Anthropos: Anthropos, 102.2007

Anthropos, 102.2007

Bibliographic Data

Journal

Structure Type:: Journal

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

Persistent identifier:: BV043334262

Title:: Anthropos

Place of Publication:: Fribourg

Publisher:: Ed. St. Paul

Year of Publication:: 1906

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Domain:: Social and cultural anthropology > General overview

Journal Volume

Structure Type:: Journal Volume

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711757

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711757

Persistent identifier:: 1510223645165

Title:: Anthropos, 102.2007

Year of Publication:: 2007

Call Number:: LA 1118

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Journal Issue

Structure Type:: Journal Issue

Title:: Bd. 102, 2007, Heft 1

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

ANTHROPOS 102.2007: 3-18 Performing Audience On the Social Constitution of Focused Interaction at Celebrations in Mali Rainer Polak Abstract. - Performance, as seen for instance in the works of Erving Goffman or Karin Barber, is often defined by a rather strict distinction of roles between performers and audiences. Traditional celebration culture in Mali, however, provides social situations that offer structures not only of role distinction but also of role-switching and role-blurring. It is a key feature of the audience at vernacular celebrations in Mali that the repertoire of responses to performance includes taking part in performance. The present analysis of social interaction during jembe drum/dance performances in Bamako, Mali, thus might help to differentiate our theoretical conception of performance and audience, and contribute to the anthropology of celebration and the history of media practice in West Africa. Drum/dance performance at celebrations is participatory performance; it presents a context of public representation and embodiment of community at the same time. [Mali, performance, audience, celebration, interaction, jembe drum] Rainer Polak, Dr. phil. (Bayreuth 2002) studied Ethnology, African Linguistics, and African History at Bayreuth Univer sity. He carried out extensive ethnographic fieldwork among professional jembe drummers in Mali throughout the 1990s, is a freelance musician, and works as a music teacher. His systematic-musicological research focuses on the microrhyth- mic structures (feelings, swings, phrasings, etc.) and the theory of jembe rhythms. His studies led to the production of several music compact discs. - Publications: see References Cited. This article will focus on the structure of interac tion at celebrations held on the occasion of tran sition rites, such as name-givings, circumcisions, and marriages, in Bamako, Mali. Celebrations in southern Mali involve the consumption of great quantities of food, the ritual exchange of words and goods, song and instrumental music (main ly drum ensemble, such as jembe music), and dance collaboratively performed and attended by the gathered participants. Audience in this context implies not only that the people gathered listen to the praise and music, watch dancers and the presentation of gifts, and respond, for example, by singing along, clapping their hands, and yelling enthusiastically, but also that they take turns per forming themselves. Performance at celebrations is participatory. Karin Barber (1997) outlined the growing field of research that deals with the contribution of au diences to the constitution of public spheres, social collectivities, and cultural meanings in Africa. In the following I will seek to elaborate on her basic statement that “performances constitute audiences, and vice versa” (Barber 1997:353). Drawing on concepts developed by Erving Goffman (1959, 1961, 1963), audience is analyzed as a role and function complementary to performance in the context of public gatherings. I will leave aside questions of larger effects on cultural forms, social identities, and political horizons, and rather study how audience itself is constituted, organized, and embodied in situated social interaction, and what it contributes to the activity system in the context of which it occurs. The article is structured as follows: First of all, I will explain theoretically what I mean by “audience,” and then introduce the social con text of wedding celebrations in Bamako. Analytic sections will deal in turn with the participatory structure of interaction that allows for taking turns dancing, with the role and function of the audi

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