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This volume explores the constitutive role of rhetoric in socio-cultural relations, where discursive persuasion is so important, and contains both theoretical chapters as well as fascinating examples of the ambiguities and effects of rhetoric used (un)consciously in social praxis. The elements of power, competition and political persuasion figure prominently. It is an accessible collection of studies, speaking to common issues and problems in social life, and shows the heuristic and often explanatory value of the rhetorical perspective.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
PART I: POSITIONING Introduction: Rhetoric in Social Relations
Jon Abbink and Shauna LaTosky Chapter 1. Embodied Chiasmus: From Alienation to Participation
Jamin Pelkey PART II: BONDING Chapter 2. Kinship: Mother and Child of Rhetoric
Jean Lydall Chapter 3. What Do Kinship Terms Do? The Dual Life of Kinship Rhetoric in English-Written Hunter-Gatherers' Ethnography
Nurit Bird-David Chapter 4. The Rhetoric of Kinship: 'Doing Kinship' - Some Mambila Cases
David Zeitlyn Chapter 5. Establishing Ethos: The Rhetorical Work of Bondfriendship
Felix Girke Chapter 6. The Rhetorics of Purging among the Mun (Mursi) of Southern Ethiopia
Shauna LaTosky Chapter 7. The Art of Playing
Tuql: How to 'Make' Love in Egypt
Steffen Strohmenger Chapter 8. Enculturation as Rhetorical Practice
Ivo Strecker PART III: CONTESTATION Chapter 9. Sweet Tongues: The Rhetoric of Politeness in Damascus
Anke Reichenbach Chapter 10. Words and Images: A Cross-cultural View on Swearing as a Rhetorical Strategy in Social Relations
Susan du Mesnil de Rochemont Chapter 11. Flavouring the Nation: The Rhetoric of Nutrition Policies in Ethiopia
Valentina Peveri Chapter 12. Power Relations in Suri: Public Speech and Action
Jon Abbink Chapter 13. Inducement to Action and Change in Attitude: Coaching in the Light of Rhetorical Anthropology
Michal Mokrzan Index
About the author
Jon Abbink is a research professor of Politics and Governance in Africa (Political Anthropology) at the African Studies Centre, Leiden University. Recent publications include The Anthropology of Elites (co-edited, Palgrave, 2012), Reconfiguring Ethiopia (co-edited, Routledge, 2013), a co-authored monograph, Suri Orature, on the Suri people (Köppe Verlag, 2014), and the edited volume The Environmental Crunch in Africa (Palgrave, 2018).
Shauna LaTosky teaches cultural anthropology at Thompson Rivers University. She published The Predicaments of Mursi (Mun) Women in Ethiopia’s Changing World (Köppe Verlag, 2013), and co-edited Writing in the Field (Lit Verlag, 2013).
Summary
Explores the constitutive role of rhetoric in socio-cultural relations, where discursive persuasion is so important, and contains both theoretical chapters as well as fascinating examples of the ambiguities and effects of rhetoric used (un)consciously in social praxis.
