should be view as yet another extension of theatre.

- Hailey Drescher

What function does traditional African ritual drama serve?

Traditional African ritual drama serves several purposes in the communities in which it is performed.  Dramas can serve as a ritual experience that recreates and reaffirms the positive qualities of community life, much like Asop's fables try to impart lessons to children about right versus wrong.

Audience participation is encouraged and expected in these ritual dramas which are rich in sybolic meaning and show a collective longing for the past. (Chinyowa)

Certain rituals, like the kurova guva, can serve as a way to bring closure following a death.  Biwa puts the communicty in contact with and into dialogue with ancestors who have passed on- people can plead for intervention to solve all manner of woes.  This reminds me of the Disney movie, Mulan, where the ancestors are expected to solve the problems of the Fa family (and, of course, they do with help from the dragon!).

There are rituals to mark important life events like weddings and the "doctor ceremony", which honors not the M.D. in the tribe but the guy who received a calling to be the indigenous doctor- I am imagining a type of witch doctor but I could be wrong!  He does go through training and can't drink or have sex for several months so it is pretty rigorous!

There are also oral narratives that serve to instruct and teach the history and beliefs of the community while also entertaining.

Motsa puts it very nicely when he says that the ritual dramas express the emotions of the community, placates the gods and lulls the natural elements.

In the African ritual dramas, anyone can be an actor, everyone is the audience, costumes are not needed and neither are props.  The stage is where you make it and the text can be flexible to suit the need.  I hope that this type of ritual drama does not die out because it sounds like a lot of fun for everyone involved!

Angela Thurman

Freud’s wet dream & Compulsory heteronormativity

            Women of sexual prowess negotiate overtly sexualized rituals while maintaining the notion of modesty does seem quite irresolvable in our culture however the women in the Pacific islands do attempt to walk that line. From a critical cultural perspective it becomes imperative to analyze the ways in which joking relationships become culturally acceptable. I negotiate the joking relationship through a Freudian lens in conjunction with heteronormativity. Freud looked at women as sexualized objects that inherently perform the motherly role. As Barlow analyzed, the women of the Pacific islands discipline their male cohorts by inserting their breasts in the mouths of those who speak out of turn. Further the women even spew their breast milk as a means of disciplining behavior which is overtly a Freudian Oedipus complex methodology of ritual punishment. While culturally the insertion of a nude breast in the mouth is seen as ‘slap-stick’ comedy is a cultural acceptable method humor. I find it ironic that Barlow continuously notes the modesty in the women and their role as a negotiated stance of power and subordinate. While the females strive for modesty, humor arises from their lack of subordinate positions as females. The women’s role is a negation between empowerment juxtaposed against subordination. The Pacific islands are distinctly masculine in that they are patriarchical. The joking relationship of males with young females creates an interesting dichotomy. Young women learn to cover their genitals by older men joking with them, which is a Freudian wet dream and Susan Bordo’s lost rhetorical artifact. Young nude females performing for the male gaze for cultural social sanctions of discipline becomes an odd overtly sexual practice/ritual that hides beneath the notion of humor to remove the sexual under/overtones. The mask is not always literal, like in shadow puppetry and Greek theatre, the mask allows the performer to engage in socially unacceptable behavior behind the ‘mask’ of humor which carves out a different space for women to perform outside of their socially prescribed roles. The overt sexual ritual of women’s breasts in men’s mouths as discipline is a Freudian wet dream because culturally these women are both mother, subordinate, and sexual.

            Another interesting component of the Pacific island culture is compulsory heteronormativity. Michael Kimmel in his book The Gendered Society observes cultural phenomena that address gender performativity. He argued all societies studied by sociologist, anthropologist, and (I argue) communication scholars are all inherently patriarchical. Barlow’s piece really addresses compulsory heteronormativity in a subverted way. Initially, the role of male/female dichotomy only seeks to maintain heteronormative hegemonic power and privilege. While performing clowning rituals the women still are subordinate performers for the socio-cultural male gaze. Men get to view the nude female body (at all ages) in sexualized positions but because ‘humor’ is involved the spaces women occupy while clowning is not necessarily sexualized. I am a bit disappointed that Barlow approached this paper from a western, hegemonic, mindset because Kimmel observed gender performativity from a cross-cultural perspective. Haas (2004) argued, “for instance, within small communities in the Dominican Republic and Papua New Guinea, there is a hereditary intersex condition known as 5-alpha reductase deficiency that occurs with a relatively high frequency. This condition causes male children to be born with very small or unrecognizable penises. During puberty, the children's male hormones cause their penises to grow and other secondary male sexual characteristics to develop. Most of these children are raised as girls and begin living as men when they reach puberty.” Further, Native American cultures have the role of the berdache which is a term to describe a man (or less often a female) whose identity is not in conjunction with the imperialist notion of male & female. In fact the role of a berdache (intersexed body) has been discovered not only in Native American cultures but in pacific island cultures as well as Siberia, Tahiti, India, and Bali, to name a few. The gender performativity positions of power are dramatically under analyzed and the role of clowning for women is represented without societal context of how women function in the socio cultural context.

            -Travis L Williams