Monica Strauss: How does joking serve as a ritual? What function does clowning fulfill in the cultures of the Murik, Lusi-Kaliai, and the people of Rotuma?

How does joking serve as a ritual? What function does clowning fulfill in the cultures of the Murik, Lusi-Kaliai, and the people of Rotuma?

According to Kathleen Barlow in “’Dance When I Die!’: Context and Role in the Clowning of Murik Women,” the author analyzes joking as a ritual, “As a ritual itself is a commentary upon social meanings, joking in ritual contexts is a condensed comment upon the relation of the ritual to its context…Ritual clowning exposes the paradox that membership in secret societies and in descent groups offers opposing but interconnected paths to power,” (306).

The articles discuss the role of clowning as ritual for the Murilk culture and how this affects women in the culture. Clowning in Murik culture is an attempt to address gender roles, and order of society. Barlow explains, “Ritual clowning exposes the paradox that membership in secret societies and in descent groups offers opposing but interconnected paths to power,” (61). Barlow explains that clowning in Murik culture is related to gender roles and the vague information regarding the role of woman in society. So how is this ritual in Murik culture? The Murike people consider clowning a part of ritual performance. The familial relationships designate, “Each relationship has well-defined obligations for ritual performance, tutelage, and protection associated with it, but the outstanding characteristic of all of them is the preponderance of joking and clowning through which these duties are carried out,” (66). In Murik society, familial relationships are essential to, “rituals surrounding death, mourning, and end of mourning, and the obligations are extensive,” (74).

The articles also describe how clowning functions in the culture of Lusi-Kaliai. David R. Counts and Dorthy A. Counts describe this in their article, “Exaggeration and Reversal: Clowning Among the Lusi-Kalia.” Counts and Counts explain, “are kinds of Lusi-Kaliai clowns: those who participate in ceremomal events and those who perform outside a ritual context. The distinction that we make between them is a heuristic one for our own analytical purposes and not one that our friends would recognize as culturally significant,” (89). The article very specifically describes how clowning functions as ritual in this society. The authors explain the doing of sega (or ritual clowning) is tied to ritual events. These clowns perform at weddings and rites for firstborn children.

For the people of Rotuma (Rotumans) clowning is normally seen as a ritual tradition during a wedding. These clowns perform the day before the wedding, “when food for the wedding feast is being prepared,” (19). The wedding setting gives the performer room to improvise what they will do. 

Monica Strauss