| FT-53495-05 | Research Programs: Summer Stipends | Michael J. Zogry | Playing or Praying?: The Cherokee Anesto Ceremonial Complex | 6/1/2005 - 8/31/2005 | $5,000.00 | Michael | J. | Zogry | | | | University of Kansas, Lawrence | Lawrence | KS | 66045-7505 | USA | 2005 | Native American Studies | Summer Stipends | Research Programs | 5000 | 0 | 5000 | 0 |
This book project examines a cluster of Cherokee cultural actions that, together, can be defined as a ritual or ceremonial complex. These activities orbit around anetso, a "game" played by two teams in which the object is for players armed with two rackets each to score points by transporting a ball around a goal post. Rather than expressing one "meaning" through its performance, anetso sustains a variety of cultural meanings, which helps to explain how it has remained a vital cultural activity and symbol through hundreds of years of change. Is this Cherokee ball game, therefore, a ritual, a game, or both? Why do standard scholarly categories fail to aprehend and describe it accurately? These are among the questions this study seeks to answer. |