Ellen B Basso
Biographic Data
| ID | 93605 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ellen B Basso |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ellen B |
| FAMILY NAME | Basso |
| SIGNATURE | BASSO E B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Arizona |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 49 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 358 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 47 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1970 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Culture, Rhetoric and the Vicissitudes of Life
Inspired by the Rhetoric Culture Project, this volume focuses on the use of imagery, narrative, and cultural schemes to deal with predicaments that arise during the course of life. The contributors explore how people muster their resources to understand and deal with emergencies such as illness, displacement, or genocide. In dealing with such circumstances, people can develop new rhetorical forms and, in the process, establish new cultural resour…
In Favor of Deceit: A Study of Tricksters in an Amazonian Society
In Favor of Deceit: A Study of Tricksters in an Amazonian Society offers a new perspective on the significance of tricksters in Kalapalo mythology and social life. Challenging the conventional view of tricksters as chaotic figures who disrupt social order, Basso argues that among the Kalapalo, tricksters, exemplified by the character Taugi, embody a form of creative deception that is essential for maintaining social harmony and navigating the com…
Lingering relevance: The discourse-driven emergence of the perfect or anterior construction in Kalapalo, Southern Cariban (Brazil)
The perfect or anterior in Kalapalo (Southern Cariban) plays important discourse driven roles in several narrative and ceremonial speech genres. It appears to be a relatively recent feature compared with descriptions of morphosemantic cognates in Northern Cariban languages. The basic perfect morpheme atehe, PER is a syntactically and semantically multifunctional hybrid or mixed element, having both adverbial and verbal features. A phonologically …
Avoidance
Descriptions of avoidance practices began with the writings of some of the earliest world travelers. Considerable interest in life in unfamiliar societies involved attempts to understand the reasons for the communicative and social isolation from their subjects of kings and aristocrats. Freud's discussion of “taboo” connected such avoidance practices with behaviors of European neurotics. Early modernist anthropologists such as A.R. Radcliffe‐Brow…
Ritual Communication
Carib-Speaking Indians: Culture, Society, and Language
This book is one outgrowth of a meeting of Carib specialists that was held at the Fortieth International Congress of Americanists in Rome, Italy, during September of 1972. (excerpted from Preface)
Epistemic Deixis in Kalapalo
Speakers of Kalapalo, a Southern Carib language spoken in central Brazil, use a complex set of grammatical particles to reference epistemic judgments. Using data from narratives, hereditary leader's ritual communication, ritual songs, conversations, and didactic speech, I use deictic and stance concepts to understand the semantics of this system. A focus on discursive practice illustrates how various intersubjective stance processes are foregroun…
Lessons in Impunity
This essay is one in a series concerned with language ordeals, in which I examine particular discursive practices involving the self-suppression of voicing. Here I link examples of blackmail or extortion in crime fiction and the more discreet but real practices in commerce and the academy
Language Contact in Amazonia
Book review of Language Contact in Amazonia. Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. 320 pp., 1 map. ISBN 978-0-19-925785-0
The Kalapalo Affinal Civility Register
Data from narratives, conversations, and didactic speech are employed to describe a multimodal, combinatorial civility register used by speakers of Kalapalo, a central Brazilian Southern Carib language. Practiced among family members, these intimate ritual communications involve complementary grammatical, lexical, discursive, and interactive features, including self-abnegation and avoidance practices. Examples of conventional usage, and the conse…
Commentary: Translating Self‐Cultivation
An Amazonian Myth and Its History
An Amazonian Myth and Its History. Peter Gow. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 338 pp
The Last Cannibals: A South American Oral History
The Last Cannibals: A South American Oral History
Performing Dreams: Discourses of Immortality among the Xavante of Central Brazil. Laura Graham
Bridges to Humanity: Narratives on Anthropology and Friendship. Bruce Grindal and Frank Salamone
The Last Cannibals: A South American Oral History
An especially comprehensive study of Brazilian Amazonian Indian history, The Last Cannibals is the first attempt to understand, through indigenous discourse, the emergence of Upper Xingú society. Drawing on oral documents recorded directly from the native language, Ellen Basso transcribes and analyzes nine traditional Kalapalo stories to offer important insights into Kalapalo historical knowledge and the performance of historical narratives withi…
