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Shalako Puppets and Nineteenth-Century Ritual
| Location: | Connecticut, United States |
| Lecture Date: | 2008-02-10 (Archive) |
| Date Submitted: |
2008-01-02 |
| Announcement ID: |
160116 |
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Shalako Puppets and Nineteenth-Century Ritual
Dr. John Bell, Director, Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, UConn
Sunday, February 10, 3 pm
Biology/Physics Building, Room 130
No registration needed – Free
In the mid-nineteenth century, the science of ethnography emerged from European and Euro-American practices as a way of examining "the others" and their ways of life. Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Frank Cushing, and Jesse Walter Fewkes all came to the American Southwest in the 1880s to examine the life of the Zuni people, and found themselves immersed in a community which marked its seasons with spectacular ritual performances using Katchina masks, dance, music, and giant Shalako puppets.
The rich complexities of Zuni culture both inspired and overwhelmed the ethnographers, who each tried to understand these intense performances. At that time in the eastern United States, such ritual performances were considered aesthetically impoverished and culturally useless in the Victorian age that honored technology, “progress”, and arts that focused on realism. What puppet and mask performances did these white ethnographers see, why were they so profoundly impressed, and what is the legacy of their work and the still-vibrant Shalako performances? John Bell is an internationally renowned puppeteer, professor, and historian of puppet theater.
Presented by the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History and Connecticut Archaeology Center, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UConn. 860.486.4460 and http://www.cac.uconn.edu/mnhcurrentcalendar.html
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