Communicating : the multiple modes of human communication / Ruth Finnegan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Finnegan, Ruth H., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Interpersonal communication.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 336 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge, 2014.

Summary:

Many accounts of human communication suggest that we are limited to communicating through words, visual images, the mass media and by digital means. This perspective underestimates the multisensory qualities of much of our human interconnecting and the multiple sounds, touches, sights and material objects that humans use so creatively to interconnect both nearby and across space and time. Ruth Finnegan brings together research from linguistic and sensory anthropology, alternative approaches to 'material culture' and 'the body', non-verbal communication, cultural studies, computer-mediated communication, and illuminating work on animal communication. Examples from both western and non-western cultures together with plentiful illustrations, enrich and deepen the analysis. The book uncovers the amazing array of sounds, sights, smells, gestures, looks, movements, touches and material objects that humans use so creatively to communicate - resources consistently underestimated in those western ideologies that prioritise 'rationality' and referential language. Focusing on embodied and material processes, and on practice rather than text, this comparative analysis challenges the underlying cognitive and word-centred model common to many approaches to communication. The second edition of Communicating includes a new preface, updates to take account of recent work, an additional chapter covering ethereal non-verbal non-bodily communicating such as telepathy and dreams, fresh illustrations, a new conclusion and updated bibliography. This authoritative but accessible book is an essential transdisciplinary overview for researchers and advanced students in language and communication, anthropology and cultural studies. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Foundations 1

1 Communicating humans ... but what does that mean? 3

Communication and human interconnectedness 3

Perspectives on communication 9

Communicating - a multiple, relative and emergent process 28

2 How can we communicate? The basic resources of humans and other animals 33

The human senses 34

'Non-verbal' expression 36

'Multiple human intelligences' 39

'Media', artefacts and human-made arts 40

The channels of animal communication 44

The communicating human animal 52

Our complex bundle of resources 55

Part II Channels of communication 57

3 The sounding world and its creation 59

The sonic resources for animal communicating ... 60

... and their human uses 62

The arts and organisation of acoustic communication 66

Sonic creation and experience in a wealth of cultures 78

The limits and versatilities of audition 84

4 Shaping the sights: vision and the communicating body 92

Vision in animal and human communication 93

The visible human body 98

Seeing spatial relations 104

Movement, gestures and 'sign languages' 109

The shaped and adorned body 127

Our embodied visual resources 135

5 Creating and sharing sights: human arts and artefacts 137

The sight of objects 138

Pictorial and graphic sights 146

The roles of vision in human cultures 166

6 Sensing the odour 176

Smelling and tasting: resources for human communicating? 176

Animal uses of smell 180

Olfaction and human communication: the odorous body and its ordering 182

Olfactory arts and artefacts 186

7 Communicating touch 194

The tactile channel and animal communication 194

Human touching as communication 196

Regulating and organising tactile communication 205

Systems of tactile communication and their extension over time and space 212

Conclusion 218

Part III The multiple creativity in human communicating 221

8 Communicating through the ether: a story of dreaming, death and the imaginary 223

Death, near-death and death-and-return narratives 223

Dreams, dreaming and others' voices 226

Telepathy and communicating through the ether: is it possible? 229

A new communications revolution - or an old one? 236

9 A mix of arts 239

The interwoven modes of human communicating 239

Multiplicity and human interconnectedness 252

10 Through space and time 260

Covering distance, spatial and temporal 260

What now? 271

The senses - again: earthly and heavenly 275

Humans as communicators 278.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415837781

0415837782

9780415837804

0415837804

OCLC:

847763408