About “The Visual Culture in Savannah: Anthropological study of gesture-based communication among San societies”
As represented by Walter J. Ong’s ambitious work Orality and Literacy (Methuen. 1982), previous communication theories places spoken language at the foundation of human thought and communication; its importance has been repeatedly pointed out. Also, “written culture” (e.g. academic Latin and Chinese characters), which is opposed to “oral culture,” is a “revolution” that occurred much later in human history. It is considered to have drastically changed human society at its roots by making abstract and analytic thought possible. In the history of research reflecting this belief, Africa, frequently considered the cradle of humankind, is often ascribed the features of rich “oral culture.” While the majority of African societies did not have descriptive systems of language until they were colonized, researchers had focused on the development of talking drums, which make it possible to communicate in tropical forest regions; diverse oral arts; and songs and dances that combine an air of wildness and refinement (c.f. Junzo Kawada, Koe [1998], Chikuma Shobo), among other communication topics.
We have conducted anthropological research of the San people, who are known as hunter-gatherers in southern Africa. Through this research, we have understood that gestures play an extremely important role in San society. For example, in the vast African Savanna in which the San people live, the success of hunting large animals is crucially determined by how close they can approach the animals. As a result, the San people avoid raising their voices as much as possible, and have developed gestures to communicate diverse messages. In this way, interpersonal communication methods using visual media such as gestures have been developed from a long time ago by people living in Africa from the Savanna to semi-arid areas. Thus in this research, we systematically describe gestures used by the San people and elucidate how they are used in various social activities (e.g. hunting, navigation, rituals, and socialization). Furthermore, based on such empirical analysis, we seek to fundamentally reconsider existing communication theory that emphasizes oral communication, primarily spoken language.
Inamori Foundation Research Grant: “The Visual Culture in Savannah: Anthropological study of gesture-based communication among San societies”
Principal Investigator: Akira TAKADA (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University)
