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Article published In:
Anthropology of Gesture
Edited by Heather Brookes and Olivier Le Guen
[Gesture 18:2/3] 2019
► pp. 209–238

Universals and diversity in gesture

Research past, present, and future

| University of Chicago

At the dawn of anthropology, gesture was widely considered a “universal language”. In the 20th century, however, this framing fell out of favor as anthropologists rejected universalism in favor of relativism. These polemical positions were largely fueled by high-flying rhetoric and second-hand report; researchers had neither the data nor the conceptual frameworks to stake out substantive positions. Today we have much more data, but our frameworks remain underdeveloped and often implicit. Here, I outline several emerging conceptual tools that help us make sense of universals and diversity in gesture. I then sketch the state of our knowledge about a handful of gestural phenomena, further developing these conceptual tools on the way. This brief survey underscores a clear conclusion: gesture is unmistakably similar around the world while also being broadly diverse. Our task ahead is to put polemics aside and explore this duality systematically – and soon, before gestural diversity dwindles further.

Keywords: gesture, human diversity, human universals, anthropology, communication, culture
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • A case study: Negation and affirmation
  • Assembling a toolkit
    • Conventions, kinds, and properties
    • Presence and privilege
    • Core and extensions
  • Four further case studies
    • Pointing
    • Palm-up gestures
    • Size gestures
    • Time gestures
  • Venturing forth: Further recommendations for the future
    • Using complementary approaches
    • Seeking and evaluating explanations
    • Proposing candidate generalizations
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 17 February 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.19011.coo
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