Rebels and Tricksters

On Argentina: I've been in Brazil and Argentina the last 10 days (flying home tonight). Argentina is, for whatever reason, one of these countries that just naturally seems to breed rebels, but in this case mostly political rebels.  Che Guevara is of course the most famous. Evita Peron is another well-known Argentine rebel of sorts. She was certainly prepared to break with convention. And you could even say the Tango is a type of rebel dance. It was banned by the Catholic Church for many years. I'm always intrigued by interesting and different political cultures and how they get to be that way. Argentina is certainly one of them. Even today the streets of Buenos Aires are full of political graffiti and pop-up demonstrations. Every Thursday the mothers of the thousands of young adults who disappeared (i.e. were killed) during the military regime of the 70s and 80s still march in the main square in front of the presidential palace.

On Tricksters: Thanks to @sandymaxey for the tip on this interesting discussion of Tricksters, which I had totally missed and which has considerable relevance to our Rebels at Work meme. The trickster, the mischief-maker, is a figure common to all mythology. The trickster likes to steal from whoever is in power and break their rules but is so charming that he or she can often get away with it. Here's a link to the book Trickster Makes this World. And as @nickcharney noted in a blog last year, innovators can learn a lot from the tactics used by Tricksters. Tricksters, for example, look for "joints" in a system, try to break them, and thus reveal the untapped potential that human systems of order repress. The deployment of humor as an advanced tactical weapon is another important Trickster trait that all rebels need to emulate. It strikes me that humor is often an underdeveloped rebel asset.

Finally check out this great Ted talk from 2002 by Emily Levine where she discusses some of the attributes of Tricksters. The whole talk is a lot of fun, and the Trickster discussion occurs in the second half.

 

 

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