Finding Culture in Talk: A Collection of Methods

286 Pages·2005·34.24 MB·English

by  Naomi Quinn (eds.)

Culture, Mind, and Society
T
HE BOOK SERIES OF THE SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
With its book series Culture, Mind, and Society and journal Ethos, the
Society for Psychological Anthropology publishes innovative research in cul
ture and psychology now emerging from the discipline of anthropology and
related fields. As anthropologists seek to bridge gaps between ideation
and emotion or agency and structure-and as psychologists, psychiatrists,
and medical anthropologists search for ways to engage with cultural mean
ing and difference-this interdisciplinary terrain is more active than ever.
This book series from the Society for Psychological Anthropology
establishes a forum for the publication of books of the highest quality that
illuminate the workings of the human mind, in all of its psychological and
biological complexity, within the social, cultural, and political contexts
that shape thought, emotion, and experience.
Series Editor
Douglas Hollan, Department of Anthropology, University of California,
Los Angeles
Editorial Board
Linda Garro, Department of Anthropology, University of California,
Los Angeles
Catherine Lutz, Department of Anthropology, Brown University
Peggy Miller, Department of Anthropology and Speech Communication,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Robert Paul, Department of Anthropology, Emory University
Bradd Shore, Department of Anthropology, Emory University
Carol Worthman, Department of Anthropology, Emory University
Titles in the Series
Adrie Kusserow, American Individualisms: Child Rearing and Social Class
in Three Neighborhoods
Naomi Quinn, editor, Finding Culture in Talk: A Collection of Methods

Finding Culture in Talk
A
COLLECTION OF METHODS
Edited by
Naomi Quinn
ISBN 978-1-4039-6915-6 ISBN 978-1-137-05871-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-05871-3
ISBN 978-1-4039-6915-6
To all our students, those who took our classes and
those who found their way to our doors, for
contributing to our research, adapting our methods to
their own projects, and helping us figure out how to
find culture in talk.

Contents
List of Tables and Figures
Vlll
Notes on Contributors
IX
Chapter One Introduction 1
Naomi Quinn
Chapter Two How to Reconstruct Schemas People
Share, From What They Say 35
Naomi Quinn
Cha pter Three Some Methods for Studying Cultural
Cognitive Structures 83
Roy D'Andrade
Chapter Four Uncovering Cultural Models of
Gender from Accounts of Folktales 105
Holly F. Mathews
Chapter Five Finding Culture in Narrative 157
Jane H. Hill
Chapter Six Analyzing Discourse for Cultural Complexity 203
Claudia Strauss
Chapter Seven "Good Enough" Methods for
Life-Story Analysis 243
Wendy Luttrell
Index 269
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
4.1 Rewrite Rules for a Story Grammar of
La Llorona Morality Tales 116
4.2 Texts and Functional Analyses for Two Versions
of the La Llorona Tales 119
4.3 Symbols and Descriptions for Functions in the
La Llorona Tales 123
4.4 Specific Actions that Comprise Each Function by
Gender of the Characters 124
4.5 Variant Types of Male Versions of the Tale as
Analyzed by Sequences of Functions 127
4.6 Variant Types of Female Versions of the Tale as
Analyzed by Sequences of Functions 130
4.7 Models of the Mediation of Opposition in
Folktales (Adapted from E. K. Maranda and
P. Maranda 1971:36, 89-90) 139
Figures
4.1 A Diagram for the Rewrite Rules for a
Morality Story Grammar 116
4.2 Diagram of Rewrite Rules for Folktale M-30 118
4.3 Diagram of Rewrite Rules for Folktale F-28 118
4.4 Diagram of Models of Mediation from
E. K. Maranda and P. Maranda (1971:89-90) 138
4.5 Diagrams of Models of Mediation for Initial
Marital Conflicts in the Six Type Variants of
the La Llorona Tales 140
4.6 Diagram of the Concatenation of Models of
Mediation in the Type Variants of the
La Llorona Tales 144
Notes on Contributors
Roy D'Andrade obtained his PhD at Harvard in 1962. He is Professor of
Anthropology at University of Connecticut. His interests are in cognitive
anthropology, general theory, quantitative methods, and American cul
ture. Among his many publications are The Development of Cognitive
Anthropology (Cambridge, 1995) and the volume coedited with Claudia
Strauss, Human Motives and Cultural Models (Cambridge, 1992). He is a
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected 1990) and
a Member of the National Academy of Sciences (elected 1998).
Jane H. Hill earned her degree at UCLA in 1966. She is Regents Professor
of Anthropology at University of Arizona. Her interests are in general
linguistics, language and culture, sociolinguistics of Native American
languages-most notable Mexicano-and language, race, and political
economy. She is coeditor (with Judith Irvine) of Responsibility and
Evidence in Oral Discourse (Cambridge, 1993), coauthor (with Kenneth C.
Hill) of the book, Speaking Mexicano: Dynamics of Syncretic Language in
Central Mexico (Arizona, 1986), and author of many other publications.
She is past president of the American Anthropological Association, and
currently editor-in-chief of the journal Language in Society, and a Fellow
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected 1998).
Wendy Luttrell obtained her PhD from UC-Santa Cruz in 1984. She is
Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She
conducts research in the United States, investigating class/gender/race rela
tions and consciousness, especially in the context of American schooling.
Her other interests are in the sociology of knowledge, sexuality, and femi
nist theory. Her most recent book is Pregnant Bodies, Fertile Minds;
Gender, Race, and the Schooling of Pregnant Teens (Routledge, 2003).
Her first book, Schoolsmart and Motherwise: Working-class Women's
Identity and Schooling (Routledge, 1997)-the conduct of research for
which she describes in this volume-won the 1998 Oliver Cromwell Cox
Award from the American Sociological Association's Section on Racial and
Ethnic Minorities.
Holly F. Mathews earned her PhD degree from Duke University in 1982.
She is Professor of Anthropology at East Carolina University. Her research
and theoretical interests include psychological anthropology, gender roles,