Clowning as Critical Practice

Clowning as Critical Practice PDF Author: William E. Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
The work of the clown is avowedly political - passionately opinionated about the human condition and, via parody and burlesque, breaks the frames of proper behaviour to instruct, criticise and transform. Whether the clowning performance is a critique of others' actions, appearances and beliefs, or initiated to effect a cultural transformation, the clown is a political force that commands recognition. By focusing on the practice of clowning in the South Pacific, this volume aims to reveal new dimensions of clowning and offer fresh cultural perspectives on the region.

Clowning as Critical Practice

Clowning as Critical Practice PDF Author: William E. Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780822954873
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
The work of the clown is avowedly political - passionately opinionated about the human condition and, via parody and burlesque, breaks the frames of proper behaviour to instruct, criticise and transform. Whether the clowning performance is a critique of others' actions, appearances and beliefs, or initiated to effect a cultural transformation, the clown is a political force that commands recognition. By focusing on the practice of clowning in the South Pacific, this volume aims to reveal new dimensions of clowning and offer fresh cultural perspectives on the region.

Clowning as Critical Practice

Clowning as Critical Practice PDF Author: William E. Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Get Book Here

Book Description
The work of the clown is avowedly political - passionately opinionated about the human condition and, via parody and burlesque, breaks the frames of proper behaviour to instruct, criticise and transform. Whether the clowning performance is a critique of others' actions, appearances and beliefs, or initiated to effect a cultural transformation, the clown is a political force that commands recognition. By focusing on the practice of clowning in the South Pacific, this volume aims to reveal new dimensions of clowning and offer fresh cultural perspectives on the region.

Clowning as Social Performance in Colombia

Clowning as Social Performance in Colombia PDF Author: Barnaby King
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474249280
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Contemporary Clowning as Social Performance in Colombia brings to light the emergence of new kinds of clowning in everyday life in Colombia, focusing particularly on the pervasive presence of clowns in the urban landscape of Bogotá. In doing so it brings a fresh and updated perspective on what clowning is as well as what it does in the 21st century. Featuring descriptions of more than 24 distinct clown performers, Barnaby King provides an engaging and lively account of the performative moment in which clowning transpires, analyzing the techniques and processes at work in producing what is commonly named as “clowning”. In contrast with their North American and European counterparts, clowns in Latin America are seen every day in public settings, are popular cultural figures and sometimes claim to exercise real political influence. Drawing on five years of co-performative ethnography, the book argues that clown artists have thrived by adapting their craft to changing social and economic conditions, in some cases by allying themselves with authority and power, and in others by generating spaces for creativity and resistance in adverse circumstances. By applying performance theory to clowning in a specific cultural context this is the first work to propose an appropriate scholarly response to the diversity and ingenuity of clowning beyond Europe and North America.

Clowns, Fools and Picaros

Clowns, Fools and Picaros PDF Author: David Robb
Publisher: Rodopi
ISBN: 9042023406
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
By its very nature the clown, as represented in art, is an interdisciplinary phenomenon. In whichever artform it appears - fiction, drama, film, photography or fine art - it carries the symbolic association of its usage in popular culture, be it ritual festivities, street theatre or circus. The clown, like its extended family of fools, jesters, picaros and tricksters, has a variety of functions all focussed around its status and image of being "other." Frequently a marginalized figure, it provides the foil for the shortcomings of dominant discourse or the absurdities of human behaviour. Clowns, Fools and Picaros represents the latest research on the clown, bringing together for the first time studies from four continents: Europe, America, Africa and Asia. It attempts to ascertain commonalities, overlaps and differences between artistic expressions of the "clownesque" from these various continents and genres, and above all, to examine the role of the clown in our cultures today. This volume is of interest for scholars of political and comic drama, film and visual art as well as scholars of comparative literature and anthropology.

The Semiotics of Clowns and Clowning

The Semiotics of Clowns and Clowning PDF Author: Paul Bouissac
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472525086
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
During the last 300 years circus clowns have emerged as powerful cultural icons. This is the first semiotic analysis of the range of make-up and costumes through which the clowns' performing identities have been established and go on developing. It also examines what Bouissac terms 'micronarratives' - narrative meanings that clowns generate through their acts, dialogues and gestures. Putting a repertory of clown performances under the semiotic microscope leads to the conclusion that the performances are all interconnected and come from what might be termed a 'mythical matrix'. These micronarratives replicate in context-sensitive forms a master narrative whose general theme refers to the emergence of cultures and constraints that they place upon instinctual behaviour. From this vantage point, each performance can be considered as a ritual which re-enacts the primitive violence inherent in all cultures and the temporary resolutions which must be negotiated as the outcome. Why do these acts of transgression and re-integration then trigger laughter and wonder? What kind of mirror does this put up to society? In a masterful semiotic analysis, Bouissac delves into decades of research to answer these questions.

