Description
Book SynopsisWhat can texts - both written and oral - tell us about the societies that produce them? What role do texts play in shaping societies and individuals? Engaging and throught-provoking, this original study sets out to answer these questions, and will be welcomed by anyone interested in anthropology, literature and cultural studies.
Trade Review'The Anthropology of Texts, Persons and Publics: Oral and Written Culture in Africa and Beyond - … offers a much needed theoretical and methodological framework for a new anthropology of texts. The brilliance of Karin Barber's book unfolds in her analyses of oral and written texts - praise, poetry, epic poems, songs, novels, letters and unpublished journals …' Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
'The Anthropology of Texts offers sets of concepts, terms and methods, refreshing the study of folklore and oral literature in Africa and elsewhere. It is a book that every cultural anthropologist and every folklorist ought to read.' Africa
Table of Contents1. Anthropology and text; 2. Genre, society and history; 3. The constitution of oral texts; 4. Text and personhood; 5. Audiences and publics; 6. The private; 7. Textual fields and popular creativity.
