Guyanese Mass Games: spectacles that "moulded" the nation in a North Korean way. Issue 2 (3rd April 2019)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Guyanese Mass Games: spectacles that "moulded" the nation in a North Korean way. Issue 2 (3rd April 2019)
- Main Title:
- Guyanese Mass Games: spectacles that "moulded" the nation in a North Korean way
- Authors:
- Kwon, Vicki Sung-yeon
- Abstract:
- ABSTRACT: This paper examines the Guyanese Mass Games, multi-media spectacles of visual and performing arts initiated by the leader of the Co-Operative Republic of Guyana and performed by Guyanese artists and youth aided by North Korean artists. North Korea and Guyana staged the games as the postcolonial and anti-imperialist expression of a newly established socialist regime in the global South in the context of the Cold War. Staged annually from 1980 to 1992 as part of the national day celebrations, they sparked debate, antagonism, and ethnic and political conflict in Guyana. The encounter of North Korean artists and Guyanese artists resulted in the new cultural tradition of the Guyanese Mass Games, which incorporated elements of Guyana's local culture into the form of the North Korean Mass Games. The paper expands the method of "inter-referencing" to incorporate a cross-continental dimension to analyze the cultural event of the Mass Games in North Korea and Guyana. The analysis in this paper is grounded in archival materials relating to the Guyanese Mass Games, such as sketch paintings, choreography books, photos, and newspaper articles, and examines how the representation of the people and land in the Mass Games captures the ambivalent character of decolonization and modernization projects in the socialist regime of Guyana.
- Is Part Of:
- Inter-Asia cultural studies. Volume 20:Issue 2(2019)
- Journal:
- Inter-Asia cultural studies
- Issue:
- Volume 20:Issue 2(2019)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 20, Issue 2 (2019)
- Year:
- 2019
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 2
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2019-0020-0002-0000
- Page Start:
- 180
- Page End:
- 203
- Publication Date:
- 2019-04-03
- Subjects:
- Mass Games -- North Korea -- Guyana -- performance -- choreography -- archive -- Arirang -- Mashramani
Culture -- Periodicals
Asia -- Civilization -- Periodicals
Asia -- Social life and customs -- Periodicals
Culture -- Périodiques
Asie -- Civilisation -- Périodiques
Asie -- Moeurs et coutumes -- Périodiques
303.4095 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/riac20/current ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/14649373.2019.1613726 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1464-9373
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 4531.848700
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 10973.xml