HOMEFUN ON FOLK GESTURES
According to Brunvand, "Gestures are a silent language made up of movements of
the body, or part of it, used to communicate emotions or ideas. As such, they
are an important aspect of informants' total performances...." In order for you
to become more aware of how prevalent gestures are, try collecting at least ten
examples of gestures you observe during the next week. Remember, gestures include
such actions as shrugging the shoulders, crossing the fingers, winking the eye,
raising an eyebrow, thumbing the nose, gestures of greeting, occupational gestures,
obscene gestures, etc. You should have no trouble collecting these, but be sure
to indicate the informant, specific gesture, and a short analysis of function.
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Also, after locating someone from another country/culture, see if you
can discover at least a few shared and unshared gestures. If unsure how
to start, consider the broad categories indicated above.
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