123bingoonl

Casino City's Global Gaming Almanac

The Trickster Shift

Over the last 15 years, a select group of professionally trained andpolitically astute Canadian artists of Native ancestry has produced acompelling body of work that owes much of its power to a wry and ironicsense of humour rooted firmly in the oral tradition. More than acritical/political strategy, such humour reflects a widespread culturaland communal sensibility embodied in the mythical Native AmericanTrickster. This book explores the influence of this comic spirit on thepractice of various artists through the presentation of a'Trickster discourse,' that is, a body of overlapping andinterrelated verbal and visual narratives by tricksters and abouttrickster practice.

Out of the Shadow

In western culture, the separation of humans from nature has contributed to a schism between the conscious reason and the unconscious dreaming psyche, or internal human "nature." Our increasing lack of intimacy with the land has led to a decreased capacity to access parts of the psyche not normally valued in a capitalist culture. In Out of the Shadow: Ecopsychology, Story, and Encounters with the Land, Rinda West uses Jung's idea of the shadow to explore how this divorce results in alienation, projection, and often breakdown. Bringing together ideas from analytical psychology, environmental thought, and literary studies, West explores a variety of literary texts--including several by contemporary American Indian writers--to show, through a sort of geography of the psyche, how alienation from nature reflects a parallel separation from the "nature" that constitutes the unconscious. Through her analysis of narratives that offer images of people confronting shadow, reconnecting with nature, and growing psychologically and ethically, West reveals that when characters enter into relationship with the natural world, they are better able to confront and reclaim shadow. By writing "from the shadows," West argues that contemporary writers are exploring ways of being human that have the potential for creating more just and honorable relationships with nature, and more sustainable communities. For ecocritics, conservation activists, scholars and students of environmental studies and American Indian studies, and ecopsychologists, Out of the Shadow offers hope for humans wishing to reconcile with themselves, with nature, and with community.