An Anthropology of Indirect CommunicationSometimes we convey what we mean not by what we say but by what we do. This type of indirect communication is sometimes called 'indirection'. From patent miscommunication, through potent ambiguity to pregnant silence this incisive collection examines from a rare anthropological perspective the many aspects of indirect communication. From a Mormon Theme Park to carnival time on Montserrat the contributors analyse indirection by illustrating how food, silence, sunglasses, martial arts and rudeness call constitute powerful ways of conveying meaning. An Anthropology of Indirect Communication is an engaging text which provides a challenging introduction to this subject. |
Contents
Communicational distortion and the constitution of society Indirection as a form of life | 19 |
On the ontological status of honour | 34 |
Not talking about sex in India Indirection and the communication of bodily intention | 51 |
Talk silence and the material world Patterns of indirect communication among agricultural families in northern England | 68 |
Indirection beyond language | 83 |
Eating your words Communicating with food in the Ecuadorian Andes | 85 |
Sunglasses suitcases and other symbols Intentionality creativity and indirect communication in festive and everyday performances | 101 |
Trust privacy deceit and the quality of interpersonal relationships Peasant society revisited | 115 |
Intricacies of language explained | 179 |
Licence revoked When calypso goes too far | 181 |
Indirect speech Heteroglossia politeness and rudeness in Irula forest festivals | 201 |
Straight talk hidden talk and modernity Shifts in discourse strategy in Highland New Guinea | 218 |
Unwrapping rudeness Inverted etiquette in an egalitarian enclave | 232 |
English with diplomacy | 253 |
Ambiguity and verbal disguise within diplomatic culture | 255 |
Delay and deception in ThaiBritish diplomatic encounters of the early nineteenth century | 271 |
The temple and the theme park Intention and indirection in religious tourist art | 128 |
Bodily possibilities | 143 |
Dance dissimulation and identity in Indonesia | 145 |
Dont talk blend Ideas about body and communication in aikido practice | 163 |
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Common terms and phrases
aikido ambiguity Anthropology audience become behaviour body calypso calypsonians Cambridge Canchungo carnival ceremony Chapter Chitrali clothes context costumes culture dance deity described diplomacy diplomatic direct discourse discussion dojo egalitarian enclave ethnographic etiquette everyday example exchange experience expression Farang farming festival fieldwork gender Ghanyari Guinea Bissau guinea pig Hendry hierarchy honour household identity India Indian indirect communication individuals Indonesian intentions interaction Irula Javanese Kalasha Kewa Khowar language language linguistic London Manjaco Market talk meaning Meganisi mestizos metaphor metonymic mission modernity Montserrat Mormon neighbours offcomer Oxford Pakhtun particular performance perlocutionary political Polynesian Polynesian Cultural Center Prabha practice Q-Pid refer relations relationships ritual Routledge rudeness séance sense sexual silence social society song speech spouses status strategies Sucre symbolic temple Thai tion tourists traditional translation University Press verbal village Wanet women words wrapping Yogyakarta
Popular passages
Page 1 - WHEN I read the book, the biography famous, And is this then (said I) what the author calls a man's life? And so will some one when I am dead and gone write my life? (As if any man really knew aught of my life, Why even I myself I often think know little or nothing of my real life, Only a few hints, a few diffused faint clews and indirections I seek for my own use to trace out here...
References to this book
Communicating: The Multiple Modes of Human Interconnection Ruth H. Finnegan No preview available - 2002 |