Ray Birdwhistell
Ray Birdwhistell | |
---|---|
Born | Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. | September 29, 1918
Died | October 19, 1994 Brigantine, New Jersey, U.S. | (aged 76)
Education | Miami University (BA) Ohio State University (MA) University of Chicago (Phd) |
Ray L. Birdwhistell (September 29, 1918 – October 19, 1994) was an American
Life and work
Birdwhistell was born in Cincinnati on September 29, 1918, and died October 19, 1994.
In 1946 he took a position at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, where he taught for 10 years,[16] and helped in racial integration of the university.[17] While there he established the Interdisciplinary Committee on Culture and Communication,[20] and organized a series of annual seminars on Culture and Communication,[20] resulting in the publication of Explorations in Communication.[21] In addition to Edmund Snow Carpenter, Marshall McLuhan, and Birdwhistell, Lawrence K. Frank, Robert Graves, Dorothy D. Lee, and David Riesman contributed.
Through the 1950s he participated in multiple interdisciplinary collaborations: at the
Birdwhistell taught at the
Birdwhistell argued strongly for the use of film as an essential tool in the study of nonverbal behavior as a way to permit "observation and analysis of human social behavior which has hitherto been hidden from comparative analysis".[27] Together with Jacques van Vlack (the filmmaker), he prepared a series of films that were commercially available, although, as with his teaching, they were intended mostly for a technically trained audience.[28]
1. Microcultural Incidents in Ten Zoos, an edited version of a Birdwhistell and van Vlack presentation from an American Anthropological Association convention, compares family interactions while feeding elephants at 10 zoos based in 7 countries (England, France, Italy, India, Japan, Hong Kong, and the United States). Filming was viewed as a second step, following observation to discover recurrent patterns.[29] Birdwhistell himself and Mead often showed this film to their students.[16]
2. TDR- 009, an eighty-minute 16 mm black-and-white sound film of an English pub scene in a middle class London hotel. Birdwhistell and van Vlack observed behavior of listeners in relationship to speakers during the film.[14]
3. Lecture on Kinesics by Ray L. Birdwhistell at the Second Linguistic-Kinesic Conference Nov. 4–7, 1964, is simply a documentary record of two lectures Birdwhistell presented to a seminar group assembled for a few days to learn from his research team at EPPI in 1964. Seminar participants were primarily senior research scientists, including linguists, psychiatrists, anthropologists, and psychologists; McQuown and Scheflen, working with Birdwhistell on the Natural History of an Interview project, were among the participants.[30]
Much of the work at EPPI was a continuation of the Natural History of an Interview project, working mostly with Scheflen, while Brosin continued different parts of the same project from the
From 1969 until he retired in 1988, Birdwhistell held the position of professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania,[33] where he worked closely with Dell Hymes and Erving Goffman, brought Gregory Bateson in as a guest speaker,[34] and influenced a new generation of students. It was commonly understood that "no serious doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania who was interested in culture and human conduct" could avoid his courses.[35]
Birdwhistell reputedly came to the attention of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson when he attended a showing of one of their ethnographic films (they were pioneers of the use of film as an ethnographic tool). "Legend has it that Birdwhistell was a younger anthropologist listening to Mead and others comment on a Balinese film when he interjected something like, 'But did you see what the mother did with the baby after she took him out of the bath?' He then brought to their attention a fascinating medley of actions that occurred in a few seconds".[36] Both Mead and Bateson became lifelong supporters and influences. He was also influenced by David Efron's earlier work, the first major study of the influence of culture on gesture [37] prepared under Franz Boas, noted American anthropologist, and Eliot D. Chapple's work on rhythms of dialogue (Chapple is the one who introduced the term interaction to the study of behavior, knocked down a wall at Harvard University so he could establish a one-way screen for observing conversations in the 1930s, and was an early adopter of computer analysis of interaction patterns in the 1960s).[38]
Birdwhistell died of liver cancer on October 19, 1994, at his home in Brigantine, New Jersey.[39]
Influence
Through his involvement in the multidisciplinary projects at the
Birdwhistell's students include:
- University of Toronto: Erving Goffman[18]
- Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute: Paul Byers,[49] Alan Lomax[16]
- University of Pennsylvania: María Cátedra and Yves Winkin
Goffman became one of the best-known sociologists with an international reputation, and nearly all of his publications became best sellers. Birdwhistell influenced Lomax's development of cantometrics and choreometrics.[16] Byers was quite important in the study of visual communication. Winkin went on to develop the anthropology of communication in Europe.
