Green Man/Blue Woman: A Miskitu operetta set in the Nicaraguan rainforest
Abstract
Plot: A Miskitu Indian chief conspires with a shaman to cast a spell on an anthropologist, steal her away from a political rival and transform her into the First Lady of the Nicaraguan rain forest. The story involves love magic, politics, and cultural exchange.
Description
This project was initiated to develop new content for teaching the Miskitu language. Herlihy wrote a story in simple short sentences, divided it into poems and hired Miskitu singer-musicians to produce and record the poems as songs. Green Man/Blue Woman, Part One, is for intermediate level Miskitu language learners. Green Man/Blue Woman, Part Two, is for advanced level learners. Students learn by transcribing the songs in Miskitu, translating the songs from Miskitu to English or Spanish, and listening along for pronunciation, tone, and cadence. The project is important because the original score of Green Man/Blue Woman has helped to revitalize the Miskitu language. In 2015, the songs started being played on the radio in the Bilwi, the capitol of the North Caribbean Autonomous Region, leading eventually to the establishment of a radio show called Green Man/Blue Woman. Miskitu people have taken more pride in their language due to an outsider-foreigner writing songs in their language and broadcast in Miskitu. A body of Miskitu songs produced about a common theme or storyline has never been produced before. The songs from Part 4 were added in 2020.Funding was provided by KU Libraries’ Parent’s Campaign with support from the David Shulenburger Office of Scholarly Communication & Copyright and Open Educational Resources Working Group in the KU Libraries. Additional support was provided by the Center of Latin American & Caribbean Studies at the University of Kansas.
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Citation
Herlihy, Laura Hobson. 2020. Waikna Sangni/Mairin Blu (Green Man/Blue Woman): A Miskitu operetta set in the Nicaraguan rainforest, with supplementary material. University of Kansas Libraries, Lawrence, KS.
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as: Copyright 2017 and 2020 Laura Herlihy. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
