Indigenous Religious Traditions in Five Minutes - Molly Bassett
74. Why do so many Indigenous religions include trickster figures or ceremonial clowns?
Indigenous Religious Traditions in Five Minutes - Molly Bassett
Chris Jocks [+]
Northern Arizona University
Chris Jocks, Kahnawà:ke Mohawk, is Senior Lecturer in Applied Indigenous Studies at Northern Arizona University. He earned his Ph.D. in religious studies under the direction of Inés Talamantez at University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1994. His work includes publications on conceptual incongruity between Indigenous and settler state societies and nations, as manifest in law, religion, and social practices. He is also engaged with local Indigenous community advocacy in northern Arizona.
Description
Indigenous tricksters and clowns provide entertainment and cautionary lessons; no surprise there. But they perform a more profound service as well by enacting life-giving spontaneity and laughter, a necessary leavening kneaded into the structure of ceremony.