The Elusive Presence.

A joke from the Southwest Indian Ocean island of Mauritius points to the notion of presence. In folkore studies, presence is a "transcendental signified, something lying beyond structure or interpretation. Revered by authorities like Alan Dundes, Robert Plant Armstrong, and Kirin Narayan, it comes into question when viewed through the eyes of a Jacques Derrida or Jacques Lacan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]