'lCfObcLLl PERFORMANCE Critical Concepts in Literary andCultural Studies Edited by PhilipAuslander Volume III

I (INl ldN liNONI W VORK Firstpublishcd 200.1 byRoutl edgc 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon, Oxon, OX 144RN Simultanenusly puhlishedinthcUSA andCunada byROlltlcdgc 270MadisonAve,NcwYorkNY10016 ROL/r/elige;s 1mimprin/ol/heTay/or & Frall e;s(iI'OlljJ TransfcrrcdtoDigitalI'rinting2009 Editorialmatter andsc1cction)20mI'hilipAlI slander: individual ownersretaincnpyright inthcirownmaterial TypcsctinTimesby(;raphicraftLimitcd,Il ongKong AIIrightsrcserved.Nopart01'thi sbookmaybereprinted or reproduced orutiliscdinany rormor byany dcctronic, mcchanical.01' nther means, 1l0Wknownor herea rter invcntcd,indudingphotocopying andreeording.nI'ina ny inl"onnatiollstorageor retricvalsystcm,withoutperrnissionin writingfromthepublishcrs. Bririshl.ihraryCaru/ogu;Il,;;/1Puhlicarionf)ata \ cataloguerecordfnrthisbookisavailable fromtheBritishl,ibrary Uhrar,vo{ COl/gressCa/a/of;illf;inPlIh/ica/;ollf)a/a \ ealalogrecordrorthisbookhasbcenrcqucstcu ISBN0-415-25511-2(Set) ISBN0-4 15-255 14-7( Volumc111) NO'l' ",i tl "ll ";1I'ROJ)UCTlON I,algescicntilicprojeclsposecerlaindangcrs ,Weinbcrgwrote,including ' 1l IOm:1'ilis"(cxpendingmone1'notthought),"journalitis"(publicrather litanscicntilic debate onplojects),and"administratitis"(anoverabllndance IIfad1l1inistrators),Hecriticizedthe1l1annedspaceprogramfor"hazard, expense,andrclevance,"andwasunenthusiascaboutlargeaccelerators, whichwercmorescientificallyvalidbutequall yremotefromhumanconl'lTns. Ile wondered whether such projects would sap resources of seienee and and proposed redirecting money to "scientific issues whichbear more directlyonhumanwell-being. "Weinberg'saim,however,wasnottocast IlIdglllent but to inaugurate "philosophic debate on the problems of scientific \"Iloice."r,BigScience,hefelt,introducesnewissuesintosciencepolicythat Illllstbe exposedandaddressedlcsttheybe settledby default atthe expense .. 1' scientiflc "productivity" (note that this word has a different Illeaning from \VllatI have called" production,"but theuse01'bothterlllsinthis chapter is IIl1avoidable),Butadditionalissueshaveappearedintheinterveningyears ;lIIdIhe debateoverthevalue of BigScience anditsimpactonproductivit y has continuedunabated ,7 Productivit y isnotoriously difficult to measure and evendefine,regardless lfthefield.Consideragriculture,forinstance,wherethedefinitionand dl'tcrmination ofproductivity might seem, erroneously, to be re1atively straightl. llward.' To take asimplistic exalllple, afarmer facedwithachoice 01' wha.t 1..plantonaparticularplotof landcoulddecidetomaximizeIllonetary JlI olit, number of calories per acre, amount of protein per acre, sccurity of the harvest,number of caloriesper Illan-hour 01' labor, prestige of tllefarm , and ',11 I"orth,Thereis,inshort,nosingleindex01'productivit1' ,Eachoption Illl'nlionedisguided by a difTerentset of possiblevalues whichputs into play ;1 dilTerentindex ofproductivity and suggests a different crop,Inpractice, of .'I)1lrSe,nosolevaluewouldlikel1'begivenentirepriorityandtheactual 1 IIllcomewouldbesome compromise. 111 science,thematterisfurthercomplicatedbeca use,Weinbergsays,the product, "theunderstandingof andabilitytomanipulatenature,canbe bytwo differeutkinds of measures whichhe called"i nternal"ami \'.\ll.'l'I1al"criteria.lnternalcriteria"arisefromwithinthescienceitself,or 11I11Ilits social structure and organization," while external criteria "stem from I hl' social or other setting inwhichthe science is embedded. "9Neither kind, in 111111,involves asingle index of productivity; within each set different possible l':rllIl:Scanbeidentifiedimplying differentindices. 111 practicc,astheworkingscicntistknowsonlytoo\Vell,thedecisionof wllidlscientiricprojcctstosupportistheoutcomeofahighlypolitical pl OIXSSgcncrallyinvol vingcompromisesbetweenanumberofdifferent Inle rnalanJ exlernal values,Moreover,the social neg()tationinvolvedtakes 011:J l1 ulllhcr 01"di lTcrcll1leveh,Science,forinstance,competes\Vitha Illllllhl.: r01'ollleracl ivi liesIlt at;rlsoarepcnJeivedlobe01'SOJ1)eeconomic, IlIili!;II>,.l"IllllIraL111 pl 1l llk: rI V;rlII CWithill:\cicncc.inturn,acompetition '1 Sl ' 1I 1Nt"I\NIISIIII ,\!"11 1 N ... ,i!-: Is101 :JIIH'lIgitsdil le lclltslIdl;1:;p;lIlldl'physics, ()I,;Canllgl:J (lll y, aslfOllonl y, l'lIenll sl ry. lll olccuJa r biology, anJgculog)' , alllong olhcrs.caehwilhilsownpcrccivcJvalue. "nlC compt!titiuncontinues within cal,;hbraneh.\VheredilTcrentprojects are rivalsforavailableresources. The Big vs.Littlc Scienee debate,\VhichisalIabout that aspect of scientific activitythatIhaveealIedproduction.\Vasspawnedbythefearthatthe emergenceof large scientificprojects threatens to skew anotherwise healtby competition on alIlevels and to distort the\Vayvalues are applied to evaluate projects.Alarge project inone branch, it \VasfeIt , could soakup money that might be sharedbyseveralsmaller but equalIyvaluable projects.Moreover, alargeprojectinonebranchmightgetoutof handandwindupunfairly expropl'iatingresollreesotherwisedestinedforotherbranches- or evenfor \Vorthynonscientific activities.Inrecent years, thepercentage of the totalresearch and development budget consullled by largest projects has increased. 