Fun in Ancient America

[John F. Schwaller]

>Date:         Thu, 20 Jul 2000 08:53:55 -0400
>Reply-To: "Jeffrey C. Splitstoser" <jcs at ancientamerica.net>
>Sender: Pre-Columbian History <AZTLAN at LISTSERV.LOUISVILLE.EDU>
>From: "Jeffrey C. Splitstoser" <jcs at ancientamerica.net>
>Organization: Center for Ancient American Studies
>Subject:      AN, ME, NO: Fun in Ancient America
>To: AZTLAN at LISTSERV.LOUISVILLE.EDU
>
>
>THE PRE-COLUMBIAN SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, D.C., announces a one-day
>symposium entitled,
>
>"ARE WE HAVING FUN YET? PLEASURABLE ACTIVITIES IN ANCIENT AMERICA"
>
>Saturday, September 16, 2000, 9:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
>
>Conveniently located at the U.S. Navy Memorial & Naval Heritage Center
>in downtown Washington, D.C., 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, between 7th
>and 9th Streets (next to the Archives/Navy Memorial Station on Metro's
>Green and Yellow lines)
>
>
>SYNOPSIS:
>
>Centuries of scholarship have revealed much about life in ancient
>America. But to what extent is this understanding, reflective of our own
>biases and assumptions, skewed by an over-emphasis on the role of ritual
>and symbolic meaning? Didn't ancient Americans ever just kick back and
>relax? Didn't they ever just sit and joke, play games, or watch the
>clouds go by? Did everything have symbolic meaning?
>
>Whether or not "leisure" is purely a Western concept, pre-Columbian
>peoples certainly seemed to have had fun. Spanish chroniclers cite
>references to board games, foot races, feasting, and drinking. Many of
>these activities are depicted in art, and a few traces have been found
>from archaeology.
>
>In this ground-breaking symposium, scholars will participate in the
>first-ever study of what we know about this fascinating and surprisingly
>neglected aspect of ancient American society-forms of fun and
>entertainment. Through slide-illustrated lectures, experts will use art
>and ethnohistorical and archaeological data to examine pleasure-seeking
>activities including Aztec children's games and pleasure palaces, Maya
>means of merriment, the Mesoamerican ball-game, and North American dice
>games.
>
>
>PARTICIPANTS:
>
>Jeffrey Quilter, Dumbarton Oaks, "At Work, Rest, or Play? The Question
>of Leisure in Ancient America"
>
>Susan Toby Evans, Pennsylvania State University, "'Mid Pleasures and
>Palaces: Aztec Nobles at Home and at Play"
>
>Jill Leslie McKeever-Furst, Moore College of Art and Design & University
>of Pennsylvania Museum, "Compulsory Play: The Leisure Activities of
>Aztec Children and Youths"
>
>Warren R. DeBoer, Queens College, CUNY, "Of Dice and Women: Gambling and
>Exchange in Native North America"
>
>Karl Taube, University of California, Riverside, "American Gladiators:
>Competitive Combat in Ancient Mesoamerica"
>
>Justin Kerr, Kerr Associates, New York, "A Good Time was had by All: Fun
>and Games among the Ancient Maya"
>
>
>FURTHER INFORMATION:
>
>For a brochure with complete details including costs, registration form,
>and hotel accommodations, please send your name and address to
>leisure at ancientamerica.net.