The Keepers of Tradition
Clown Societies in the Casas Grandes and Puebloan Worlds
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5982152 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael D Mathiowetz, Michael Mathiowetz (Getty Research Institute, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 91 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 147-179 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | KIVA (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0023-1940 • E-ISSN: 2051-6177 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00231940.2025.2461803 |
| OpenAlex | W4408062055 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 50 |
Often simply characterized as buffoons, Puebloan clowns are complex beings with integral relations to governance, katsina ritualism, medicine societies, and the agricultural cycle. Archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnological data from the U.S. Southwest and northwest Mexico indicate that clown societies among the Casas Grandes culture centered in Chihuahua, Mexico, were present during the Medio Period (AD 1200–1450) and may have influenced the development of Puebloan clown societies. As avatars of Sun Youth, clowns may have formed an integral part of Casas Grandes governance
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Natural History · Latin American history and culture
Sacred Southwestern Landscapes
The Interpretation of Cultures
The reversible world
The Temporal Sensitivity of Casas Grandes Polychrome Ceramics
Sourcing Chihuahuan Polychrome Ceramics
Symbolic Associations
From This Day Forward I Am Your Way of Life
The Chihuahua Culture Area
Borderlands Histories
The Tewa World
Land Use, Looting, and Archaeology in Chihuahua, Mexico
The neighbors of casas grandes
Addressing Some Problems Related to Research on Mimbres Ceramics and their Iconography
The Sun Youth of the Casas Grandes Culture, Chihuahua, Mexico (AD 1200-1450)
Within the Underworld Sky
The North American Indian Trickster
Ritual Clowns and Symbolical Behaviour
The Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico
The Growth of the Hopi Ritual
New Perspectives on the Pueblos
Ceramics and Polity in the Casas Grandes Area, Chihuahua, Mexico
The Ritual Process
Interpretive Archaeology and Its Role
The Interpretation of Politics
The Inner Sanctum of Feather Cave, a Mogollon Sun and Earth Shrine Linking Mexico and the Southwest
Conceptual Metaphor in the Archaeological Record
Capakoba, the Mayo Easter Ceremonial Impersonator
Metaphor and Material Culture
On Key Symbols1
The Distribution of Pottery Types in Northwest Mexico
The Sacred Clowns of the Pueblo and Mayo-yaqui Indians
An Analysis of the Northwestern Chihuahua Culture1
Ontologies of Indigeneity
The Archaeology of Symbols
The Contrary Behavior Pattern in American Indian Ceremonialism
The Clown Within
The Cave in the Kiva
Chihuahuan Desert Shrine Caves
Convergence of Evidence Supports a Chuska Mountains Origin for the Plaza Tree of Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |