The Legacy of Dell Hymes Ethnopoetics, Narrative Inequality, and Voice [Paperback]

The accomplishments and enduring influence of renowned anthropologist Dell Hymes are showcased in these essays by leading practitioners in the field. Hymes (19272009) is arguably best known for his pioneering work in ethnopoetics, a studied approach to Native verbal art that elucidates cultural significance and aesthetic form. As these essays amply demonstrate, nearly six decades later ethnopoetics and Hymess focus on narrative inequality and voice provide a still valuable critical lens for current research in anthropology and folklore. Through ethnopoetics, so much can be understood in diverse cultural settings and situations: gleaning the voices of individual Koryak storytellers and aesthetic sensibilities from century-old wax cylinder recordings; understanding the similarities and differences between Apache life stories told 58 years apart; how Navajo punning and an expressive device illuminate the work of a Navajo poet; decolonizing Western Mono and Yokuts stories by bringing to the surface the performances behind the texts written down by scholars long ago; and keenly appreciating the potency of language revitalization projects among First Nations communities in the Yukon and northwestern California. Fascinating and topical, these essays not only honor a legacy but also point the way forward.

The contributors to this volume have not only revivified ethnopoetics as a research project in the contemporary moment; they have also pointed the way to fruitful lines of folkloristic research and collaboration in the future, lines founded on the importance of measured and allusive speech and that build on Dell hymes commitment to the voices of marginalized peoples.

Introduction
Introducing Ethnopoetics: Hymess Legacy, Anthony K. Webster and Paul V. Kroskrity

[section] Listening for Voices
1 Reinventing Ethnopoetics, Robert Moore

The Patterning of Style: Indices of Performance through
2 Ethnopoetic Analysis olS%