Playing or praying? The Cherokee anetso ceremonial complex

This dissertation argues that anetso, the Cherokee ball game, as the centerpiece of a ceremonial complex, defies definition as either a "ritual" or a "game," as such concepts are conventionally understood. By constructing a ritual history, this study will argue for the long-standing significance of the ball game in Cherokee culture, and detail the many constituent activities that both Cherokee and non-Cherokee observers have termed "religious." Rather than express one "meaning" through its performance, instead anetso sustains a variety of cultural meanings, one or more of which may surface in a particular historical instance. More broadly, the ball game complex is a useful test case for interpretation of cultural forms that do not conform to definitional boundaries created by discrete classification systems.;In the Cherokee narrative tradition anetso occurs both as an activity that humans, animals and other beings perform, and as a metaphor for battle or engagement of some kind. Historical and ethnographic records reveal that Cherokee people have invoked the metaphor of anetso as well as participated in the activity for centuries. Anetso has proven to be a resilient and emblematic element of Cherokee culture, continuing to surface in situations of cultural conflict for Cherokee people, before and after the Trail of Tears.;Cherokee people employed the ball game as an aspect of tourist trade in earlier centuries, and this continued throughout the twentieth century, as they presented certain elements of the anetso complex to the rest of the world while privately maintaining many of the traditions associated with it. Nevertheless, the basic framework of the ball game complex has remained intact, even though it has undergone many changes.;Academic and popular observers have continued to report on the ball game; it has been invoked to support a variety of theories, as well as to illustrate Cherokee culture. Anetso continues to be a symbol of Cherokee identity and culture both within the Qualla Boundary community and beyond it. For many members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, it continues to be an important tradition in which they are actively engaged as well.