Woven Gods

Woven Gods PDF Author: Vilsoni Hereniko
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824816551
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
“An imaginative and thought-provoking study of clowning in Rotuma, especially of ritual clowning in contexts of marriage ceremonies and the weaving of fine mats.... Completely fascinating.” —Canberra Anthropology “A challenge to readers both in its form and content.... This book conveys the lively, complex and often hilarious elements, both of daily life and celebratory rituals, as they are expressed in contemporary culture.” —Journal of Intercultural Studies

Yabar

Yabar PDF Author: David Lipset
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319510762
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
This book analyses the dual alienations of a coastal group rural men, the Murik of Papua New Guinea. David Lipset argues that Murik men engage in a Bakhtinian dialogue: voicing their alienation from both their own, indigenous masculinity, as well as from the postcolonial modernity in which they find themselves adrift. Lipset analyses young men’s elusive expressions of desire in courtship narratives, marijuana discourse, and mobile phone use—in which generational tensions play out together with their disaffection from the state. He also borrows from Lacanian psychoanalysis in discussing how men’s dialogue of dual alienation appears in folk theater, in material substitutions—most notably, in the replacement of outrigger canoes by fiberglass boats—as well as in rising sea-levels, and the looming possibility of resettlement.

The Bamboo Fire

The Bamboo Fire PDF Author: William E. Mitchell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351305468
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Anthropology is primarily done in the field, unlike the laboratory oriented experimental sciences. Experimental sciences make their observations in constructed settings that permit variables influencing the outcome of the experiment to be known and controlled. In contrast, anthropology's object of inquiry, like the science of ethology is life experience in its natural setting. To understand how people organize their lives both in thought and in action, one must settle among them for a very long time. The Wape of Papua New Guinea inhabit a mountainous rain forest and live in sedentary villages. They are slash and burn horticulturalists. marriage is by bride wealth and polygyny is permitted but rare. Male status is egalitarian and, although the society is hierarchical in terms of sex and age differences, both women and the young enjoy higher status than in many other New Guinea societies. While most Wape are nominal Christians, traditional religious beliefs and practices are of major importance. This book concentrates on describing the field work process by giving the reader a feeling of the reflexive nature of this experience. It demonstrate not only how the anthropologist proceeds in her or his work, but describes the social and psychological context in which that work evolves and how anthropologists respond to it both within oneself and in communication with others. While it is a book about the Wape people it is also a book about how one anthropologist tried to understand them. It integrates the subjective and objective into a common research method. Related to the book, the author has published a film, Magical Curing, and a CD, The Living Dead and Dying: Music of the New Guinea Wape.

Gender Rituals

Gender Rituals PDF Author: Nancy Lutkehaus
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136657428
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
This volume draws together ethnographies of female initiation rites in Melanesia which require anthropologists to rethink their analysis of initiations and their perceptions of gender. The contributors argue that female initiation rites express more than cultural notions of femininity, narrow definitions of reproduction, or coming of age rituals - instead they play an important role in other life cycle rituals and in the political and economic organization of society.

Naven or the Other Self

Naven or the Other Self PDF Author: Michael Houseman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004379010
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
In this work, the author propose a novel theory of ritual action founded upon an in-depth study of the wide variety of behaviors that the Iatmul of Papua New Guinea identify as naven: a transvestism rite studied by Gregory Bateson in the 1930s and documented by other anthropologists since. Ritual performance is shown to involve the construction of complex relational networks entailing the condensation of contradictory modes of relationship in accordance with over-arching interactive forms. In this volume, inquiry into the history of anthropology, detailed ethnographic analysis and theoretical discussion are combined. The first part examines Bateson's and others' understandings of naven; the second offers a reinterpretation of this ritual in the light of new ethnographic data; and the third proposes a general approach to the analysis of ritual and suggests how this perspective may be applied elsewhere.