Dance of the Dolphin: Transformation and Disenchantment in the Amazonian Imagination. Candace SLATER
A Kalapalo Testimonial
Basso Ellen B. A Kalapalo Testimonial. In: L'Homme, 1993, tome 33 n°126-128. La remontée de l'Amazone. pp. 379-407
Amazonian Linguistics: Studies in Lowland South American Languages
Amazonian Linguistics: Studies in Lowland South American Languages. Doris L. Payne ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990. 573 pp. $42.50 (cloth
Native Latin American Cultures Through Their Discourse
Preface Ellen B. Basso Introduction: Discourse as an Integrating Concept in Anthropology and Folklore Research Janet Wall Hendricks Manipulating Time in an Amazonian Society: Genre and Event among the Shuar Jane H. Hill Weeping as a Meta-signal in a Mexicano Womans Narrative Susan Paulson Double-talk in the Andes: Ambiguous Discourse as a Means of Surviving Contact John H. McDowell The Community-building Mission of a Kamsa Ritual Language Joel Sh…
In Favor of Deceit. A Study of Tricksters in an Amazonian Society
To Weave and Sing: Art, Symbol, and Narrative In the South American Rain Forest:To Weave and Sing: Art, Symbol, and Narrative In the South American Rain Forest
In Favor of Deceit: A Study of Tricksters in an Amazonian Society
Candidates for President-elect
Food Taboos, Diet, and Hunting Strategy: The Adaptation to Animals in Amazon Cultural Ecology [and Comments and Reply]
The issue of food prohibitions on such Amazonian game animals as deer is examined from an ecological perspective, in contrast to previous symbolic or structuralist views on this subject. Examined in conjunction with settlement pattern, technology, animal behavior, and habitat productivity, which together determine the food-extraction potential of a population, the avoidance of certain inherently edible species by characterizing them as inebible i…
The Kalapalo Indians of central Brazil
The Last Cannibals: A South American Oral History
An especially comprehensive study of Brazilian Amazonian Indian history, The Last Cannibals is the first attempt to understand, through indigenous discourse, the emergence of Upper Xingú society. Drawing on oral documents recorded directly from the native language, Ellen Basso transcribes and analyzes nine traditional Kalapalo stories to offer important insights into Kalapalo historical knowledge and the performance of historical narratives withi…
In Favor of Deceit. A Study of Tricksters in an Amazonian Society
A Musical View of the Universe: Kalapalo Myth and Ritual Performances
A Musical View of the Universe is a study of the relationships between spoken myth and musical ritual in a native Brazilian community, the Carib-speaking Kalpalo of the Upper Xingu Basin. The book focuses on the meanings created and expressed through performance of artistic processes in which sound symbols provide a unifying interpretive matrix. Through sound symbols, Kalpalo ideas about types of beings, their relationships, and activities of min…
Epistemic Deixis in Kalapalo
Speakers of Kalapalo, a Southern Carib language spoken in central Brazil, use a complex set of grammatical particles to reference epistemic judgments. Using data from narratives, hereditary leader's ritual communication, ritual songs, conversations, and didactic speech, I use deictic and stance concepts to understand the semantics of this system. A focus on discursive practice illustrates how various intersubjective stance processes are foregroun…
A Musical View of the Universe
The Kalapalo Affinal Civility Register
Data from narratives, conversations, and didactic speech are employed to describe a multimodal, combinatorial civility register used by speakers of Kalapalo, a central Brazilian Southern Carib language. Practiced among family members, these intimate ritual communications involve complementary grammatical, lexical, discursive, and interactive features, including self-abnegation and avoidance practices. Examples of conventional usage, and the conse…
Native Latin American Cultures Through Their Discourse
Preface Ellen B. Basso Introduction: Discourse as an Integrating Concept in Anthropology and Folklore Research Janet Wall Hendricks Manipulating Time in an Amazonian Society: Genre and Event among the Shuar Jane H. Hill Weeping as a Meta-signal in a Mexicano Womans Narrative Susan Paulson Double-talk in the Andes: Ambiguous Discourse as a Means of Surviving Contact John H. McDowell The Community-building Mission of a Kamsa Ritual Language Joel Sh…
Kalapalo Biography: Psychology and Language in a South American Oral History
Kalapalo warrior biographies are concerned with dialogical processes of challenge, resistance, debate, and the negotiation of meaning-with the struggles that take place as people try to understand and experience anew. Although warriors were trained to aggressively defend their communities against enemies, these narratives describe how they attempted to refashion ideological forms connected with ethnic allegiance and moral community. The personali…
The use of Portuguese relationship terms in Kalapalo (Xingu Carib) encounters: Changes in a central Brazilian communications network
