Community Process and the Performance of Muharram Observances in Trinidad

Abstract

The famed Trinidadian writer quoted above speaks to us as a liminar from the margins. Being of East Indian origin, he is squarely on the inside of the community of worshippers he witnesses, but being a Hindu, he is on the outside looking in. He simultaneously lacks and shares something with those he observes, not fully cognizant of the experiential directness that he so acutely points out. The writer's epistemological dilemma or lack of understanding concerning a major Islamic performative event displays a basic notion that we wish to make below, namely that things may not always be what they appear to be on the surface. Hermeneutic activity by spectator and believer alike thus creates layers of contextually embedded meaning.' It is clear that performances embody multiple meanings for all communities-meanings which may not be the same for all involved. But the creation of meaning becomes even more complex and diverse during large public-display events when artisans, performers, and audience members come together in acts of creative expression. Moreover, in heterogeneous cultures where many ethnic and religious groups are represented, each respective group brings its own preconceived notions to bear on the event being performed and observed. Interpretations and understandings, therefore, may not always correspond to a prototypical set of historically derived assumptions about the phenomenon performed; and often meanings may vary to such a degree that they be-