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"A Twisted Rope Binds My Waist": Locating Constraints on Meaning in a Tij Songfest
Author(s) -
Ahearn Laura M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of linguistic anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.463
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1548-1395
pISSN - 1055-1360
DOI - 10.1525/jlin.1998.8.1.60
Subject(s) - indeterminacy (philosophy) , meaning (existential) , situated , sociology , nepali , epistemology , constraint (computer aided design) , ambiguity , lyrics , linguistics , rope , aesthetics , gender studies , philosophy , computer science , literature , mathematics , art , artificial intelligence , geometry , algorithm
This article explores the songfests involved in a Nepali women's festival called Tij. Presenting a practice theory of meaning constraint, I argue that any attempt to constrain interpretive indeterminacy in discursive events like Tij songfests must be firmly situated along sociospatial, temporal, textual, and intertextual dimensions. Choosing one song to analyze in detail, I propose an explanation for why potentially oppositional lyrics have not thus far challenged prevailing gender relations in the village of junigau.