'o It islIndeniable, as Weinberg foresaw,that this development has changed the wayscientificexperimentsarecondllcted,andtheconventionalwisdomis that ithas brought about the impact of what Weinberg calIed externalvalues ontheir planning and execution. '1But the matter can be elaborated ina clearer way, I think, by reforlllulating Weinberg'sdistinctionasthatbetweenscienceasperfrmanceandasprodUCfion.An experiment, 1have argued, isakindof performance,lInderstood inthebroadest senseof anactionexecutedtoseewhathappensinorderto satisfy an interest.Inscience,the actions are those of instrllments interacting withnature. and the interest isconnectedwithaspecific inquiry into natural strllctures.Theperformancevaluesof scieneearethosethatpromotethe skilledexecution01'experiments,andincludehowwelIanexperimentis thought out,the quality of theinvestigators, andtherelcvance of the experimenttotheprincipaldireetions01'thef1eld .Prodllction,ontheother hand, referstothe interactionbetweenplanners and theparticular social,political , technological,andeconomiccontextrequiredthataperformancemaytake place.Productionvalues01' science canineludesocialandeconomicreturns for society, improved instrumentation, international cooperation, and national prestige.Thedistinctionbetweenperformanceandproductionvaluesin science is crucial and must be born inmind at atime when so much of science threatenstodissolveinto politics. But it is misleading to imply, as Weinberg does, that productioll is"extelllal " toscience, givcnthe essentialplace 01' productioninscientific activity. Moreover, more performance values exist than the t\\fO (" ripeness for exploitation" amI"caliber01'thepractitioners")WeinbergmentionsasinternaLanda widerrange01'possibleproductionvaluesthanthethree externalspecieshe idcntifies(technologicalmerit,socialmerit, and scientificmerit). Oneissuehi ghli ghtcJbytheperformance-prodllctiondistinctionisthe cxiSl l1nce(jfdil"ICrcntmodelsfrBigScicnccinvariow;arcasinvolvi ng dra l1 lL11i l,; illl ydil"li.:rel1 ln.: IUli"ll shctwcclIprOl.hlcti o"nandpcri"olfll ancc.The 11 l' IR II 11( M.\N "i.\N I'l'I ) 1) 111 . II () N SlI pl' ll'ondlll'tillg111 1IlIslallce.isalargeinstnll1l\:nlservinga II ' blivdy sll1allnUl11h0l- of cxperilllenls withlow divcrsity; synchrotron radia11 11 11 f:.l ci lilies providc centralizeJ staging areas for n lImerous small maximally dlVl.' rscl'xpcriments;thegenomeprojectisanoncentralized coordinationof .lIl:1l1n elTorts.OpticalteIescopesareanother specialcase,duetotheavail1IlIIityofprivalc money. The community spectrum served, the kinds ofrisks, ,lIulIhcpotentialreturns aresovariedastoinvolveineachcaseadifferent nduf productivity- and adilTerentmeaning 1'01'" Big Science." Asecondissuehighlightedbythisdistinctioninvolvesrisksthataccrue t 111111 theractthat thetimeittakesto completepresent-day productions can he so extended-over adecade- thatinterim changesinthe seientiflcworld l':1I 1 altertheproductivity01'theeventualexperiments.Tbespeed,quality, ,llIdrdcvanee 01' a certain k ind 01' experimental production may change in the 11I11eittakestocompleteone,possiblyrenderingitobsolete.Thefactors IIIvulvedmaybe01'three sorts:technologiealbreakthroughs, eompletion01' "Ihel' projects, and new information. In the years since construction bcgan on IheIlubbleSpaceTelescope,forinstance,developmentsinauaptiveoptics IIIC-reasedtheresolution01'ground-basedobservatories,other" windows" havebeenopenedintheelectromagnetie spectrllm,andthe generalbodyof aslronomicalknowledgehaveaIlchanged,forcingchangesintheoriginal "slimations of theproduetivityof the deviee. "l"hird,theincreasedsize01"productionsmeansincreasedgovernment illvolvement not merely beca usethe more resources asociety has to sheIlout l"nrthem means a grea ter expectation 01' return, but because of a greater social Illerestinthewaytheinterac.tionsarehandled.Largerproductionsattract IIIMeattentiontothepotentialimpactontheenvironment,considerations Ilfnationalsecurityandindustrialcompetitiveness,accountabilityandthe IIllportance01'guarding againstsuehthingsasfraud,collusi on,inefficieney. alldsoforth.M oreover,thelargerthescaleof aproductionthegreaterthe klllptationtouseitasavehicleforadvaneingsocialends;governmental illslitutions may insist, for instancc, that scientific projects follow "Buy Amerkan" andminoritybusinessprovisions. 