The power of symbols : masks and masquerade in the Americas

Book

The power of symbols : masks and masquerade in the Americas / edited by N. Ross Crumrine & Marjorie Halpin.

Crumrine, N. Ross. (Added Author). Halpin, Marjorie M., 1937- (Added Author). International Congress of Americanists 1979 : Vancouver, B.C.) (43rd : (Added Author).

Summary:

This collection of papers, presented at the 42nd International Congress of Americanists, considers the interplay between the mask, the mask bearer, and the audience. The studies concentrate on the idea of masking as a transformational ritual in which the human actor is transformed into a being of another order. The authors use examples from various cultures and in their analyses argue for particular sets of relationships as being crucial to the understanding of the mask. -- Amazon

Record details

ISBN: 0774801662
ISBN: 9780774801669
Physical Description: 244 pages, [30] pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
Publisher: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Press, ©1983.

Content descriptions

General Note:: Papers originally presented at a symposium held at the 43rd International Congress of Americanists.
Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-244).
Formatted Contents Note:: Introduction -- Masks, participants, and audience / N. Ross Crumrine -- The many faces of masks and masking : discussion / Elisabeth Tooker -- Part I : North America -- Labrador Nalujuk : the transformation of an Aboriginal Inuit ritual complex in a post-contact setting / Barnett Richling -- Naskapi trance : counterbalance to the mask / Lucy W. Turner -- Seneca masks / William C. Sturtevant -- Cherokee Booger mask tradition / Raymond D. Fogelson and Amelia R. Bell -- Analogic causality and the power of masks / Stanley Walens -- Part II : Middle America -- The mask and magic of the Yaqui paskola clowns / Steven V. Lutes -- Mask use and meaning in Easter ceremonialism : the Mayo Parisero / N. Ross Crumrine -- Symbolic representation in Mexican combat plays / Frances Gillmor -- The meaning of masking in San Pedro Chenalho / Victoria R. Bricker -- Tarascan masks of women as agents of social control / Janet Brody Esser -- Part III : South America -- The devil mask : a contemporary variant of Andean iconography in Oruro / Guillermo Delgado-P. -- Masks in the Incaic solstice and equinoctial rituals / R.T. Zuidema -- Being an essence : totemic representation among the eastern Bororo / J. Christopher Crocker -- Masks and masquerades in Venezuela / Angelina Pollak-Eltz -- Part IV : Conclusion and synthesis -- The mask and the violation of taboo / Laura Makarius -- Masks : a re-examination, or "Masks? You mean they affect the brain?" / Mark Webber, Christopher Stephens, and Charles Laughlin, Jr. -- The mask of tradition / Marjorie Halpin.