The Jumbies' Playing Ground : Old World Influences on Afro-Creole Masquerades in the Eastern Caribbean.

By: Nicholls, Robert WyndhamContributor(s): Nunley, John | Nunley, JohnMaterial type: TextTextSeries: Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World SerPublisher: Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2012Copyright date: ©2012Description: 1 online resource (314 pages)Content type: text Media type: computer Carrier type: online resourceISBN: 9781621036166Subject(s): Caribbean Area -- Social life and customs | Carnival -- Caribbean Area | Moko Jumbies -- Caribbean Area | Stilt-walkers -- Caribbean AreaGenre/Form: Electronic books.Additional physical formats: Print version:: The Jumbies' Playing Ground : Old World Influences on Afro-Creole Masquerades in the Eastern CaribbeanDDC classification: 394.2509729 LOC classification: GV1099 -- .N54 2012ebOnline resources: Click to View
Contents:
Cover -- Contents -- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS -- FOREWORD: Clash of Cultures -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- INTRODUCATION -- 1. Masquerade Derivation, Costumes, and Behavior -- 2. Aesthetics of Masquerading -- 3. Masquerading in the Eastern Caribbean -- 4. Specific Masquerade Types -- 5. Masquerade Prototypes in West Africa -- 6. Masquerade Prototypes in Western Europe -- 7. Old World-New World Comparisons -- CONCULSION -- APPENDIXES -- 1. Informants in the Virgin Islands -- 2. Diaspora in Reverse -- 3. St. Croix Gombay Confrontation of 1852 and the Decline of Bamboula -- 4. The Moko and Carriacou Nation Dances -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.
Summary: During the masquerades common during carnival time, jumbies (ghosts or ancestral spirits) are set free to roam the streets of Caribbean nations, turning the world topsy-turvy. Modern carnivals, which evolved from earlier ritual celebrations featuring disguised performers, are important cultural and economic events throughout the Caribbean, and are a direct link to a multilayered history. This work explores the evolutionary connections in function, garb, and behavior between Afro-Creole masquerades and precursors from West Africa, the British Isles, and Western Europe. Robert Wyndham Nicholls utilizes a concept of play derived from Africa to describe a range of lighthearted and ritualistic activities. Along with Old World seeds, he studies the evolution of Afro-Creole prototypes that emerged in the Eastern Caribbean-bush masquerades, stilt dancers, animal disguises, she-males, female masquerades, and carnival clowns. Masquerades enact social, political, and spiritual roles within recurring festivals, initiations, wakes, skimmingtons, and weddings. The author explores performance in terms of abstraction in costume-disguise and the aesthetics of music, songs, drum-rhythms, dance, and licentiousness. He reveals masquerades as transformative agent, ancestral endorser, behavior manager, informal educator, and luck conferrer.
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Cover -- Contents -- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS -- FOREWORD: Clash of Cultures -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- INTRODUCATION -- 1. Masquerade Derivation, Costumes, and Behavior -- 2. Aesthetics of Masquerading -- 3. Masquerading in the Eastern Caribbean -- 4. Specific Masquerade Types -- 5. Masquerade Prototypes in West Africa -- 6. Masquerade Prototypes in Western Europe -- 7. Old World-New World Comparisons -- CONCULSION -- APPENDIXES -- 1. Informants in the Virgin Islands -- 2. Diaspora in Reverse -- 3. St. Croix Gombay Confrontation of 1852 and the Decline of Bamboula -- 4. The Moko and Carriacou Nation Dances -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.

During the masquerades common during carnival time, jumbies (ghosts or ancestral spirits) are set free to roam the streets of Caribbean nations, turning the world topsy-turvy. Modern carnivals, which evolved from earlier ritual celebrations featuring disguised performers, are important cultural and economic events throughout the Caribbean, and are a direct link to a multilayered history. This work explores the evolutionary connections in function, garb, and behavior between Afro-Creole masquerades and precursors from West Africa, the British Isles, and Western Europe. Robert Wyndham Nicholls utilizes a concept of play derived from Africa to describe a range of lighthearted and ritualistic activities. Along with Old World seeds, he studies the evolution of Afro-Creole prototypes that emerged in the Eastern Caribbean-bush masquerades, stilt dancers, animal disguises, she-males, female masquerades, and carnival clowns. Masquerades enact social, political, and spiritual roles within recurring festivals, initiations, wakes, skimmingtons, and weddings. The author explores performance in terms of abstraction in costume-disguise and the aesthetics of music, songs, drum-rhythms, dance, and licentiousness. He reveals masquerades as transformative agent, ancestral endorser, behavior manager, informal educator, and luck conferrer.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.

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