Birdwhistell pointed out that "human
context in which they are produced". And, he "resisted the idea that "body language" could be deciphered in some absolute fashion". He also indicated that "every body movement must be interpreted broadly and in conjunction with every other element in communication"[50]
Birdwhistell's first book Introduction to Kinesics,[51] was published in 1952, but as this was essentially an internal publication for the Department of State, his second book, Kinesics and Context[52] has been cited far more often, and, along with a brief encyclopedia article on kinesics,[53] has had far greater influence on the study of communication behavior. Many of Birdwhistell's publications were short pieces, gathered together to make up Kinesics and Context.
Birdwhistell viewed communication as a continuous, multichannel (today, the more common term is multimodal) process through which and in which social interaction occurs.[13] Although he is best known for inventing kinesics, his influence was much larger: he helped establish the logical underpinnings of language and social interaction research generally,[54] and such approaches as the coordinated management of meaning.[55]
Publications
- Books
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1952). Introduction to Kinesics: An Annotation System for Analysis of Body Motion and Gesture. Washington, DC: Department of State, Foreign Service Institute.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1970). Kinesics and Context: Essays on Body Motion Communication. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Shorter publications (partial)
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1956). Kinesic analysis of filmed behavior of children. In B. Schaffner (Ed.), Group Processes: Transactions of the second conference (pp. 141–144). New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1959). Contribution of Linguistic-Kinesic Studies for the Understanding of Schizophrenia. In A. Auerback (Ed.), Schizophrenia (pp. 99–123). New York: Ronald Press.
- Birdwhistell, R, L. (1960). Implications of Recent Developments in Communication Research for Evolutionary Theory. In W. M. Austin (Ed.), Report of the Ninth Annual Round Table Meeting on Linguistics and Language Study (pp. 149–155). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1961). Paralanguage 25 Years After Sapir. In H. W. Brosin (Ed.), Lectures on Experimental Psychiatry (pp. 43–63). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1961). "[Review of The First Five Minutes.]". Archives of General Psychiatry. 5: 106–108. .
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1962). Critical Moments in the Psychiatric Interview. In T. T. Tourlentes (Ed.), Research Approaches to a Psychiatric Problem (pp. 179–188). New York: Grune and Stratton.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1968). "Communication". International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 8: 24–29.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1968). "Kinesics". International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 8: 379–385.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1968). "[Comments on Edward Hall's Proxemics.]". Current Anthropology. 9 (2–3): 95–96. S2CID 147398417.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1971). Kinesics: Inter- and Intra-channel communication research. In J. Kristeva, J. Rey-Debove & D. J. Umiker (Eds.), Essays in semiotics/Essais de semiotique (pp. 527–546). The Hague: Mouton.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1971). Chapter 3: Body Motion, In N. A. McQuown (Ed.), The Natural History of an Interview (pp. 1–93). Microfilm Collection of Manuscripts on Cultural Anthropology, Fifteenth Series, Chicago: University of Chicago, Joseph Regenstein Library, Department of Photoduplication.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1971). Appendix 6: Sample Kinesic Transcription. In N. A. McQuown (Ed.), The Natural History of an Interview (pp. 1–29). Microfilm Collection of Manuscripts on Cultural Anthropology, Fifteenth Series. Chicago: University of Chicago, Joseph Regenstein Library, Department of Photoduplication.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1974). The language of the body: The natural environment of words. In A. Silverstein (Ed.), Human communication (pp. 203–220). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1975). Background considerations of the study of the body as a medium of 'expression.' In J. Benthall & T. Polhemus (Eds.), The body as a medium of expression (pp. 34–58). New York: E. P. Dutton.
