Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Cultural Dispossession; 1. A Mumming Season; 2. Gender and Sexuality; 3. Civil Society and Democracy; 4. Autonomy and Community; 5. Ethnicity and Nationalism; Conclusion: Modernity in Drag; Notes; Works Cited; Index
Summary
Gerald W. Creed analyzes contemporary mumming rituals in rural Bulgaria for what they reveal about life after socialism -- and the current state of postsocialist studies. Mumming rituals have flourished in the post-Soviet era. Elaborately costumed dancers go from house to house demanding sustenance and bestowing blessings. Through the analysis of these rites, Creed critiques key themes in postsocialist studies, including understandings of civil society and democracy, gender and sexuality, autonomy and com
