While guiding us into the rainforests and savannas of lowland South America on a quest to understand Amerindian myths and rituals, A Discourse-Centered Approach to Culture is simultaneously an intellectual journey into the theory of culture, and an endeavor to fathom the human differences that are attributable to culture, from consciousness of the physical world and time to the ritual practices of chanting and speaking in secret languages. Urban argues that we cannot assume that culture is shared; we must study the question empirically. And the logical starting point for such an investigation is the discourse that actually circulates within communities--around the campfire, in ritual chanting or laments, and in speech more generally. The book contains detailed analyses of myths that were tape-recorded in their Amerindian settings, including comparisons among distinct versions collected over time, and it explores the actual mechanisms of ritual wailing, ceremonial dialogues, and other discourse phenomena.

A Discourse-Centered Approach to Culture

Politics & Social Sciences

Urban, Greg

Greg Urban

Social Sciences

Hats Off Books

<p>What happens to Amerindian cultures when they come into contact with the Europe-derived nation-states of Latin America? How are the nation-states in turn affected by this experience? These questions motivate the essays in Nation-States and Indians in Latin America. While furnishing a sweeping overview of Latin America, the essays are empirically focused, dealing with such issues as how the Guatemalan tourist industry appropriates indigenous clothing to create a national image, how highland Indian music has adapted to Peruvian state interventions since the colonial period, and how debates developed in turn-of-the-century Brazil over the proper method for integrating isolated Indian populations into the national society. </p>
<p>The essays also pose a challenge to classical anthropological theory and methodology, in which Indian cultures have been analyzed in isolation, without regard for the role of state interventions. The essays suggest not only that anthropologists should pay attention to the nation-state contexts of their research but also that modern nation-states are themselves appropriate objects for anthropological investigation.</p>

Nation-States and Indians in Latin America

Sherzer, Joel

Joel Sherzer

iPublisher, Inc.

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Books by Greg Urban