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A River Separates Them, A Culture Connects Them: The Mohawk Hunters Of Algiers And The Mardi Gras Indian Tradition In New Orleans, Monisha S. Jackson

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

All over the world, Carnival is a time for a break in human activities, and inversion of the usual hierarchies. In New Orleans, Carnival is a time when the powerless take over the streets, and, for a time, invert control and ownership. One of the New Orleans carnival organizations are the Mardi Gras Indians, groups of African Americans who dress as Indians during the day and take over the streets of their neighborhoods, showing their power and beauty in a breathtaking display of costumes, music and dance. The Masking of the Mardi Gras Indian is a tradition dating back to …