A01=Karen J. Brison
asian history
Author_Karen J. Brison
Category=JHM
cultural anthropology
culture and communication
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
gossip and culture
isolated communities
kwanga community
language and culture
language studies
melanesian communities
melanesian culture
melanesian language
melanesian leaders
melanesian specialists
oceania anthropology
oceania culture
oceania history
oceania language
oceania people
papua new guinea culture
papua new guinea history
political anthropology
political anthropology students
remote places
sociolinguists
Product details
- ISBN 9780520077003
- Weight: 680g
- Publication Date: 18 Sep 1992
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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"Just Talk" examines the often overlooked role of gossip and rumor in creating power in small Melanesian communities. The Kwanga of the East Sepik Province of Papua, New Guinea think that malicious gossip is almost as dangerous as sorcery. They spend hours in community meetings, looking into rumors about sorcery, adultery, and other sources of trouble. To understand how 'talk' can create and ultimately destroy the position of Melanesian leaders, Karen Brison follows discussions of particular situations over time and suggests that gossip and rumor are just as central to shaping and shifting power relations as are the public meetings which are more often studied. Kwanga community leaders build reputations by spreading rumors and dropping hints that they are confidants of sorcerers. But ultimately, the same men who build reputations through gossip and innuendo find themselves victimized in turn by malicious gossip.
"Just Talk" suggests that our understanding of both Melanesian leadership and the power of words to construct social reality is greatly enhanced by attention to gossip and rumor: words are dangerous weapons that can have consequences the original speaker neither anticipated nor desired.
Karen J. Brison is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Washington University.