12 Fourth, the realization ofa production might have social spinoffs that must he distinguished fromthe spinoffs 01' scientific knowledge itself.Technologies lIlay have to be developed01'crea tedinthe construction 01' aproduction that CIIlbe successfully transferred out of the laboratory. Constructing a state-of particlcdetector,forinstanee,isanimmenseproductionthatforces ddcctor physieists, inorder to create an instrument that \\fouldbe at the cutting edgcforthemaximumperiodof time,todevelopnewtechnologies.Inthe l'll\lrse01'theeonstructionof oneparticledetectoranumberof yearsago, st:icntists taught a company that made, among other things, teddy bear whiskers IImvto make high-precision plastics needed for the detector in exchange for an l"l' ollomicalmte; the prod uclivc skills acq uired by lhat cOlllpany inthe process Ihen11!lwedillo COlllpct C sUliccssfllllyfor militar)' contracts. Sorneattempts q IlIlVCh l'l' lIIIJ11 Y 111 \)1I:llIliryspillolTs111 111 1 ,ll l'01' higlH': Il CI gy phY:l k ... \.: 1>111 HICls, 1\ Thisk illd01' prod ucllollspilloll islo beclJlltrastcdwil hpcrlrlllancc-rdatcdspinollsl ha lareanollll:ollle01'the knowlcdge gaincd-- forcxamplc, thc discovcry orthc X ray, lascr, and 11ssion_ I:inally, thc aims ora productionmay not be fulfillcdby the performances_ It hasoftcnbeenthecasethatthetechnologicalimplications01'themost important andfar-reaching discoveries,most notoriously those ofthe Xray, nuclear fission , and lascr, have had nothing to do with the aims ofthe research programs inwhichtheywere firstencountered.Asimilar comment cOllldbe maderegardingscientiflcmerit ;whileinsomecasesdiscoveriesanddevelopmentsinonefielddoIlndimmediateuseinneighboringbranches,in otherinstancestheapplicationscomelInexpetedlyfromfarafield.The same is eventrue 01' the socialva I ueof aproject;manyof thebreakthrollghs inthe' ,",.velroncancer" camenotfromprojcctstargetedspecificallyrorthat purposebyPresidentRichardNixon' slegislation,butfromvariousand apparently unrelated work, including research on yeast , Xenopus,Drosophila, andCaenorhahdiliselegans.Inretrospect.itisfortunatethat fundsforsuch projectshadnotbeendivertedtothe\Varoncancereffort.Undertakinga production--e.g.,a\Varoncancer,onAIDS,onhigh-techspacedefensesdoes not guarantee that the ambitionwillbefulfilled. Oeveloping the concept of production may thus help to c1arify many issues involvedinWeinberg's" philosophicdebateontheproblems01'scientific choice"by allowing usto recogni zemore features of theprocess of preparing andexecutinganexperimentthanemergeinmostdiscussionsof theissue. Likethegeneralanalogybetweenthesciencesandthetheatricalartsof whichitisapart,theanalogywithproductionhelpsguide development01' alanguage withwhichto speakabout experimentalactivitythat enables one toassignaplacebothtotheculturalandhistoricalcontextsthatinfluence experimentalactivity(andwhich,forinstance,arestlldiedbysocialconstructivists)andatthesametimetotheinvariantsthatshowthroughsuch contexts in that activity (on whichpostivists and scientists themselvesrightly placesomuchemphasis).Theanalogyhelpstosho\Vhowscientifk activity canboth exhibitthepresence of socialfactorswithoutbeingreducibletoit. Theresultistoc1arifythemuch-misunderstoodrelationbetweenscience asinquiryandscienceasculturalpractice.Thus,thebenefitof replacing Weinberg' sdistinctionbetween"internal"and"external"criteriawiththat betweenperformanceandproductionisnotmerelythatafe\\'nuancesare added,but that the new distinctionbrings lhe problem inq uestion""ithinthe purview01'amore comprehcnsive picture of scienceitself. Tmplications for narratives about science Phil os()phcrshavetendedlohol dslorytclling,orIheorganizalion01'matelalaholll; illloasill )!ltc!dcscriptiv\!crisodel"oll( )willgI"OlIghly '1'1 1'1J()otlll MANI.' INII!'IUIDII 'II ON I111 ('111 llll! i(alullkr, in disl"l' pUI Ctilllc ul" Plalo.Plato's objectionwas IlIalsllllytellcrsun;ill1itatorsandthusunestcpremovedfromlhe ll'u hlYthl!}'un:rcllccting.Moreovcr, inil1litatingone mustheedappearance thansubstancc andcater to one's audience, sothat the product isnot ,Vl' lIalladcquatcimitationbut adistortionratherthantruth.Plato'sargu1III'IItstiIJ excrts force today, cspecially among so-called " new hi storians"who .lIdlllk Marxists.practitioncrs 01' the American c1iometric methodology,and IlIl'lIlhns01'lhefrenchAnnalesschool.Thesegroupsdisownstorytelling, \llII lIlIillgdescriptionsof theparticular andconcreteinfavor01'"scientific" 111\'1 hods allegeuly able to yield more universal and eternal truths. 14 The activity .11 Ihestorytellcr scems incontrastto bebut apale echo of truthrather than .1 discllveryor crcationof it.The storyteller appearstobeinthepositionof p\lyill).!,I\arontoMoses,passingonanalreadydisclosedtruthalbeitina /t' "1Imorereadilycomprchensible tothepublic.LikeMoses,thesubjectof thelalctoldbythestoryteller(whocouldbeaprimarylawgiver,explorer, Il'Iigiousfigure ,artist ,orscientist)hasonefootinthesphere01'thedivine, Il.IIlicipatinginprimordialdisclosure,bringingtoordinarymortalsinthe w"rldsomepreviouslyundi sclosedknow1cdgefromthebeyond.The story,,Ilcr.likeI\aron, seemsrel egatedtotheroleof amanuensisor mouthpi ece, Ihepcrson\VhoIivesIlrstof allinthemundaneworldandwhointerprets 1'1 illlllrdialactivity so as to make itaccessibletothepublic,but isableto do ... unlybyusing distortions,mediations, corruptions, descriptivemetaphors, 1" IIHllarlanguage. This attitude among historians has its counterpart inaparticular brced01' IInvsciencehi storypracticedbysocialeonstructivists ..1 ustasadvocatesof Ihe"scientific"methods mentionedaboye,whichareultimatelyof posit ivist IIlspiration,tendtowardadeterministviewof historywithanemphasison ""l'ialand institutionalfactors,onthe impersonalforces01" demography,on Ih('kadingroleof economicsandpolitics,andsoforth ,whileunderplaylit!'theroleof thecultureof thegroupandof thewillsof thegroupand IlIlhviduals,sothesene\Vapproachestoscicncehistoryalsotendtoward , k h'nninism.emphasizing therole of technology, c1ass, social,political , and \ I"ollomicfadors\Vhileunderplayi ngtheroleof individuals,thecontribu111 IIlSuf nature, andthe impact of character and chanceo Recentlyarenewedappreciationforthevalue01'narrati veamonghis1,,, ialls has appeared.15 The new appreciation \Vasprompted by the awareness ,11 ;. tlIarrativeisatoolabletodisclosethe"event-character"of humanlite i" "wayavailabletonoother mode of presentation.Astheorganizationof 11I1"nllation into aroughly sequcntial order exhibiting the decisions affecting .1 pll lh-dcpcnuent phenomcnon, anarrative isable to relate the contingent set loll h:l:isioIlSaclll all y made inl production withthe appearance ofa phenoml' III .1IthatillandthwlI ghthatprodllclion.Anarrativeisidealfor lin lllhcl'words. rul h..dcpclldclllIl ondassical phcnomenon because !1 pll:Sllfl Is tIn: evollll ion \11 i1"" 1'1 .\:a I ;11 1t:\!aIOll g wi 1h t he CLlnt ine.cnt dccisions

S ' I I1NI ' I :ANI1' 1I (IA I,< .11 N. ' , Ihal!l' IVl'IIselotll all'vllllll lOlI.1111:prcvioll srcl k l't ll ' IH, 11 11 Ihl'lIalme01' !X pl.: ri lll CIl la I1011 rrllillltH':SSllrll1l'nanal ivctCchlliqllcrOl"ullderstandillg 11. Afullytold slory oran experimenl, ror instance, might illVOlvclhe weaving together of several different story Iines. 16These incl ude:(1) astory of science itself,andwhycertainareasof science(weakinteractionphysicsornuclear cross sections, for instance) were seen as more crucialtopursue, more authoritative,thanothers;(2)astory01'theinstrumentsusedinthispursuil ,each 01'whiehhavingitsownstory01' developmentandproduetion;and(3)a story01'individuals who conceived,produeed,andexecutedthe experiment, andhoweach01'themcarnetoJearnwhattheimportantproblemswere andhowtheycarnetoanticipatethesolutionstheydid.Theseare onlythe principalstorylines;othersinc1udethestories01'thevariousexperimental tec1miquesinvolved(bubb1echambers,neutronscattering,etc,)andthe stories of the laboratories where the experiment is conducted. One can pursue separatelyoneormore01'thesestorylines,of course.Butatruenarrative attempts toincorporate each,foras eachevolvedsodidthcexperiment. Anarrative about adiscoverymade withac10ud chamber- ofthe meson, say-might focus on technieal details ofthe apparatus used by the three teams thatdiscovereditalmostsimultaneously.Or itmightfocusonproductionrelatedfactorssuchastheculturalandhistoricalforceswhichledtothe developmentofc10udchambers,theinstitutionswhoseresearcherswere giventhefreedomtopursuesuchstudies,orthejournalswhosedifferent publicationdemandsdetenninedtheorderof publication01'thediscovery papers.Oritmightfocusonthepersona"litiesandactionsof theindividual researchers.Each01' theseprovides alegitimateperspeetive forwriting adiscoveryaccount,forany discoverymadewithac10udchamber isintelligible only as disc10sive01' nature, within eomplex historical spaee, and as the aet of humanbeings. Butitwouldbeamistaketolimitthepossibilityof anaccounttoone01' theseperspeetives:the"event-character"of thediscoveryprocessemerges only when each of these perspeetives are preserved.I t wouldbe as if (metried to tellthe story of the assassination of Francis Ferdinand of11yinterms ofthe detonation01'achargeinGavriloPrincip's gun,thetrajectoryof thebullet , anditsinterferencewithvitallifeprocessesinsidethearchduke;or (mlyin terms of Serbiannationalism; or ol11yinterms of Princip' spersonalmotives. Afirstimplicationof thepreviousehaptersrornarrativesaboutscieneeis thus that while narratives canbe told about science that are located inone or more particular perspectives, such as individuals, science, institutions, equipmen t, and production, science itse1f transpires tbroughthe intertwining 01' al1 ofthell1. But t here is a deeper implical ion, I think, having to donol withthe conten! lowarJ swhichlhealtenLion01"l hescicll cehistorianisdrawnbutwiththe 01' 01' lilelIanlivcilsel!". ThcconslrudiolloC anarrative is () JI 1, (U ") M tIN (' 1\ N()P'UJI ) 1I ( ,l ' 11 1 N 11.,1'1 1alllIl"Il'arried 0111ror Ihe purposc or disc10sing something about sciencc, ,dl"will gilInhewitnessedroril:;ownsake.This suggestsonefurtherargu1I1I ' lllali wanalogylhatnarralives areyetanotherkindof performance.Ir 11.l1ceycallbe consideredto sharc many of thefeaturesaboutwhichIhave .c1 I.... adyspllken.Theyareundertakenforthepurposeof renderingpresent .lllI h: l1cillgbygone, and aim to tellnotj ust any old story, but to disc10sesome III II ).! abolllaphenomenon:science.Theyputondisplaythatphenomenon 111 slI:hawaythatcertain01'itsaspects,thoughpossibl yalready familia.r \11 liS,slandoutandcanbecontemplated,lingeredover,pondered.Nar1.llivcs are holistic inthat ahistory isnot a catalogue or compendiumof one ,Ieluilarter another (whichwouldoverwhelmthenarrative) ,but a judicious ';I' k cl illnandinterweaving01'detailsrOl"thesakeof