Series
Volume 8
Studies in Rhetoric and Culture
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Rhetoric and Social Relations
Dialectics of Bonding and Contestation
Edited by Jon Abbink and Shauna LaTosky
404 pages, 19 illus., bibliog., index
ISBN 978-1-78920-977-8 $145.00/£107.00 Hb Not Yet Published (February 2021)
eISBN 978-1-78920-978-5 eBook Not Yet Published
Reviews
“It is a quite fascinating, accomplished, and innovative volume … The co-editors and contributors have put together a rich, multiperspectival, and often compelling exploration of the complex and consequential nexus of social relations and rhetoric.” • Don Brenneis, University of California, Santa Cruz
Description
This volume explores the constitutive role of rhetoric in socio-cultural relations, where discursive persuasion is so important, and contains both theoretical chapters as well as fascinating examples of the ambiguities and effects of rhetoric used (un)consciously in social praxis. The elements of power, competition and political persuasion figure prominently. It is an accessible collection of studies, speaking to common issues and problems in social life, and shows the heuristic and often explanatory value of the rhetorical perspective.
Jon Abbink is a research professor of Politics and Governance in Africa (Political Anthropology) at the African Studies Centre, Leiden University. Recent publications include The Anthropology of Elites (co-edited, Palgrave, 2012), Reconfiguring Ethiopia (co-edited, Routledge, 2013), a co-authored monograph, Suri Orature, on the Suri people (Köppe Verlag, 2014), and the edited volume The Environmental Crunch in Africa (Palgrave, 2018).
Shauna LaTosky teaches cultural anthropology at Thompson Rivers University. She published The Predicaments of Mursi (Mun) Women in Ethiopia’s Changing World (Köppe Verlag, 2013), and co-edited Writing in the Field (Lit Verlag, 2013).
Subject: General Anthropology Sociology
Contents
List of Figures
Preface
Introduction: Rhetoric in Social Relations
Jon Abbink & Shauna LaTosky
Part I: Positioning
Chapter 1. Embodied Chiasmus: From Alienation to Participation
Jamin Pelkey
Part II: Bonding
Chapter 2. Kinship: Mother and Child of Rhetoric
Jean Lydall
Chapter 3. What do Kinship Terms Do? The Dual Life of Kinship Rhetoric in English-Written Hunter-Gatherers’ Ethnography
Nurit Bird-David
Chapter 4. The Rhetoric of Kinship: ‘Doing Kinship’ – Some Mambila Cases
David Zeitlyn
Chapter 5. Establishing Ethos: The Rhetorical Work of Bondfriendship
Felix Girke
Chapter 6. The Rhetorics of Purging among the Mun (Mursi) of Southern Ethiopia
Shauna LaTosky
Chapter 7. The Art of Playing Tuql: How to ‘Make’ Love in Egypt
Steffen Strohmenger
Chapter 8. Enculturation as Rhetorical Practice
Ivo Strecker
Part III: Contestation
Chapter 9. Sweet Tongues: The Rhetoric of Politeness in Damascus
Anke Reichenbach
Chapter 10. Words and Images: A Cross-cultural View on Swearing as a Rhetorical Strategy in Social Relations
Susan du Mesnil de Rochemont
Chapter 11. Flavouring the Nation: The Rhetoric of Nutrition Policies in Ethiopia
Valentina Peveri
Chapter 12. Power Relations in Suri: Public Speech and Action
Jon Abbink
Chapter 13. Inducement to Action and Change in Attitude: Coaching in the Light of Rhetorical Anthropology
Michał Mokrzan
Index