Anthropology goes public! - Die Maske

Interview with Bambi Schieffelin, professor of anthropology
at New York University
von STEFANIE SEITELBERGER und SONJA HOFMAIR
Different languages,
different cultures
Approaching anthropology through linguistics
Professor Bambi Schieffelin is an
expert on linguistic anthropology – a
field of research that is hardly
established in Europe. During her stay
in Vienna this summer 2007 we took
the opportunity to talk to her about
linguistic anthropology and language
socialization. She also gave us
interesting insights into her current
research on missionization and
language change in Papua New
Guinea.
The Interview took place in context of
the International Guest Lecture Series
“Engaging With Linguistic
Anthropology Today” of the ÖAW
(Österreichische Akademie der
Wissenschaften).
In Austria linguistic anthropology is not a well-known subject. We only get
to know it in the context of the four field approach. You are one of the leading
experts in linguistic anthropology – so could you summarize how you would
define linguistic anthropology?
Linguistic anthropology is the study of language in context and
focuses on how members of communities all over the world use
language to accomplish many different things in social life. Speech
practices and the ways in which people think about and use them are
rich resources not only for speakers, but also for researchers.
Linguistic anthropologists can’t easily imagine doing anthropology
without looking at the ways in which language constructs realities.
Linguistic anthropologists investigate language and speech practices
with the same systematicity as social and cultural anthropologists
investigate other symbolic systems, such as religion, social
organisation, kinship, etc. Linguistic and cultural practices and
ideologies are viewed as interrelated.
How important is linguistic anthropology in context of the four field
approach?
All four fields are important to understanding how we are human
– we are biological, we are social, we have a past as evidenced in the
archaeological record, but we also use language and talk to create and
sustain our social worlds. We talk about all these things too, we talk
about our biology, we talk about our past, we talk about our social
lives, and we talk about language.
To what extent is it important to you that linguistic anthropology will also be
established in Europe?
Europe is well known for being multilingual and valuing linguistic
diversity. Linguistic anthropology would complement perspectives
from social anthropology for understanding the dynamics of a broad
range of cultural and historical processes taking place across Europe
today. It would also enrich the training of social anthropologists in
Europe whether they are working in urban, rural, traditional or
diaspora communities around the world. The founders of linguistic
Wiener Institut
79