pointing, and Rhodes comment

[Mary Ann Corbiere]

Like Rhodes, I too wouldn't read too much into differences in pointing mechanisms, at least for purposes of interacting with this Nishnaabe-kwe.


The various reasons posited for the apparent discouragement of pointing with the finger were perhaps culture-specific but many of "us" in the Nishnaabe-land of today also likely simply consider it rude. I've never heard any explicit rationale from my family or other community members for not pointing with the finger. I can't pinpoint when -- likely during my gradual acculturation  (maybe during high school in a non-native town) -- when I just got the message  that it's rude to point with the finger. 


Among those of "us" who don't behave in ways considered "traditionally Native", etc., I suspect it remains simply a matter of not being rude or obvious. Given the occasional need to point and to do so in a manner that's not rude or as obvious, it seems to be simply a practical matter of what we use if not the finger, the only other option being the lips or the head. (This master gesticulator --me -- has at times used the latter too. Even over the old-fashioned phone, I gesticulate madly as I explain directions etc. to someone.)


If my comments aren't all that enlightening, bear in mind that I'm not an anthropologist and that the Native culture I know is that of a 5,000-member plus First Nation most of whose members accepted Catholicism in the mid-1800s. 


:) M. Naokwegijig-Corbiere

>>> Amy Dahlstrom <a-dahlstrom at UCHICAGO.EDU> 03/06/13 10:06 AM >>>
Hello Algonquianists,

I'm a discussant at an upcoming conference on gesture, and one thing I 
thought I would mention to the (extremely diverse) audience is the 
practice among at least some of the Algonquian peoples of pointing with 
the lips or with the chin, rather than pointing with the finger.

I would like to ask you all how widespread this practice is.  And for 
native speakers (native pointers? :-) ), do you have any intuitions 
about why pointing with the finger is avoided?  Would it seem rude to 
point with the finger?  Or inappropriate in some other way?

thanks in advance for any thoughts you can share!

Amy

P.S.  if you hit "reply" remember that you are replying to the whole 
list! :-)





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