Disorderly Discourse: Narrative, Conflict, and Inequality (Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics, 7)

257 Pages·1996·15.3 MB·English

by  Charles Briggs

DISORDERLY
DISCOURSE
OXFORD STUDIES IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS
William Bright, General Editor
I. Gunter Senft
Classificatory Particles in Kilivila
2. Janis B. Nuckolls
Sounds Like Life: Sound-symbolic Grammar, Performance,
and Cognition in Pastaza Quechua
3. David B. Kronenfeld
Plastic Glasses and Church Fathers: Semantic Extension from the
Ethnoscience Tradition
4. Lyle Campbell
American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of North America
5. Chase Hensel
Telling Our Selves: Ethnicity and Discourse in Southwestern Alaska
6. Rosaleen Howard-Malverde (ed.)
Creating Context in Andean Cultures
7. Charles L. Briggs (ed.)
Disorderly Discourse: Narrative, Conflict, and Inequality
DISORDERLY
DISCOURSE
Narrative, Conflict, & Inequality
EDITED BY
CHARLES L. BRIGGS
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
I996
Oxford University Press
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Copyright © I996 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Narrative resources for the creation and mediation of conflict / edited by Charles L. Briggs. Includes index.
p. cm.—(Oxford studies in anthropological linguistics ; 7) Contents: Introduction / Charles L. Briggs—
Telling troubles: narrative, conflict, and experience / Donald Brenneis—The trickster's scattered self/ Ellen
B. Basso—Embarrassment as pride : narrative resourcefulness and strategies of normativity among Cretan
animal-thieves / Michael Herzfeld—Detective stories at dinnertime / Elinor Ochs, Ruth C. Smith, and
Carolyn E. Taylor—Ideological dissonance in the American legal system / William M. O'Barr and John M.
Conley—Consensus and dissent in U.S. legal opinions / Elizabeth Mertz—"We want to borrow your
mouth" : Tzotzil marital squabbles / John B. Haviland—Disorderly dialogues in ritual impositions of order
: the role of metapragmatics in Warao dispute mediation / Charles L. Briggs.
ISBN 0-I9-508776-3.—ISBN 0-19-508777-1 (pbk.)
I. Discourse analysis, Narrative. 2. Conversational analysis.
3. Conflict management. 4. Language and culture. I. Briggs, Charles L., I953- . II. Series.
P302.7.N38 I996
40I'.4I—dc2O 95-4600I
All the selections in this volume, except for the introductory chapter and chapter 3, were originally
published, in different form, in the journal Anthropological Linguistics (vol. 30, nos 3-4, I988), and are
reprinted by permission. Chapter 4, "Detective Stories at Dinnertime: Problem Solving Through Co-
Narration," was originally published in I989, in different form, in the journal Cultural Dynamics (vol. 2,
no. 2, pp. 238-57) and is likewise reprinted by permission.
98765432I
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Contents
Contributors vii
Introduction / Charles L. Briggs 3
Telling Troubles: Narrative, Conflict, and Experience / Donald Brenneis 4I
The Trickster's Scattered Self / Ellen B. Basso 53
Embarrassment as Pride: Narrative Resourcefulness and Strategies of
Normativity Among Cretan Animal-Thieves / Michael Herzfeld 72
Detective Stories at Dinnertime: Problem Solving Through
Co-Narration / Elinor Ochs, Ruth C. Smith, and Carolyn E. Taylor 95
Ideological Dissonance in the American Legal
System / William M. O'Barr and John M. Conley II4
Consensus and Dissent in U.S. Legal Opinions: Narrative Structure
and Social Voices / Elizabeth Mertz I35
"We Want to Borrow Your Mouth": Tzotzil Marital
Squabbles / John B. Haviland I58
Conflict, Language Ideologies, and Privileged Arenas of Discursive
Authority in Warao Dispute Mediations / Charles L. Briggs 204
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Contributors
ELLEN B. BASSO Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona
DONALD BRENNEIS Anthropology Board of Studies, University of
California, Santa Cruz
CHARLES L. BRIGGS Department of Ethnic Studies, University of
California, San Diego
JOHN M. CONLEY Law School, University of North Carolina
JOHN B. HAVILAND Department of Linguistics, Reed College
MICHAEL HERZFELD Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
ELIZABETH MERTZ Northwestern University School of Law, American
Bar Foundation, Chicago
WILLIAM M. O'BARR Department of Cultural Anthropology, Duke
University
ELINOR OCHS Department of TESL/Applied Linguistics, University
of California at Los Angeles
RUTH C. SMITH Department of Communication, Purdue University
CAROLYN E. TAYLOR Department of Speech Communication, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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DISORDERLY
DISCOURSE