The central hypothesis of Dubourg and Baumard is that imaginary worlds, which are such popular and lucrative cultural products in industrial societies today, tap into psychological dispositions which evolved in humans and non-human animals alike for the exploration of new environments. The authors trace the construction of imaginary worlds to ancient fictive literature and relate their current flourish to openness or tolerance, the curiosity of younger age groups, and secure, affluent ecologies. But are such cultural products only those of the affluent, secure, and young or have humans drawn on exploratory dispositions since the dawn of humanity to venture into imaginary worlds?
Anthropological studies of oral traditions in small-scale societies indicate that fiction is by no means new. Myths account for the origins of humans, formation of the landscape, and of social groups worldwide (Vansina, Reference Vansina1985). Epics and legends have historical dimensions entwined with fiction. However, among the broad repertoire of oral traditions, the most salient explorations of imaginary worlds are trickster traditions which have engaged audiences on all continents and in societies of different degrees of affluence and complexity long before the written word. Renowned tricksters include Loki the Norse God of chaos, Anansi the Ghanaian spider trickster, the Chinese Monkey King, the Greek Hermes, the Indonesian Mouse Deer and the Coyote and Raven from North America (Hyde, Reference Hyde1997).
Tricksters are sly, outrageous characters who live in largely imaginary worlds, defy the social and moral order, release humans from social constraints, and alter perceptions. Tricksters explore novel relations as well as alternatives to the present system, allowing people to reevaluate norms and contemplate change. They live on the periphery of the existing world, change in form from humans to objects to animals and venture on imaginary journeys. They embody human habits and character and are endowed with mental nimbleness to satisfy their wants.
Trickster traditions have many episodes or “seasons,” though these are not organized sequentially. For example, tales of the Coyote's wild adventures are told from the Arctic to Mexico. As part-human part-animal, he combines characteristics of sacredness and sinfulness, grand gestures and pettiness, strength and weakness, joy and misery, heroism and cowardliness (Hyde, Reference Hyde1997). Good and evil are wrapped up in one character unlike traditions of today that pit good against evil. Above all, he, like many tricksters, is greedy and gets what he wants, often food and women. Among Kalahari Khoisan, the trickster God //Gauwa may appear as a game animal, bird, insect, plant, rock, whirlwind, or cooking pot to obtain the most choice pieces of meat. But he is also the creator of beings, rules, and categories, though he transforms, distorts, or inverts what he has created or decreed (Guenther, Reference Guenther1999, p. 101.) As Biesele (Reference Biesele1995) has noted for the Kalahari Ju/’hoansi, twists of plot do not violate central themes but rather explore their ramifications and how many intellectual changes can be rung on the same theme and plot.
What environments are explored in trickster traditions? Though human nature is a theme that runs through traditions of all societies, stories from small-scale, subsistence-based societies delve largely into the boundaries of social worlds and those between humans and animals. This is not surprising as in such societies people are secured by mutually supportive social ties and direct interactions with the natural environment (Wiessner, Reference Wiessner2014). Norms governing interpersonal relations and the cultural order are designed to reduce the transaction costs of social and economic change. As such they are constantly pushed to the limits as individuals compete and seek new opportunities. Tolerance for variation in relationships and practices is considerable and widely discussed, just as the slippery exploits of tricksters draw fascination and laughter rather than disapproval.
Traditions involving imaginary worlds have proliferated in industrial societies. Nonetheless, whether in firelit sessions in the Kalahari where Bushmen of all ages roll in laughter as Tricksters invert the social order, or in the imaginary stories of the Tlingit of the NW pacific that extend for days in the winter months, the tendency to tap into dispositions to explore imaginary worlds is a near cultural universal. It appears to have deep roots in human societies and provide the variation on which cultural innovation and adaptation draw.
The central hypothesis of Dubourg and Baumard is that imaginary worlds, which are such popular and lucrative cultural products in industrial societies today, tap into psychological dispositions which evolved in humans and non-human animals alike for the exploration of new environments. The authors trace the construction of imaginary worlds to ancient fictive literature and relate their current flourish to openness or tolerance, the curiosity of younger age groups, and secure, affluent ecologies. But are such cultural products only those of the affluent, secure, and young or have humans drawn on exploratory dispositions since the dawn of humanity to venture into imaginary worlds?
Anthropological studies of oral traditions in small-scale societies indicate that fiction is by no means new. Myths account for the origins of humans, formation of the landscape, and of social groups worldwide (Vansina, Reference Vansina1985). Epics and legends have historical dimensions entwined with fiction. However, among the broad repertoire of oral traditions, the most salient explorations of imaginary worlds are trickster traditions which have engaged audiences on all continents and in societies of different degrees of affluence and complexity long before the written word. Renowned tricksters include Loki the Norse God of chaos, Anansi the Ghanaian spider trickster, the Chinese Monkey King, the Greek Hermes, the Indonesian Mouse Deer and the Coyote and Raven from North America (Hyde, Reference Hyde1997).
Tricksters are sly, outrageous characters who live in largely imaginary worlds, defy the social and moral order, release humans from social constraints, and alter perceptions. Tricksters explore novel relations as well as alternatives to the present system, allowing people to reevaluate norms and contemplate change. They live on the periphery of the existing world, change in form from humans to objects to animals and venture on imaginary journeys. They embody human habits and character and are endowed with mental nimbleness to satisfy their wants.
Trickster traditions have many episodes or “seasons,” though these are not organized sequentially. For example, tales of the Coyote's wild adventures are told from the Arctic to Mexico. As part-human part-animal, he combines characteristics of sacredness and sinfulness, grand gestures and pettiness, strength and weakness, joy and misery, heroism and cowardliness (Hyde, Reference Hyde1997). Good and evil are wrapped up in one character unlike traditions of today that pit good against evil. Above all, he, like many tricksters, is greedy and gets what he wants, often food and women. Among Kalahari Khoisan, the trickster God //Gauwa may appear as a game animal, bird, insect, plant, rock, whirlwind, or cooking pot to obtain the most choice pieces of meat. But he is also the creator of beings, rules, and categories, though he transforms, distorts, or inverts what he has created or decreed (Guenther, Reference Guenther1999, p. 101.) As Biesele (Reference Biesele1995) has noted for the Kalahari Ju/’hoansi, twists of plot do not violate central themes but rather explore their ramifications and how many intellectual changes can be rung on the same theme and plot.
What environments are explored in trickster traditions? Though human nature is a theme that runs through traditions of all societies, stories from small-scale, subsistence-based societies delve largely into the boundaries of social worlds and those between humans and animals. This is not surprising as in such societies people are secured by mutually supportive social ties and direct interactions with the natural environment (Wiessner, Reference Wiessner2014). Norms governing interpersonal relations and the cultural order are designed to reduce the transaction costs of social and economic change. As such they are constantly pushed to the limits as individuals compete and seek new opportunities. Tolerance for variation in relationships and practices is considerable and widely discussed, just as the slippery exploits of tricksters draw fascination and laughter rather than disapproval.
Traditions involving imaginary worlds have proliferated in industrial societies. Nonetheless, whether in firelit sessions in the Kalahari where Bushmen of all ages roll in laughter as Tricksters invert the social order, or in the imaginary stories of the Tlingit of the NW pacific that extend for days in the winter months, the tendency to tap into dispositions to explore imaginary worlds is a near cultural universal. It appears to have deep roots in human societies and provide the variation on which cultural innovation and adaptation draw.
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