Narrative as Social Practice: Anglo-Western and Australian Aboriginal Oral Traditions

Danièle M. Klapproth

Published by De Gruyter Mouton 2004

Narrative as Social Practice

Anglo-Western and Australian Aboriginal Oral Traditions

Danièle M. Klapproth

Volume 13 in the series Language, Power and Social Process [LPSP]

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110197426

Overview
Contents

About this book

Narrative as Social Practice sets out to explore the complex and fascinating interrelatedness of narrative and culture. It does so by contrasting the oral storytelling traditions of two widely divergent cultures - Anglo-Western culture and the Central Australian culture of the Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara Aborigines. Combining discourse-analytical and pragmalinguistic methodologies with the perspectives of ethnopoetics and the ethnography of communication, this book presents a highly original and engaging study of storytelling as a vital communicative activity at the heart of socio-cultural life.

The book is concerned with both theoretical and empirical issues. It engages critically with the theoretical framework of social constructivism and the notion of social practice, and it offers critical discussions of the most influential theories of narrative put forward in Western thinking. Arguing for the adoption of a communication-oriented and cross-cultural perspective as a prerequisite for improving our understanding of the cultural variability of narrative practice, Klapproth presents detailed textual analyses of Anglo-Western and Australian Aboriginal oral narratives, and contextualizes them with respect to the different storytelling practices, values and worldviews in both cultures. Narrative as Social Practice offers new insights to students and specialists in the fields of narratology, discourse analysis, cross-cultural pragmatics, anthropology, folklore study, the ethnography of communication, and Australian Aboriginal studies.

Author / Editor information

Danièle M. Klapproth is Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Berne, Switzerland.

Reviews

"This book is a useful reference for those who are interested in the theoretical and methodological issues in contrastive study of narrative, and particulary for those who carry out research into the linguistic and cultural pratices of Australian Aborigines."
Judy Woon Yee Ho in: Discourse & Society 2/2006

Topics

Frontmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	I
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	IX
Chapter 1. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One. In the web of the wor(l)d: The narrative structuring of experience
Chapter 2. Creating webs of significace: The role of narrative in socio-cultural construction of reality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Chapter 3. The narrative sharing of words: Storytelling as communicative interaction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Chapter 4. Exploring the structure of narrated worlds: The search for study schemata Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
Part Two. Storytelling as social practice: A cross-cultural perspective
Chapter 5. The Beautiful and the Beasty: Cultural specifics of Anglo-Western narrative aesthetics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
Chapter 6. Always keeping track: Text building strategies in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunyjatjara storytelling Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Chapter 7. Holding the world in place: The interrelatedness of story, practice, and culture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
Chapter 8. Conclusions and implications Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	379
Backmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	408

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Audience: Sociolinguists; Scholars; Academic Libraries; Institutes
Pages
- Front matter: 13
- Main content: 456
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 12
- Tables: 2
- Other: 2 maps
Keywords: Spoken Language; Sociology of Language; Australia

eBook

Published: February 26, 2009
ISBN: 9783110197426

Hardcover

Published: August 25, 2004
ISBN: 9783110181364

Paperback

Published: August 25, 2004
ISBN: 9783110181371