“Soul” and “self”: Soviet and American cultures in conversation

Abstract

Conversation is often treated outside its cultural context, just as culture is often treated above its conversed moments. This essay brings these concerns together and asks: how does one hear in conversation, culture at work ? A particular conversation which invokes Soviet and American cultures is analyzed, demonstrating how conversation is, at least in part, shaped by cultural systems, and how cultural systems differently employ a generic ritual communicative form. Where the Soviet expressive system foregrounds collective moral claims about social life, that is “soul,” the American system highlights truth claims based upon individual experiences, that is “self.” Implications are drawn for an ethnographically informed communication theory of conversation, culture, and ritual.

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