disc1osure.Narratives ,IIL'prnhative(exploratory)inthat oneknows no!beforehandexactlywhat ,vi II hedisclosedwhenonesetsoutto construct anarrative,andoneallows IIl1l'sclr tobesurprised: one isnot constructing anarrativewhenone sets out tUlindconfirmingillustrationsofapredeterminedthesis.Narrativesare IlIllvisoryinthat theyarepcrpetuallyopentobeingrevised;there isnofinal lIillTalivcaboutany episode any morethanthere isafinalperformance 01'a play llf finalexperiment inacertain area.Narratives are autboritative inthat IIH'ydemandacknowledgmentbythoseengagedininquiryintotheevent 111 question.Theyaresituationalinthattheyarere1ativetoacertainstate ,,(know\cdgeandperspective:astheperspectiveoravailableinformation I'Ilanges,ane\\'narrativemaybe calledforo Thereisaprimaey01'perfOlm,lIlceinnarrative; oneisnot infullcontrolof it,andmust put oneself inthe (' , viceof thenarrative. rhe holismof narrative isespecially significant.Every detailispotentially II'vealing.I wasonce involved, for instance, in aheated discussionabout the disdosivevalueof eandiedMexicanhats.Inapreviousbook,mycoauthor ,lIId1 hadrclatedastoryof abet made byaphysicistthataeertainpartic\e \\! o uldbediscoveredor he\\'ould eat hishat.The discoverywasdulymade, ;11111 alasubscquentconfereneecandiedMexicanhatswerepassedoutfor 1!l.' lI eralconsumption.Ahistorian01'sciencereproachedme at aconfcrence l. Ir dcvoting space to this episode. What did it contribute to knowledge a bOLlt :: I'ielll:e?Shouldn' t1 have devotedthe space to scientific information'?Hadn't I cOllll1littedthe sinof popularizaliol1; to fOCLlSon extraneous matters because III\'Ywouldbe interesting toand comprehensib\e bythe layperson? !'heMexicanhats turned out to bebut one instance 01' adass of detailsin IlIy hOllkto whichthe historian objected. Others inc1uded a description ofthe halldkerchief that students recallEmmyNocther kcpt inher blouse and how ',IcewavedilwhenillLlstratingapoint:theflash01'anemincntphysicist's 11 01idsilktic as he vanished from studcnts' sight arter teaehing a c1ass; the fish IhalrClI1ailledllncatenwhcnabrilliantI"utureNobelistmethismentorina Il'stiluranla nuueJ'erenl ia l1 y all owcdl hementor toQn.lerrorbothof thema IhalIh\!prodigyloatl ll.:d:th,:wayanItalianphysicislcrushedouthis l,/ I\N IlSII/'I ,'I\1I INI ' I' cigaretleillalilmdish;alldIheClllllfurta hlesl lprcrswhichaPakistani physicislwor kingintheWeslkeptIIlldernealhhisdesk .Aproressional ,so thehistorianinfonnedme,wouldhave stucktothe esscntials. Iarguedinreplythat suchdetailspropcrlyhandleddiddisdoseessential aspccts 01' science.Thebet revealedthe game-Iikeq ualitytheoreticalphysics hasformanypractitioners.It showedanirreverence1'01'finalanswersand rationalsolutions and awiIJingnesstoput oneself onthe line; lhis quality.in turn,had everything to do withthe eharacter of the person who made the bet andthekind01'\l,iorkthathedid.The episodethusservedas anantidotelO the view of theorists as solemn fabricators ofthe groundplan 01' the Universe. (Therole01'comedyandhumorintheactivity01'sciencecleservesmore attention than it has so far received.) Likewise for the other episodes. The fact thatstudentsfoundNoether'sha ndkerchier behaviorunfeminineindieated the presence of gender stereotypes. The flash01' the tiewas emblema tic 01' the obsessive secrecy 01' the personwho wore it, whichintum was emblematic of thehermeticnatureofhiswork,whichinturnhadmuchtodowiththe eventualreceptionof that workinthe scientific community andhow httle of itwaseventuaIJyincorporatedintothestandardformulationsdespitethe immense achievement itrepresented. Theuneatenfishrevea ledamixtureof respectandiconodasm; thattheprodigywasreverentialenoughto agreeto orderitontheadviceof thementorbutstubbornenoughtotrusthisown tasteandrefusetoconsume it.Thefilmcanister/ashtraybespokethetraditionalinformalityandeconomyof acertain groupof Italianscientists.And theslippersweremuletestimonyof thelonelyefforts01'apersonfromthe thirdworldtomake ahome inanunfamiliar environment.Far fromserving asmereentertainment,suchdetailswereintheserviceofthedisdosure effectedbythenarrative,and one cannot draw alinebetweenwhatkinds 01' details are disdosive andwhat arenot. It istruethat eachsuchdetailwas inessentialinthat another, similarone could have beensubstituted.But that ofwhich the details were disdosive was significantandcouldnothavebeenomitted;thedetailswerethussymbols. Whateachdctaildisdoscdcouldhavebeenmadethesubject01'aoexplicit study- jokesandgamblinginscience,sexism,idiosyncracy,mentoring, informality,the anxieties01' third-worldparticipants intheinternationalscientific community. Such stuoies are 01' course important , but anarrative serves adifferent function, oisclosing l differentknoofphenomenon. To object to theindusionof suchoetailsinanarratvehas aslittle justice astoobject to thelighting,props,cost umes,etc.,of aplayas havingmerely entertanment valueinsteadof belongingintrinsicallytotheperformanceitself.Indeed,to passoverth iskind01'detailinnarrativesaboutsciencecontributestothe impressiollthatsciem:cisaprivilegedact ivi tyunlikeotherkinds01'human aClivily.Thinkng.,cvcnscientilkthinking,isneverconducledinapure, ra reliedTh inkill galwaysbdongs lo l il eworl J01' ufnH\Cn: h.:hisl nril:ulcnVlr() t1Illt: lIl s.OJ1 \!hcw:lI'l' ,IIIl'rtl Ill'I:.ufIhe H 1'1 ': I{J-() ({M A NI' IANI>I'IUII>LJ CJ'ION IIII(1uISI:lodecidebeforehalldwhatisirrcJevantandwhatnotforanarratI\il.'