Masquerade and Postsocialism: Ritual and Cultural Dispossession in Bulgaria (New Anthropologies of Europe)

Creed, Gerald W.

ISBN 10: 0253222613 / ISBN 13: 9780253222619

Published by Indiana University Press, 2011

About this Item

Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!

Seller Inventory # S_473999936

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Masquerade and Postsocialism: Ritual and Cultural Dispossession in Bulgaria (New Anthropologies of Europe)
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0253222613
• ISBN 13: 9780253222619
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Gerald W. Creed is Professor of Anthropology at Hunter College and the City University of New York Graduate Center, where he is Executive Officer of the Anthropology Program. He is author of Domesticating Revolution: From Socialist Reform to Ambivalent Transition in a Bulgarian Village.