Words and Processes in Mambila Kinship

David Zeitlyn is Reader in Social Anthropology at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

• Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Reconstructing Kinship: The Pragmatics of Kin Talk Chapter 3 The Implicatures of Everyday Life: Mambila Social Deixis Chapter 4 Asking about People, Not about Kin Terms: An Experiment in Method and Interpretation Chapter 5 Translation, Anthropology, Kinship Chapter 6 The Ethnography of a Mambila Conversation Chapter 7 A Conversation in Somié Chapter 8 The Distribution of Person-Referring Expressions (PREs) in Natural Conversation Chapter 9 Summing up Kin Talk Chapter 10 Conclusion

Zeitlyn has plunged enthusiastically into the domain of cultural instantiation, linking the formal structure of kinship terminologies with the arena of 'person referring conversations.' He brings to the surface a panoply of topics, ranging from the ethnography of a Mambila conversation to the problem of ethnographic translation, and shows us effective ways of integrating rigorous analysis with social and linguistic context. The result is a refreshing approach to kinship that recognizes its roots in past theories as it maps out new territory for future theorizing.