The dynamism of plurals: an essay on equivocal compatibility1

Abstract

In ethnographic accounts equivocation is often read as error. To the contrary, in this paper I give an example of a situation of equivocal compatibility from fieldwork among Eurasians in Macao (southern China) during the early 1990s. In the course of intersubjective interaction, a creative process occurs of successive transformation of the pertinent angles of identification and differentiation. The use of the first person plural is a constant mode of producing and altering identification and differentiation in such a way that what is singular and what is plural is constantly being re‐assessed. This dynamism of plurals both elicits response from the persons involved in the interaction and marks the world that surrounds them. The aim of the paper is to explore how belief relates with identity in a dynamic way that is mutually constitutive.

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