article

Masks and madness: ritual expressions of the transition to adulthood among Miskitu adolescents

Social anthropology • 9 (3) • Published In 2001 • Pages: 257-272

By: Jamieson, Mark.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document

The transition of persons from junior to more senior statuses has long constituted a important focus of anthropological inquiry, anthropologist mostly studying such changes in status through examination of rites of passage (p. 257). In this article Jamieson explores ritual expressions of the transition to adulthood among Miskitu adolescents in the village of Kakabila located in the Pearl Lagoon basin of Nicaragua. The focus in this work is on two of these ritualized forms of behaviour which have contributed to this transformation: [n]mosko[/n], a masked dance performance, and [n]grisi siknis[/n], a form of contagious hysteria principally affecting female adolescents that is found in Miskitu communities more widely (p. 258).

SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF

Personality disorders

Dance

Marriage

Parents-in-law and children-in-law

Sex

Residence

Organized ceremonial

cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)

Miskito

HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document

2010

RegionThe area the document pertains to

Middle America and the Caribbean

Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region

Central America

Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs

article

Evaluation

Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.

Ethnologist

Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.

5: Excellent Primary Data

AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection

John Beierle; 2009

Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document

1992-1993, 1997-2000

Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to

1675-2000

Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)

Village of Kakabila, Eastern Nicaragua

NotesAdditional notes

Mark Jamieson

Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-272)

LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings

Miskito Indians