The introduction of Portuguese relationship terms into a system used by the Carib-speaking Kalapalo is explained in terms of internal social developments rather than language contact or acculturation. Upper Xingu Society is described as a linguistically diverse communications network that operates within two types of situations: 'personal' situations which emphasize verbal codes and focus on individual relationships and roles, and 'non-personal' …
Kalapalo affinity: Its Cultural and Social Contexts1
Anthropologists have been so preoccupied with the controversy over the meaning of kinship and kinship terms that they have neglected the communicative aspects of terminological systems. Data on Kalapalo affinity, which was obtained in a variety of speech situations during the course of social action, suggests that a culturally valid description of this domain (and of kinship as well) must include sociolinguistic as well as descriptive semantic ev…
A "Musical View of the Universe" Kalapalo Myth and Ritual as Religious Performance
IN THIS PAPER I examine the relations between myth and ritual in the life of a central Brazilian Indian community, the Kalapalo. While these relations are in part a matter of homologies resulting from references to similar themes and personages, more fundamental is the complementarity between the two symbolic media that is a consequence of the special performative processes that typify them. These processes distinguish myth and ritual as distinct…
Mehinaku: The Drama of Daily Life in a Brazilian Indian Village
An Amazonian Myth and Its History
An Amazonian Myth and Its History. Peter Gow. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 338 pp
Responses to Feld and Roseman
main things I learned from our panel on qualitative comparison of music classless societies were (1) the truth of Diamond's assertion that in primitive societies the superstructure is not reducible to the economic base; that reductive process begins with the exploitative economic relations of civilization (1974:140-41); and (2) Feld's statements that For any given society, everything that is socially salient will not necessarily be musically mark…
In Favor of Deceit: A Study of Tricksters in an Amazonian Society
Xingu Carib Kinship Terminology and Marriage: Another View
Ellen Basso challenges David Schneider's interpretation of Xingu Carib kinship terminology, arguing that his analysis, based on the distinction between "pure" and "contingent" relations, misrepresents the Carib system. Basso demonstrates that Schneider's approach fails to account for the dynamic and flexible nature of Carib kinship, which incorporates both genealogical and social factors. She proposes an alternative interpretation that emphasizes…
The Enemy of Every Tribe: "Bushman" images in Northern Athapaskan narratives
A variety of "bushman" images are found throughout the Northern Athapaskan area. They have been typically characterized as supernatural beliefs arising in response to fears of dangers in the natural and social environments and to ignorance of true causes of events. I argue in this paper that an understanding of the images must also take into account the cultural and social systems that govern their creation and use in personal narratives. In part…
The Last Cannibals: A South American Oral History
In Favor of Deceit: A Study of Tricksters in an Amazonian Society
In Favor of Deceit: A Study of Tricksters in an Amazonian Society offers a new perspective on the significance of tricksters in Kalapalo mythology and social life. Challenging the conventional view of tricksters as chaotic figures who disrupt social order, Basso argues that among the Kalapalo, tricksters, exemplified by the character Taugi, embody a form of creative deception that is essential for maintaining social harmony and navigating the com…
A Kalapalo Testimonial
Basso Ellen B. A Kalapalo Testimonial. In: L'Homme, 1993, tome 33 n°126-128. La remontée de l'Amazone. pp. 379-407
In Favor of Deceit: A Study of Tricksters in an Amazonian Society
Political Anthropology: The Situation o f the Indian in South America: Contributions to the Study of Inter‐Ethnic Conflict in the Non‐Andean Regions o f South America. W. Dostal
Xingu Carib Kinship Terminology and Marriage: Another View
Ellen Basso challenges David Schneider's interpretation of Xingu Carib kinship terminology, arguing that his analysis, based on the distinction between "pure" and "contingent" relations, misrepresents the Carib system. Basso demonstrates that Schneider's approach fails to account for the dynamic and flexible nature of Carib kinship, which incorporates both genealogical and social factors. She proposes an alternative interpretation that emphasizes…
Ethnology: Viaggi tragli Indi: Alto Rio Negro-alto Orinoco: Appunti di un biologo. Ettore Biocca
The Kalapalo Indians of central Brazil
Political Anthropology: The Situation o f the Indian in South America: Contributions to the Study of Inter‐Ethnic Conflict in the Non‐Andean Regions o f South America. W. Dostal
The use of Portuguese relationship terms in Kalapalo (Xingu Carib) encounters: Changes in a central Brazilian communications network
The introduction of Portuguese relationship terms into a system used by the Carib-speaking Kalapalo is explained in terms of internal social developments rather than language contact or acculturation. Upper Xingu Society is described as a linguistically diverse communications network that operates within two types of situations: 'personal' situations which emphasize verbal codes and focus on individual relationships and roles, and 'non-personal' …