.!\nyaltcmptlomakesuchadecisionbeforehandwil!beguioedbyan .llIlicipalion ofwhat to expect , by anioeaofwhat the privilegeo slory lilleis, 1;llhl:r thanby the performance itself. To construct anarrati veisaprocess 01' iIhackand forthrelation between one' s ioeas abollt the subject. ano what one about it.New anticipations allowLIS to discover new profiles 01' the "lIhiect,whiehintllrnforceustD reviseour anticipations. If Ilarrativesabout scienceareakintoperformances,thenthephilosophy .,1' scienceisakinto lhe "theory"of theperforrnances,Philosophy 01'science explicitlyorimplicityonnarrativesoraccountsof scientificactivity, whdher extended treatments or anecootal, ano can be thought 01' as attemptIIIgloprovioethe " theory"of suchnarrative perforlllances.Too frequently, Iladitionalphilosophersof sciencehavereliedonmythicor"fictionalized" .1l'Cllunts of science history to support their views.17 Yet, philosophy 01' science .roes not aim to describe an essellce aboye human time alld history that works " hchind the scenes"of scientific phcnomcna. but rather to construct arepresl'nlalionof how its characteristic worldlyprofiles emerge fromtheprocesses hywhichitisproduced. The dialcctic between the philosophy of science and narratives about it can hl:c:onsioeredanalogouslytothedialecticbetweentheoreticalscripting ano 'xperimental performances.Philosophy of science,liketheory, allows one to Il'l lIrn to the phenomenon- science ilself- lo lookfor new profiles and aspects :lmlhow theyfulfillanticipations. The theatricalanalogy,for instance,helps liSappreciate aspects that wehad not looked at careful!y enough before, such asproouction,recognition,anoskil!.Inhighlightingthecreativeaspeet01' "icicllce, for instance, it might Icaoonc lo lookfor and appreciate expressions 01 Ihe joy 01' creation among seientists. The expressions of beallty inM illikan's lIolebooks,lhe orunkensymposillmat the Cosmotrondeoicatonparty,the lIyofthe chase inthe Douhle Helx,the satisfaction at knowing about atomic parily violation-allthese wouldthen not be particular psyehological expresof inoividuals but aspects of the pradice 01' scienceitself insofar as itis .1 creativeanoproductiveworldlyactivity.Truephilosophyof scienceasks Ijllestionsabout sciencerather thanoictatestoit , anoif things are disdosed aholll the activity of science it isto allow for new questioning,not to provide Ihingsloputupontheshelfastrophies.Othera reasthatthetheatrical allalogyopensupforquestioningindudeproouction,the effectof scaleon pl'oduction, skill,therole 01'management contracts,thenature of rehearsal! l'a lihralion,thenature and character orthe laboratory, andthe way one can ',d"sweptup"by thethcatricalityof itallincasesof self-oeception. Morcovcr.likeotherkinos01'performances,narrativesare" produced. " I halrncans that someone uecides to carry them out. makes necessary decisions 111 advance.andaimsIhena rrativeatacertaincommuni ty- al!of which .lIape ils I,;Q 11 L' rcle rorm, lOO,have ma ny di lTcrcllIkinds of research pIPl.! laIlIS.Oncca llI, )lkillIhclIlrol'aCOlll lTlonIhemehehinJaseriesof ti) s, ' I 1, N.11] fI 1,1:-; .1 e' I 1\ IIII Nr ' l 1.' \ I.'Il IS.In.. " 1111lVCl1hi l'l; ll ain (,' h.II, U:Il: 11I1,,1'll"' ",111 1 whl'thr.:rthr.:re illl'iIK)misll'lll! il!shl'lWl.'1111 hislmicalI:!vCI HillIJPIl' vil illlgdlaractr.:riza01'il. Vicwingnarrativr.:asperlrma ncethuscontributestol restitutionand justilkalion 01' lhe storyteller's arl.I f a narrative isperformance and performance disclosure,thenlhedifferencebetweenthe activity01' the subject of the story andthe storytelling activityitsclf doesnot correspondtothat between primordialdiscJosureandpopularization.Thestoryteller eannotbeseenas playing AarontoMoses.01',if one insistsonputting itthat way,itmust be withtherecugnilionthattheiractivitiesarenot sofundamentallydirterent because any aet of disclos Ll re, evcnthatof Moses.isalready alistening.For, asapatient story-Iistener once remindedme, MosesplayedAa ronto God. Notes See,for instance.RobertP.Crease, " rmages of Conflict:ME Gvs.[EG,"Science 253(1991):374-75. 2Myattentionwas drawntotheimporta nceof this conceptbyZev T rachtenberg, "A Thr.:oryof Drama,"(M.Phi!.thesis,University College,London.1980). 3See Crease,"History of BrookhavcnNatiollalLaboratory.Par! One," 4Asisevident.forinstance.fromthcncws,wdresearchnewsstoriesabol!ltthis processinScience:RobertR.Crease."Choosing Detectors for theSSC,"Science 250 (1990):1648- 50:David P.Hamilton, " Showdown at thc Waxahachie Corral ," Science252(1991):908iJOl0;David1'.Hamilton," AdHoc TeamRevivesSSC Competition."Scien ce252(1991):1610;DavidP.Hamiltoll ," ANewRoundof Backbiting overthe Cancellationof L*,"Sciell ce252(1991):1775. 