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Written by one of the foremost authorities on the subject, this book gives a definitive account of gesture and its study. It is an excellent and thought-provoking work for all readers interested in everyday interactions across various disciplines. The book can be divided into two parts: The first six chapters present a detailed history of gesture studies dating back to Roman antiquity and continuing to the twentieth century, especially in the Western tradition. The latter half of the book provides micro-analyses of gesture practices occurring in everyday interactions in various settings.
Chaps. 1 and 2 articulate what the concept of gesture is in this book. Kendon explains that it is a set of bodily expressions employed as a component of an utterance . In other words, it is a visible bodily action that is recognized as a meaningful component in communication. In order to explicate the ways in which visible actions are recognized as gesture, he reports an experiment showing that the prototype of a gesture is a movement of deliberation, and that speakers can manage their actions depending on how they want these actions to appear in front of others. He also introduces four major themes developed in the history of gesture studies: the interrelation between gesture and speech, the significance of gesture in interaction and communication, the relation between gesture and sign, and the idea of considering gesture as the origin of language.
Chap. 3 introduces the writings of influential scholars between the time of ancient Rome and the eighteenth century. Kendon mentions each scholar's contributions in accordance with the interests and concerns of their times, including oratory, art, and philosophy. Chap. 4 centers on the nineteenth century and introduces the works of Andrea de Jorio, Edward Tylor, Garrick Mallery, and Wilhelm Wundt. Indirectly or directly, all these scholars have influenced anthropological approaches to gesture. For instance, de Jorio's work on Neapolitan gesture was perhaps the first ethnographic study to describe gesture forms and their functions. He claimed that the use of gestural expressions played an important role in communication among Neapolitan people, and that such practices were inherited from their ancestors. In the end he suggested that gestures should be always considered in context because gesture forms often share some features...