Natural Histories of Discourse

Is culture simply a more or less set text we can learn to read? Since the early 1970s, the notion of culture-as-text has animated anthropologists and other analysts of culture. Michael Silverstein and Greg Urban present this stunning collection of cutting-edge ethnographies arguing that the divide between fleeting discursive practice and formed text is a constructed one, and that the constructional process reveals "culture" to those who can interpret it.
Eleven original essays of "natural history" range in focus from nuptial poetry of insult among Wolof griots to case-based teaching methods in first-year law-school classrooms. Stage by stage, they give an idea of the cultural processes of "entextualization" and "contextualization" of discourse that they so richly illustrate. The contributors' varied backgrounds include anthropology, psychiatry, education, literary criticism, and law, making this collection invaluable not only to anthropologists and linguists, but to all analysts of culture.

Info autore

Michael Silverstein is the Samuel N. Harper Professor in the Departments of Anthropology, Linguistics, and Psychology at the University of Chicago. Greg Urban is professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Riassunto

This collection of ethnographies demonstrates that the divide between fleeting discursive practice and formed text is a constructed one, and that the constructional process reveals "culture". The cultural processes of "entextualization" and "contextualization" are examined.

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Michael Silverstein, Greg Urban
• Con la collaborazione di: Michael Silverstein (Editore), Silverstein Michael (Editore), Greg Urban (Editore), Urban Greg (Editore)
• Editore: University Presses
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 15.07.1996
• EAN: 9780226757704
• ISBN: 978-0-226-75770-4
• Pagine: 362
• Dimensioni: 15 mm x 23 mm x 2 mm
• Peso: 340 g
• Categorie: Scienze sociali, diritto, economia > Etnologia > Etnologia; Scienze umane, arte, musica > Scienze linguistiche e letterarie > Linguistica generale e comparata; Cultural Studies, Anthropology, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Semantics, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics, Semantics, discourse analysis, etc