The Reading Room

BESW

00:26

@Hamlet Lots of interesting things, but only touching the surface of each (it was a half-hour presentation).

It started by adopting George McFadden's concept of literature as "a canon which consists of those works in language by which a community defines itself throughout the course of its history" and then talked about the language of Yapese dance and its role in the community as a method of memory, negotiation, instruction, commemoration, and commentary.

It also talked about how the different elements of a dance's structure (including but not limited to chant, gestures, attire, and context/permission) can be analysed in ways similar to analysing the structural elements of Western written works, and how the "genres" of dance differ from each other and influence each other over time.

b_jonas

@BESW I see.

BESW

There were some especially interesting bits at the end about how dance-as-commentary is used to face challenging subjects which otherwise have no conversational space, but that it's also used to normalise subjects by reducing serious topics to less controversial stylised representations of themselves.

@b_jonas Hazard of being a freelance print-media graphic designer who works with low-budget niche projects; I get lassoed into doing anything adjacent to my specialty that nobody else wants to do.

So, yanno. Doing the layout for a literary magazine? Come sit with the editors as we go over submissions! Designing a poster for a theater performance? Write a page of program copy explaining the cultural context and influence of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa on Akira Kurosawa!

doppelgreener

00:43

@BESW I'm suddenly thinking of candy colored ponies & aliens with silly hats.

BESW

@doppelgreener Not unlike, though in the context of a society with much more rigorous rules and taboos about who can say what where and how.

Instead of just making a conversation easier to digest, like Star Trek's contemporary social commentary via planets of hats, churu can make a conversation possible where it'd otherwise be completely impossible.

doppelgreener

That sounds very healthy and important

BESW

But it's also possible to make a horrible thing feel okay by how we frame it, and some deep-rooted struggles in Yapese society are more difficult to address because of how popular churu presents them as less problematic than they really are.

And since there's not really any space except churu to talk about these things...

One cool thing about churu, though, is that its different genres allow for different kinds of communication. So some are mostly about history and traditional practices and don't change much over time, while others are created and revised to talk about contemporary issues. There's even dances which are the equivalent of the town crier or a local newspaper, used to share news!

Benjamin

01:33

Could we rethink not having a sandbox? I know that I would find it helpful.

kristan

Now my Wonka question is waaayyy too popular; it's making me feel self-conscious :-S

I know, I'm weird like that...

Rand al'Thor

Any thoughts on why this question has been so poorly received?

Is it my statement that the Red is portrayed as the 'bad Ajah' (not counting the Black)? Because that's not strictly required for the question, so I can just cut it out if so.

kristan

@Randal'Thor I kinda wondered that, but since I know nothing about Ajahs, I'm afraid I can't be much help there.

Napoleon Wilson

Maybe people just don't like the Blue Raja's pseudo-British attitude.

Rand al'Thor