Narrative as Social Practice : : Anglo-Western and Australian Aboriginal Oral Traditions / / Danièle M. Klapproth.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DGBA Linguistics and Semiotics 2000 - 2014
• VerfasserIn: Klapproth, Danièle M.,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter Mouton, , [2009]; ©2004
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Language: English
• Series: Language, Power and Social Process [LPSP] , 13
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (456 p.) :; 2 maps

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- 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 -- Chapter 3. The narrative sharing of words: Storytelling as communicative interaction -- Chapter 4. Exploring the structure of narrated worlds: The search for study schemata -- Part Two. Storytelling as social practice: A cross-cultural perspective -- Chapter 5. The Beautiful and the Beasty: Cultural specifics of Anglo-Western narrative aesthetics -- Chapter 6. Always keeping track: Text building strategies in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunyjatjara storytelling -- Chapter 7. Holding the world in place: The interrelatedness of story, practice, and culture -- Chapter 8. Conclusions and implications -- Backmatter