- Birdwhistell, R. L. (1977). Some Discussion of Ethnography, Theory, and Method, In J. Brockman (Ed.), About Bateson (pp. 101–141). New York: E. P. Dunon.
- Birdwhistell, R. L., C. F. Hockett, & N. A. McQuown. (1971). Chapter 6: Transcript, Transcription and Commentary. In N. A. McQuown (Ed,), The Natural History of an Interview [n,p,]. Microfilm Collection of Manuscripts on Cultural Anthropology, Fifteenth Series, Chicago: University of Chicago, Joseph Regenstein Library. Department of Photoduplication.
Interviews and lectures
- Gross, T. (1979) Dr. Birdwhistell's Body Language. Fresh Air with Terry Gross, WHYY, Philadelphia, 29 June 1979. https://freshairarchive.org/segments/dr-birdwhistells-body-language
- McDermott, R. (1980). Profile: Ray L. Birdwhistell. The Kinesis Report. 2 (3): 1–4, 14–16.
- Talese, G. (2010.) Dr. Birdwhistell and the Athletes. In Michael Rosenwald (Ed.), The Silent Season of a Hero: The Sports Writing of Gay Talese (pp. 186–200). New York: Walker & Co.
- Watter, S. B. (2021). Ray L. Birdwhistell, “Lecture at American Museum of Natural History, October 4, 1980." In J. McElvenny & A. Ploder (Eds.), Holisms of Communication: The Early History of Audio-Visual Sequence Analysis (pp. 249–263). Berlin: Language Science Press. doi:10.5281/zenodo.5142265.
See also
- Macy Conferences
- Kinesics
References
- ^ Danesi, M (2006). Kinesics. Encyclopedia of language & linguistics. 207-213.
- ^ McDermott, R (1980). "Profile: Ray L. Birdwhistell". The Kinesics Report. 2 (3): 1–16.
- ^ In; Kendon, A.; Sigman, S. J. (1996). "Ray L. Birdwhistell (1918-1994)". Semiotica. 112 (1–2): 249.
- ^ Ottenheimer, H.J. (2007). The anthropology of language: an introduction to linguistic anthropology. Kansas : Thomson Wadsworth. p129.
- ^ Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (2010). The emergence of language and social interaction research as a specialty. In W. Leeds-Hurwitz (Ed.), The social history of language and social interaction research: People, places, ideas (pp. 3-60). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
- S2CID 171890064.
- ^ Leeds-Hurwitz, W., & Sigman, S. J. (2010). The Penn tradition. In W. Leeds-Hurwitz (Ed.), The social history of language and social interaction research: People, places, ideas. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, p. 237.
- ^ Paterno, David. (2022). Rebooting Raymond Birdwhistell. Communication Research and Practice 8(3), 229-242, DOI: 10.1080/22041451.2022.2067098 p. 232
- ^ Birdwhistell, R. L. (1970). Kinesics and context: Essays in body motion communication. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, p. xiv.
- ^ Birdwhistell, R. L. (1970). Kinesics and context: Essays in body motion communication. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 25.
- ^ Leeds-Hurwitz, W., & Sigman, S. J. (2010). The Penn tradition. In W. Leeds-Hurwitz (Ed.), The social history of language and social interaction research: People, places, ideas. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, p. 236.
- ^ S2CID 171890064.
- ^ a b Kirby, E (2006). Ray Lee Birdwhistell. Retrieved October 16, 2007, from Biography Web: Minnesota State University Web site: "Ray L. Birdwhistell". Archived from the original on 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
- S2CID 171890064.
- ^ a b c d e f Harold, E., & Tobin, S. Ray Birdwhistell. Cultural Equity website. Available from: http://www.culturalequity.org/alanlomax/ce_alanlomax_profile_birdwhistell.php
- ^ a b Wallace, A. (October 22, 1994). Ray Birdwhistell: Developed the study of body language. Philadelphia Inquirer. Available from: http://articles.philly.com/1994-10-22/news/25872138_1_body-language-smile-researchers
- ^ a b Winkin, Yves; Leeds-Hurwitz, Wendy (2013). Erving Goffman: A critical introduction to media and communication theory. New York: Peter Lang. p. 14.
