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Intersubjectivity in Action: Studies in language and social interaction
Edited by Jan Lindström, Ritva Laury, Anssi Peräkylä and Marja-Leena Sorjonen
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 326] 2021
► pp. 201–

Shared understandings of the human–nature relationship in encounters with small wildlife

| University of Oulu
| University of Oulu
| University of Oulu

Drawing on video data and ethnomethodological conversation analysis, the study focuses on sequences of human action and interaction in which participants orient to small wildlife within their nature-related activities outdoors. The participants are family members, friends or participants on organized outings, and they engage in activities such as trekking, foraging and fishing. The study examines moments when small wildlife become the focus of the participants’ talk and other action and when the relationship between human beings and the natural world is thus constructed in situ. The study considers how participants in such moments display, pursue and achieve shared understandings about what the appropriate ways of treating other living beings and, more generally, conducting oneself in nature are.

Keywords: conversation analysis, ethnomethodology, human–nature relationship, intersubjectivity, multimodality, nature, shared understanding, social interaction, wildlife
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data
  • 3.Analysis
    • 3.1Displaying shared understandings
    • 3.2Setting an example and guiding others to achieve a shared understanding
    • 3.3Guiding and instructing others to pursue a shared understanding
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 17 November 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.326.10rau
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