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a public sphere in Amazonia? the depersonalized collaborative construction of discourse in Xavante
Author(s) -
GRAHAM LAURA
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1993.20.4.02a00030
Subject(s) - presupposition , sociology , politics , public sphere , cohesion (chemistry) , group cohesiveness , gender studies , negativity effect , epistemology , social psychology , political science , psychology , law , philosophy , chemistry , organic chemistry
What are the discourse presuppositions of the Habermasian public sphere? The present article explores this question by comparing the Western philosophy of language with the political discourse practices of the Xavante Indians of central Brazil. Specifically, it focuses on the relationships among discourse, the individual, and the collectivity. Discursive practices in Xavante men's council meetings pragmatically represent discourse as an emergent intersubjective production. Elaborate co‐performances that incorporate both participant commentary and the discourse of previous meetings oppose the principle of negativity to that of notability. Speech performances effectively detach individuals from the content of their speech, counteracting Xavante factionalism and promoting social cohesiveness as well as egalitarian relations among senior males. Simultaneously, speech practices recreate and reinforce age‐ and gender‐based relations of dominance. [ discourse, co‐performance, factional politics, principles of negativity and notability, philosophy of language, Brazilian Indians ]