Kiva

[images73]

Today I took part in a kiva.  The kind of kiva I took part in is, I think, derived from kivas such as these.

Here is how our kiva worked:  There were two circles of seats in a room, an outer circle and an inner circle.  Those in the inner circle were required to talk about a certain topic, while those in the outer circle were not allowed to speak

Comments

[virtuolie]

That does sound fascinating. I would like to participate in something like that. What was the original topic? Was there a specific way to conclude the kiva, or did y'all just call it quits after a while?

Maybe we should try this with Mike--you know, you and I talk and he listens, then he stands in the middle and talks to himself :P

[images73]

Our broad topic was motivation, but the specific question for the first inner group was, "What motivates you to do well at OSU?" For the purposes of our class, we applied the recorded answers to the four schools of thought about human motivation after the kiva ended. We stopped because we ran out of time, but from the articles I've been reading, meetings in Pueblo kivas could last for days at a time. Also, our instructor used "kiva" as the name for an activity, but I think in Pueblo culture it was the name of a place/building, not an actual activity, so activities took place inside the kiva. Also, only men were allowed inside the kivas, never women.

You know, you should really stop torturing Mike. :P

[squiddna]

This sounds cool. Why is it called a kiva?

If you can expain that, you should tack it on to the Wikipedia entry.

[images73]

"Kiva" is Hopi for "old house."

That's all I know so far. Everything I research about it is just very repetitive.

[squiddna]

I mean, why is your discussion called a Kiva? I don't see the connection between the process and the ritual center.

Also

[images73]

See my reply to Michael's comment for a little more info, too.