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Elvis Has Left The Building Research Paper

2168 Words9 Pages

Ms. Ryan
Saturday Writing Class
25 April 2015
Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis Has Left the Building: Perceptions of American Culture in a Foreign Land CRQ: How does the Elvis Mask created by the secretive Nyau society reflect the culture’s values?
TS: The Elvis mask reflects the cultural tension of the secretive Nyau society who adapted to a world of intruding Western influence while attempting to keep their own culture.
There has been very little research conducted on the masks of the Nyau society. If more studies had been conducted, more information on the history of the Chewa people and their cultural masks would be available. This paper will use the limited information that is available to discuss the relevance of an outsider to the people …show more content…

It was very unusual to see an iconic American figure amongst a collection of foreign artwork or artifacts in the Brooklyn Museum exhibit. This mask of Elvis Presley was made in Africa, so looking at it immediately evoked questions that I wanted to be answered: What was it used for? How did that society perceive Elvis Presley? Was he popular in that culture as he was in our culture, or are they making fun of what American culture valued? Although Elvis Presley was venerated in America, the mask does not support or deny that he was regarded as highly in the Nyau society. It was not made to look realistic and appears more like a caricature than a venerated …show more content…

They used practices indigenous or alien and ideas traditional or foreign to provide solutions, albeit partial ones, to problems that emerged in their changing environment. One such institution was Nyau secret societies (320).” Forming the Nyau was a way in which the Chewa attempted to protect their identity in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century when Africa was being exploited. Kachapila notes that the Chewa are known for resisting against Europeans and “Nyau societies fought against the establishment of Christian missionaries in their area (320).” The secret brotherhood was a consequence of the disruption of the colonists; men bonded to protect their cultural identity from the threat of foreign

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