- ^ Department of Anthropology. (n.d.). A brief history of Anthropology at University of Toronto. Retrieved February 26, 2014 from http://anthropology.utoronto.ca/about/history
- ^ S2CID 171890064.
- ^ Carpenter, E., & McLuhan, M. (Eds.). (1960). Explorations in communication: An anthology. Boston: Beacon Press.
- .
- ^ Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (1994). Crossing disciplinary boundaries: The Macy Foundation Conferences on Cybernetics as a case study in multidisciplinary communication. Cybernetica: Journal of the International Association for Cybernetics, 3/4, 349–369.
- .
- ^ Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (1993). Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute (EPPI). In L. Sfez (Ed.), Dictionnaire critique de la communication, Tome 2 [Critical dictionary of communication, Vol. 2]. Paris, France: Presses Universitaires de France, p. 1702.
- ^ .
- ^ Birdwhistell, R. L. (1956). "Kinesic analysis of filmed behavior of children". In B. Schaffner (Ed.), Group Processes: Transactions of the second conference. New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, p. 144.
- S2CID 57568849.
- .
- .
- ^ .
- ^ McQuown, N. A. (Ed.). (1971). The natural history of an interview. Microfilm collections on cultural anthropology. Chicago: University of Chicago, Joseph Regenstein Library, Department of Photoduplication.
- ^ Pace, Eric (25 October 1994). "Prof. Ray L. Birdwhistell, 76; Helped Decipher Body Language". The New York Times.
- ^ Winkin, Y., & Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (2013). Erving Goffman: A critical introduction to media and communication theory. New York: Peter Lang.
- S2CID 171890064.
- .
- ^ Efron, D. (1941). Gesture, race, and culture: A tentative study of the spatio-temporal and "linguistic" aspects of the gestural behavior of eastern Jews and southern Italians in New York City, living under similar as well as different environmental conditions. The Hague: Mouton.
- ^ Davis, M (2001). "Film Projectors as Microscopes: Ray L. Birdwhistell & Microanalysis of Interaction [1955–1975]". Visual Anthropology Review. 17 (2): 41.
- , October 25, 1994. Accessed May 23, 2018. "Ray L. Birdwhistell, an anthropologist and expert on how people communicate with body motions, died on Wednesday at his home in Brigantine, N.J. He was 76."
- .
- ^ Sebeok, T. A., Hayes, A. S., & Bateson, M. C. (Eds.). (1964). Approaches to Semiotics: Transactions of the Indiana University Conference on Paralinguistics and Kinesics. The Hague: Mouton.
- ^ Davis, F. (1973). Inside intuition: What we know about nonverbal communication. New York: McGraw Hill.
- ^ Scheflen, A. E. (1973). Communicational Structure: Analysis of a Psychotherapy Transaction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- ^ Kendon, A., Harris, R. M., & Key, M. R. (Eds.). (1973). Organization of behavior in face-to-face interaction. The Hague: Mouton.
- ^ a
- ISBN 9789031601349.
- ^ Wolfgang, A. (Ed.). (1979). Nonverbal Behavior: Applications and Cultural Implications. New York: Academic Press.
- ^ Davis, M. (Ed.). (1982). Interaction Rhythms: Periodicity in Communicative Behavior. New York: Human Sciences Press.
- .
- ^ Barfield, T (1997). The dictionary of anthropology. Illinois: Blackwell Publishing.
- ^ Birdwhistell, R. L. (1952). Introduction to Kinesics. Washington, D C : Department of State, Foreign Service Institute.
- ^ Birdwhistell, R. L. (1970). Kinesics and Context: Essays on Body Motion Communication. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
- ^ Birdwhistell, R. L. (1968). "Kinesics". International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 8: 379–385.
- ^ Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (2010). The emergence of language and social interaction research as a specialty. In W. Leeds-Hurwitz (Ed.), The social history of language and social interaction research: People, places, ideas. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, p. 47.
- ^ Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (2010). The emergence of language and social interaction research as a specialty. In W. Leeds-Hurwitz (Ed.), The social history of language and social interaction research: People, places, ideas. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, p. 8