“Just because they’re lies doesn’t mean they’re not true”: Learning and transmission of lies among storytellers
Journal Title: Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology - Year 2014, Vol 5, Issue 2
Abstract
In diverse rural communities located near the borders separating Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, traditional storytellers known as contadores de causos use lying as a strategy for their performances. Their legitimacy as storytellers greatly depends on the way they utilize this strategy. This article discusses the processes of learning, transmission and reception of lies in this region, where “telling true stories” and “telling lies” are often considered synonymous. During several years of ethnographic observation, it was noted that lying is performatized as a sort of provocation, establishing a game between storytellers and their audiences. Lying must thus be understood from the perspective of situated learning, as the result of a collaborative process that emerges from specific situations and contexts. To better understand the ambiguities, doubts, ironies and games expressed through lying, it is necessary to participate in the storytellers’ “community of practice,” allowing us to learn to listen, tell stories and perhaps even to lie…
Authors and Affiliations
Luciana Hartmann
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP41012
- DOI -
- Views 177
- Downloads 0
Linking social capital, cultural capital and heterotopia at the folk festival
This paper investigates the role of folk festivals in transforming interconnections between people, space and culture. It interlinks three sets of theoretical ideas: social capital, cultural capital and heterotopia to...
Theorizing the relationship between welfare state regimes and health using comparative national-level health measures.
Welfare state regime typologies have proven useful in analyzing the impacts of various social policy structures on health. Recently, several welfare state regime typologies have been identified as having relevance for...
Vocabularies of motives in the education of deaf students
Communication is a foundational step for more elaborated constructions of society such as education or institution. A reverse impact is also present in different forms among which the vocabularies of motives. In specif...
Change and contestation of meaning in the commemoration of Croatian Statehood Day
This paper examines issues surrounding the existing lack of more active engagement of Croatian citizens in the commemoration of some of the most important national holidays, in particular the Statehood Day. The paper i...
Literary fiction and social science. Two partially overlapping magisteria
Literary fiction and social science, despite the fact that they comprise two methodologically autonomous cultures, are nonetheless creatively interfering with each other. This paper explores the multiple points of cont...