In the Grip of a Trickster: Mythic (W)holes and Ethnographic Entanglements in the Marshall Islands


Phillip McArthur (Brigham Young University Hawaii)

In this paper I will peer into some intercultural holes exposed through a performance of a riMajel mythic narrative in which a credulous seeker gets his head caught in a trickster’s ass “hole.” By carefully attending to the text of a dialogic encounter between myself and a sly riMajel storyteller, I show how playful ethnographic entanglements in the decolonizing present illuminate larger historical ambiguities about American imperialism and abuse in the Marshall Islands.

Part of 04-10 Myth Performance and Religion, Friday, November 03, 8:30 am–10:00 am