Ritual of Superiority: Tolai Tubuan Performance at the National Mask Festival in Papua New Guinea
The National Mask Festival in Papua New Guinea is an annual event organized by the national government to preserve and promote the cultures associated with masked figures representing ancestral spirits that are found in many parts of the country. For the last 15 years, it has been held in Rabaul/Kok...
Tallennettuna:
| Julkaisussa: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/jso, |
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| Päätekijä: | |
| Aineistotyyppi: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Kieli: | Anglais |
| Julkaistu: |
Journal de la société des océanistes
2017
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| Aiheet: | |
| Linkit: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Yhteenveto: | The National Mask Festival in Papua New Guinea is an annual event organized by the national government to preserve and promote the cultures associated with masked figures representing ancestral spirits that are found in many parts of the country. For the last 15 years, it has been held in Rabaul/Kokopo, home of the Tolai people, who are known as one of the nation’s most influential and affluent indigenous groups and well-known for their masked figures referred to generically as tubuan. This paper analyzes the Tolai performance of tubuan dances and rituals at the festival as a ritual, thereby examining its symbolic efficacy. It is shown that Tolai perform tubuan dances and rituals at the festival to demonstrate their superiority over other Papua New Guineans, and that they make their performance effective by using specific expressive strategies. |
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