5"lmpact 01' Largc-Seale Science on the LJ nited States , "Sciellce134 (196,J):16 J- 64. YalehistorianDerekde SollaPriceadoptedthephrase ina1962lecture series at BrookhavenNa tionalLaboratory." LittleScie)lce,BigScience,"subsequently published as abook, Unle Science,BigScience(Ne\\'York:ColumbiaLJniversity Prcss,1963). 6AlvinWeinberg,Reflectiol1s 011 Big Sciel1 ce(Cambridge:M lTPress.1967),p.67. 7Weinberghadbeforehimonlyt\Vomodelsof BigScience,largeparticleaccelerators and themanned spaee programoneithcr ofwhieh hadreallymatured.Forefrontparticleaeceleratorscouldstillbebuiltatuniversities andProjectrv1'ercury \Vasinitsinfancy;Weinberg'sartiele\Vasbasedonanaddressgivenbeforea meetingoftheAmericanRocketSoeietyinGatlinburg,Tenn.,onMay4.1961, the day before AlanShephcrd became the flrstAmerican astronaut to be launched into space. 8 TheexamplcisfromMichaelJoehim,SlrCilegiesjrSurviw/(NewYork:AcademicPress,1981),p.11.1 amindebtedtoMarshallSpectorfordrawingmy attentionto thisn::ference. 9AlvinWeinberg.' The Axiologyof Science,"Aml' ricanSciertliSI58(NovemberDeeember1990): 612- 17. 10LargeNOlld( f'enseR ami DProjecl.\ i//IheBl/dgel:J9801996by DavidMoore and PhilipWebre (Washi ngton ,D.C. :U.S. Congress.U.S.Ho useof Representatives, Congressi onalBlIdgelOffl ce, Ju ly19(1). 11 T his,rol'inslance.isl hepointIlladeby.1 01111 A.Relllingtonin" BeyondBig I lTheBimJing ll l'Inquiry." Social SIl/dic.\' o(SI'i' //('('1RR (1988) : lO 1'\IHJlU\11INI ' I"N li"1{(flH,., IION 1' ,.Ih,)ug ) he1I sesWl' IIIIll' I.\'sdislilldillllinternalandexternal I" ,,: ria. I""1;1disellssiol\ ol'a l1 exarnell ,Regna1974.Correlatesof CreeNarrativePerformance.[1/Explorationsin theEthnography 01'Speaking.RichardBauman andJoelSherzer,Eds.New York: CambridgeUnivcrsilyPress. d'Azevedo. Warrcn1958.A Structural Approach to Esthetics: Toward a Detlnition of ArtinAnthropology.AmericanAnthropologist 60:702- 714. 1klargy. James H.1945.The Gaelic Story-Teller.London:Proeeedings 01' theBritish Academy 31:177- 221 . Doherty, Josephn.d.Towards aPoeticsof Performa nce.Manuscript. Dorson.RichardM.1972.AfricanFolklore.NewYork:Doubleday Anchor. l >undes,Alan1966.Metafolklore andOralLiteraryCriticismoTheMonist50:505 516. J)urbin,M ridula1971.TransformationalModelsApplied10MusicalAnalysis:TheoreticalPossibilities.Elhnomusicology15:353 - 362. Finnegan.Ruth1967.LimbaStoriesandStorytelling.Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press. 1:irth. Raymond1961.Elements ofSocial Organization. Third editiol1.Boston:Beacon Press (paperback1963). i'ish,StanleyE.1973.Ho\\'OrdinarylsOrdinaryLanguage'! NewLiteraryHistory 5:40- 54. I:mtgy,Ivan1965.Form alldFunctionofPoetie Language.Diogenes51:72110. I:ox. .lames1974.Our Ancestors Spoke inPairs.InExplorations intheEthnography 01'Speaking.RichardBaumanandJoelSherzer,Eds.NcwYork:Cambridge UniversityPress. I'ricdman,Albert1961.TheFormulaiclmprovisalion TheoryofRallad TraditionACounterstatement. Journal of AmericanFolklore 74:113 115. (' corgcs.Robert1969.TowardanUnderstanding ofStorytellingEvents.Journalof AmcricanFolklore 82:313- 328: ( i lassie. Hcnry 1971. Take thatNighl T rainto Selma: an Excursionto the O utskirts o' :-Il'holarship.InFolkson)!sandtheirMakers.byHenryGlassie.EdwardD.(ves, all e! Johnr .S/wed.O.l\vlinp, G r\;;en,OH : Bowling G rcenPopular Press. (;.,11111:111 .hrvinll1' /7ha vcrnadehislol icall ylidl'l l\ ll rUII Clornakein avar icl y ol'ways inl hc ollgulIlgct>lI lcstalion:4 wilh ornintII l unu dominating p,llr ian:ha l a llllwriti cs .Wl wlIrwtspcaking, itjsvitally important to listcnor \llhl.!r-wiscIn a ll cnd\Vd l cnoughtofollow along.Knowing one's place as a n inl crJ oclili vcsubjcct- stayinginjtamikeepingtrack01'it- hasundeniably rl.!a lpoliticalandpersonalconscqucnccs. [11 thcirperfonnanees,conVersationsarenon-linearphenomena;they rcsemblcrhi zo/l1es/l1l1chmorethanhierarchies.7 That 'sil.arhizome.Embryos,trces.developaccordinglotheir geneticperfonnationortheirstructuralreorgani zations.Butthe weedoverftowsbyvirtl1eof beingrestrained.It growsbetween.It isthepathitsclf.TheEnglishamiAmerieans,\Vhoaretheleast "autho[-like"01'writers,havet\Voparticularlysharpdirections whieh connect: that 01' the road and of the path, that o' the grass and 01"therhi zome.... /-IenryMiller:"Grassonlyexistsbetweenthe greatnon-cultivatedspaces.It fillsinthevoids.1/growshe/wecnC/mong o/her/hings.The f10werisbeautiful , the cabbage isLlseful , the poppy makes yOl1erazy.But the grass is overflowing, it is alessonin 1Il0rality.Thewalkasact,aspolitics,asexperimentation,as life:" 1 spreadmyselfout like afogBETWEENt hepeoplethat Iknow the best"says VirginiaWoolf inher walkamongthetaxis. (30) Likerhizomcs,conversationsgrowfromthemiddle,gi venthatthereare 110beginningsandendings,otherthanthoseimposedfromtheoutside. (;ralltcd.wnversationalmicropracticesareideologicallyformattedand hcgel1l onically circumscribed; nevertheless, conversations wander down bli nd ;Ilkys, slam into dead-ends, topple off sheer cliffs, get turned arollnd, beeome asphyxiated.repeataimlessly,andsuddenlybreakoff.Theycirclea round al\(lfoldbackonto themselves;theyretricveandrecreate,recallamiadumIlIalcinwaysthateludetheass umptivefoundations01'formallogicsand dialcctics . IVllIchofthetheoreticalamiculturalsignificanceofconversational ll1i crupradicesaretheirperformativelocationsalongtheseams01'speech/ lall guagc.Ontheonehand,conversationspartakeof bothspeechamilan ntheother,thcyhavc littletodo withcither.lnsofar aslanguage is IlIalwhich il.s (collllsional) mCfllbers aSSllfllC they know in common--that which !'PI'S wilhout saying- Ia nguage is apractical conseiousness, an implicjtly held COIIII\lOIlsensc.Spl:cch.onIh\.! olhcrhand.isadiscursiveeo nsciollsness,11 1il1 divjdlr:.tlcd,.:xpliLilpurlorllla livcsCll se- insofarasjilllalwhich mol.