Beschreibung
This volume focusses on the ways discourse is used in ritual performances
as an important medium of power, enabling speakers/actors to construct,
redefine and transform interpersonal relationships, cultural concepts and
worldviews. The various case studies gathered here, from South Asia, South
East Asia, Africa and South America, show that recent developments in
linguistic anthropology, ritual theory and performance studies provide new
conceptual tools to take a fresh look at these issues. Foregrounding
pragmatic approaches to language and discourse, they explore the social
dynamics of rhetorical discourse, text and context, normativity and
creativity, the poetics of dialogue and speech, as well as the manifold
interactions of speakers, addressees and audience. The volume thus
embraces both the micro-level of speech activities as well as the
macro-level of social and political relationships and brings out the
subtle workings of control, authority, and power in situations marked as
ritual. The contributions, all based on extensive fieldwork, include many
concrete samples of speech and discourse which give an authentic
impression of the different voices and make for vivid reading.
