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CHINESE-TIBETAN 'NAXI' TRIBE

Presented by MSU Northwest Art Center at Aleshire Theater

October 25, 2011

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Robert Kibler, MSU Professor of Humanities and Literature, will present “Ancient Pictographs, Shamans, and Ghosts: Close Encounters with the Naxi Tribe on the Sino-Tibetan Borderland” on the Northwest Art Center Lecture Series, Tuesday, October 25 at 7:00 p.m. in the Aleshire Theater, MSU.

 

Kibler will discuss the Naxi people, their various gods and demons, explain how he came to travel to their remote land, and how lessons learned from the Naxi may be pertinent for us today.

 

The Naxi tribespeople live within the loop of the great Yangtze “River of Golden Sand,” high up in the mountains along the Chinese-Tibetan borderlands. The Naxi lived for centuries untrammeled by outside forces. But in 1723, the Chinese invaded, bringing with them all kinds of cultural transformations to which the Naxi had to adapt, explains Kibler.

The Naxi world is inhabited by tens of thousands of ghosts, demons, and gods, so that everywhere they turn, certain procedures have to be followed, or else demons might seize upon one or more of their three souls, causing illness, catastrophe, and even death. “Luckily, the Naxi have their dongba, or shaman, who is a specialist at summoning the help of the good gods and at casting out demons,” states Kibler.

The lecture is free and open to the public. A question and answer period and informal reception will follow the lecture. At the reception, guests will be invited to sample authentic loose-leaf teas brought back by Kibler from this remote locale.

 

Parking on the MSU campus is unrestricted and open to the public after 5 p.m.

 

The Northwest Art Center Lecture Series is funded in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

For more information about Northwest Art Center activities, call 701-858-3264.