Rites of passage: Dionysus and the chorus of Satyrs

Authors

  • John Cowart Dawsey Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2525-3123.gis.2016.116355

Keywords:

rites of passage, margins of margins, f(r)iction, astounding or extraordinary everyday experience, corpoiesis

Abstract

At the origins of Greek tragedy, in the chorus of satyrs of Dionysian theater, Greeks stared into horror. This observation by Nietzsche is the starting point for a discussion of rites of passage and, particularly, of liminal experience. Contributions from contemporary performance and theater highlight aspects of this experience. So also, the studies of Julia Kristeva deserve attention. A hypothesis inspired by the writings of Walter Benjamin emerges at the end: vital elements of rites of passage and Dionysian theater have to do with what may be called “margins of margins”. In focus, the double removal of masks (everyday and extraordinary), the subterranean regions of symbols, and the experience of f(r) iction (with the r between parentheses) in relations between masks and bodies. Paraphrasing Pascal, the body has its reasons of which culture knows not. At margins of margins a double optic is formed: the astounding (or extraordinary) everyday, no surprise in the astounding.

Translation: John Cowart Dawsey 

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Author Biography

  • John Cowart Dawsey, Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil
    Born in São Paulo, Brazil, John C. Dawsey is full professor of anthropology at the University of São Paulo (USP). He obtained a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Master’s in Theology from Emory University. At the University of São Paulo, he is the founding director of the Research Center in Anthropology, Performance and Drama (Napedra), founded in 2001, and invited coordinator of the Center for Afro-Brazilian Arts. He is the author and co-author of various books, including Why do sugarcane cutters laugh? Anthropology and theater diaries (2013), Anthropology and performance: Napedra essays (2013), and No performance’s land: dialogues in anthropology (2013). He helped organize a special edition on Anthropology and Performance for the Revista de Antropologia (2013). At crossroads between anthropology and theater, he seeks to explore reconfigurations of the anthropological field made possible by the writings of Walter Benjamin. His research reveals a particular interest in topics relating to anthropology and performance, anthropology of experience, and benjaminian anthropology. Much of this is sparked by two interrelated questions. The first has to do with theater paradigms in anthropology. Articulating the works of Walter Benjamin and of authors on theater (Brecht, Artaud, et al), he discusses horizons for engaging theater with anthropology, and seeks to rethink premises of dramatic theater – as revealed in his immanent criticism of various anthropological works. The second has to do with exploring possibilities of research made possible by what may be termed a benjaminian anthropology. A set of concepts or research tools results from these studies: tension-thick description, everyday astoundment, margins of margins, subterranean regions of symbols, history of forgetfulness, sonorous unconscious, tension-charged montage, f(r)iction (with the r between parentheses), the place from where things are seen or sensed.

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Published

2016-06-23

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

Dawsey, John Cowart. 2016. “Rites of Passage: Dionysus and the Chorus of Satyrs”. GIS - Gesture, Image and Sound - Anthropology Journal 1 (1). https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2525-3123.gis.2016.116355.