RAI Anthropology and Language Seminars

SEMINAR SERIES AT THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

Koryak Ethnopoetics: Stories from Herders and Maritime Villagers

Dr Alexander King, University of Aberdeen

Thursday 12 November at 5.30 pm

I present an initial analysis of a documentation project that is 20 years in the making. Funded by a large project grant from the Endangered Language Documentation Programme in 2012, I worked together with Valentina Dedyk to record the last generation of fully fluent speakers of Koryak during an intensive expedition in February and March of 2013. The project combines elements of Russian anthropology, with its heritage of broad surveys covering large areas in a short time with elements of Anglo-American anthropology and its emphasis on long-term participant observation. Many of the speakers recorded were well known to either Dedyk or King or both of us. Many others were completely new acquaintances, but our familiarity with the communities provided us with strategies for quickly connecting to them on empathetic terms. After introducing Dedyk’s and King’s separate experiences that formed the backdrop to this project, I discuss several elders we recorded as illustrative case studies. I present how an ethnopoetic analysis can provide additional insight into the patterns of monologic and dialogic speech.

This event is free, but tickets must be booked. To book tickets please go to http://alexanderking.eventbrite.co.uk