Masquerade and postsocialism : ritual and cultural dispossession in Bulgaria / Gerald W. Creed.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

1958- Creed.

Contributor:

Gerald W..

Series:

New anthropologies of Europe.

New anthropologies of Europe

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rites and ceremonies--Bulgaria.

Rites and ceremonies.

Mumming--Bulgaria.

Mumming.

Masquerades--Bulgaria.

Masquerades.

Post-communism--Bulgaria.

Post-communism.

National characteristics, Bulgarian.

Bulgaria--Politics and government.

Bulgaria.

Bulgaria--Social life and customs.

Physical Description:

xi, 254 p.

Edition:

1版.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Gerald W. Creed analyzes contemporary mumming rituals in rural Bulgaria for what they reveal about life after socialism -- and the current state of postsocialist studies. Mumming rituals have flourished in the post-Soviet era. Elaborately costumed dancers go from house to house demanding sustenance and bestowing blessings. Through the analysis of these rites, Creed critiques key themes in postsocialist studies, including understandings of civil society and democracy, gender and sexuality, autonomy and community, and ethnicity and nationalism. He argues that these events reveal indigenous cultural resources that could have been used both practically and intellectually to ease the postsocialist reconstruction of Bulgarian society, but were not.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Cultural Dispossession

1. A Mumming Season

2. Gender and Sexuality

3. Civil Society and Democracy

4. Autonomy and Community

5. Ethnicity and Nationalism

Conclusion: Modernity in Drag

Notes

Works Cited

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-283-10177-7

9786613101778

0-253-00502-7

OCLC:

703155188