Moments of Hierarchy: Constructing Social Stratification by Means of Language, Food, Space, and the Body in Pohnpei, Micronesia
نویسنده
چکیده
In this paper I examine relationships between multiple semiotic modes used to construct hierarchy, and I show the importance of going beyond our traditional notion of language to look at how social actors employ a range of semiotic resources in organizing and interpreting social relations. Using examples from Pohnpei, Micronesia, I show how notions of superior and inferior are compounded through several sign systems—spatial relations, food sharing, the body, and language. These systems act oppositionally as well as cooperatively to produce situated ideas of social inequality, ideas built out of disequilibrium of bodies in space, of referents in language, and distribution of resources, as well as contradictions in the interactions of these signs. The compounding of signs not only recruits multiple sensory modes and perspectives in the exposition of hierarchical relations, but entails a notion of the contradictory nature of status relations. Using examples from a Pohnpeian feast, I explore the creative interplay of sign systems in the construction of "moments" of hierarchy in a large, public setting and discuss how through the practice of title-giving, which virtually every adult member of the society participates in, a particular idea of social inequality, built out of multiple sign systems, is mapped onto each body, [language, interaction, politics, Oceania, social stratification, hierarchy]
منابع مشابه
تبیین نقش توزیع مکانی قشربندی اجتماعی در آسیبپذیری از مخاطرات محیطی در شهر تهران
Although environmental hazards occur because of natural factors, however, political economy, controlling the sociospatial relations and conditions, also affect centrally the increase or decrease of physical and social vulnerability caused by hazards. In this regard, present paper has put the spotlight on “explaining the role of spatial distribution of social stratification in vulnerabilit...
متن کاملLanguage, Identity, and the Production of Authority in New Discursive Contexts in Pohnpei, Micronesia
متن کامل
New species of Floresorchestia from Micronesia living in unusual habitats (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Talitridae).
The first freshwater talitrid, Floresorchestia pohnpei sp. nov., is described from the island of Pohnpei, Micronesia. Floresorchestia palau sp. nov. is described from supralittoral and shallow-water marine habitats in Palau, Micronesia.
متن کاملRecent Records of Exotic Reptiles on Pohnpei, Eastern Caroline Islands, Micronesia1
Seven nonindigenous species of reptiles (two freshwater turtles, one gekkonid lizard, and four snakes) were recorded on Pohnpei and adjacent Ant Atoll (Federated States of Micronesia) for the first time within the past 15 yr, three within the past 3 yr. They apparently reached Pohnpei by deliberate or inadvertent human-assisted transport, originating from widespread and distant areas including ...
متن کاملرمزگشایی از فضامندی پدیده جهانی شدن با تکیه بر شاکله مفهومی تریالکتیک لوفور
Introduction This survey is based on deciphering the space of globalization phenomenon and revealing affected by spatial actions mechanism under investment discipline (according to compressed space and time). The basic question is how the space could be used, organized and created so that it could be in line with investment flow progress necessities. This can be unrevealed by applying concep...
متن کامل