Reply to Calvin Redekop
Kalapalo affinity: Its Cultural and Social Contexts1
Anthropologists have been so preoccupied with the controversy over the meaning of kinship and kinship terms that they have neglected the communicative aspects of terminological systems. Data on Kalapalo affinity, which was obtained in a variety of speech situations during the course of social action, suggests that a culturally valid description of this domain (and of kinship as well) must include sociolinguistic as well as descriptive semantic ev…
Linguistics: British Social Anthropologists and Language: A History of Separate Development. Hilary Henson
Food Taboos, Diet, and Hunting Strategy: The Adaptation to Animals in Amazon Cultural Ecology [and Comments and Reply]
The issue of food prohibitions on such Amazonian game animals as deer is examined from an ecological perspective, in contrast to previous symbolic or structuralist views on this subject. Examined in conjunction with settlement pattern, technology, animal behavior, and habitat productivity, which together determine the food-extraction potential of a population, the avoidance of certain inherently edible species by characterizing them as inebible i…
Mehinaku: The Drama of Daily Life in a Brazilian Indian Village
The Enemy of Every Tribe: "Bushman" images in Northern Athapaskan narratives
A variety of "bushman" images are found throughout the Northern Athapaskan area. They have been typically characterized as supernatural beliefs arising in response to fears of dangers in the natural and social environments and to ignorance of true causes of events. I argue in this paper that an understanding of the images must also take into account the cultural and social systems that govern their creation and use in personal narratives. In part…
A "Musical View of the Universe" Kalapalo Myth and Ritual as Religious Performance
IN THIS PAPER I examine the relations between myth and ritual in the life of a central Brazilian Indian community, the Kalapalo. While these relations are in part a matter of homologies resulting from references to similar themes and personages, more fundamental is the complementarity between the two symbolic media that is a consequence of the special performative processes that typify them. These processes distinguish myth and ritual as distinct…
Responses to Feld and Roseman
main things I learned from our panel on qualitative comparison of music classless societies were (1) the truth of Diamond's assertion that in primitive societies the superstructure is not reducible to the economic base; that reductive process begins with the exploitative economic relations of civilization (1974:140-41); and (2) Feld's statements that For any given society, everything that is socially salient will not necessarily be musically mark…
A Musical View of the Universe: Kalapalo Myth and Ritual Performances
A Musical View of the Universe is a study of the relationships between spoken myth and musical ritual in a native Brazilian community, the Carib-speaking Kalpalo of the Upper Xingu Basin. The book focuses on the meanings created and expressed through performance of artistic processes in which sound symbols provide a unifying interpretive matrix. Through sound symbols, Kalpalo ideas about types of beings, their relationships, and activities of min…
A Musical View of the Universe
Linguistic Anthropology: Evidentiality: The Linguistic Coding of Epistemology. Wallace Chafe and Johanna Nichols
Candidates for President-elect
Native American Discourse: Poetics and Rhetoric
Candidates for Board Member-at-large State B
The Way of the Dead Indians: Guajiro Myths and Symbols
In Favor of Deceit: A Study of Tricksters in an Amazonian Society
Kalapalo Biography: Ideology and Identity in a South American Oral History
This article examines autobiography among the Kalapalo Indians of central Brazil. Basso argues that biographical discourse among the Kalapalo is a culturally shaped practice rooted in specific social activities and expressive genres. Kalapalo biographical narratives, told in public settings, are not simply objective accounts of an individual's life but rather carefully constructed presentations of self that serve to negotiate and establish the na…
A Musical View of the Universe: Kalapalo Myth and Ritual Performances
Kalapalo Biography: Psychology and Language in a South American Oral History
Kalapalo warrior biographies are concerned with dialogical processes of challenge, resistance, debate, and the negotiation of meaning-with the struggles that take place as people try to understand and experience anew. Although warriors were trained to aggressively defend their communities against enemies, these narratives describe how they attempted to refashion ideological forms connected with ethnic allegiance and moral community. The personali…
Social/Cultural Anthropology: Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People. Anthony Seeger
Sociology (25 works) · History (20 works) · Art (17 works) · Computer Science (15 works) · Philosophy (14 works) · Anthropology (12 works) · Literature (12 works) · Citation (11 works) · History (11 works) · Amazon rainforest (9 works)