[hl:saidhl:l';JlISl'II' (l IIII O!IheW;surl ll.:dlo p as!;in);iIL' lIl.:lSpwdl 1 : 111 bc 111 1111 1' 111 IlIrOIl,l' 11 :1 -; ,rp pl"opriali olll) f".,ltld 11 1 111\'".1111\'IIII)III1'nl '/ t 111 (11M 1Nli - ': ' "11 "I{ - W' SI; lile discurs iw l'ormulauoll or,prw.: lkal consciousness, inwhat MikhailBakhtin callsadialog ue01'MicholdeCerteaulocatesdistinctionsbetweenspeechandlanguagein Iheproblematics01'enunciation,whichhecharacterizesintennsof itsfour propenies.First,language takesplace bymeans 01'speaking;speechrealizes languagcbyactualizingportions01"itaspotentialamipossibility.Second, speaking uppropriateslanguageintheveryact01'speaki ngit.Third,speech presupposesaparticular re!atiOl1a!conlractwithan"other"-realor fictive. i\nd fourth.spcechinstantiates a presen/ as the timefor an ''1'' to speak. (33) Intheseways,conversationalmicropracticesproduceandreproducesociocultural structures and formations by means of binding time andspace. They aremoreor lesstransparentmediationalpracticesof andl'orstructuration. ThequestionIsetforrnyself inthisessayis:Howdotheseconversational seeminglyinnocllousandinnocentof power- produce and consume ideoJogies of everydayliving? Conversa/ionisatermdesignatingalargebutfiniteassemblage01'discoursemicropracticesthatproduceandrep roducewlturesa.mltheirsocial rormations.How isthis performed conversationally? 80th ethnomethodology generally, ami conversation analysis particularly, have invested heavily inthe finely grained descri ptions 01' the indexicality ami reflexivity of everyday life.9 Therearegrowingresearchliteraturesthatdescribearrays01'interactional sociolinguistic ami ethnomethodolgicaldevices andprocedures instrumental in the co-production 01' conversation. Sociolinguistic variation, ethnomethodological conversational analysis, extended standard theory, and ethnography ofcommunication share several theoretical and methodological assumptions. Ilowever,situating anyof thisworkintheintimatelypoliticalworlds01'the conversants thernselvcsisstillrelativelyrareoConversationalmoves, devices andproperties (e.g. , greetings,repetitions,questions andanswers,accounts, correction invitations, address terms, stories, paraphrasing, quoting, pronouns, gossiping,visiting,politeness,hosting,telephonetalking.amongothers) me seldomexploredasmodesof consciousness,structures01'feeling,shapesof experience;noraretheyoftenfittedintothedomllant,residual,andemerlu 1 gent features 01' their socioculturaltraditions, institutions and formations. wanttotakeadifl'erentcourseamifollowseverallinesof culturalstudies, performancetheory.amiconversationalstudiestoforcgroundsomepivota.1 differencesdistinguishing thesetraditions. Everyday conversations are identified,reified, described, and analyzed, but rarely arc they abstracted back into the material and spiritual relations of the political-economics ofthe daily livesofits interloclltors. One isleft withlittle scnse ofhow thesc conversational micropracticesproduce andreproduce the si r\lcturalamIpost-st ructuraleonditi om;0["theexperienceol'postmodem life.V. N. Volosinov's IIJ('orcticalano cri ti cal\Vorkinthephil osophy oflangUi.lgL, MikhuilBakhl in's WPl'kinspcech gcnrcs, poctics ano dia logics,Michol h.luca ull ' sW)!' ]"011Ih;I'l' J\C;i!()!'il:sofpmvcr/k nuwlcdgc,andIhedhics. / 1)1' 1'11 N I ' !',.'N I >IIhllalil y .. lid ,'all' "ll hl',dl'. alld .JuliaKri stcva ' s 111I"1! i11',alldinrc!alioll Inwholll.Aninfantilllmcuiatcly,anunotlIsuallyasarcsult01'consciolls inlclltiol1,bccol1lesanemerging anuuevcloping embouimentof /whiIU.I' ,l he materialloclls ordispositions anu their principIes ofregulateu improvisation: ... itisinthe dialectiealrelationshipbetweenthebody andaspaee structured according to the mythico-ritual oppositions that one finds the formof the structural apprenticeship whichleads to the embodying of the structure of theworld- -theappropriating bylhe worldof abody thusenabledto appropriate the world. (89) The domestic organization of the housc, or whatever the structure 01' domestie space inwhichaninfantfindsitself, isboth cngendercdandsexualized,both spatializedandtemporalized,andpoliticizedthroughandthrough. Thehouse,anopusoperatum,lendsitselftoadecipheringwhich uocsnotforgetthatthe "book" fromwhichthe childrenlearntheir vcrsionoftheworldisreadwiththebody,inandthroughthe 1lI0vcmentsanddisplacementswhichmakethespacewithinwhich theyare enactedasmuchasthey are made byit. (90) '1'0summarizehisargument, andthereby to compress itdrastically,Bourdiellcontendsthatsocialspaceingeneral,anditsprimordiallyminimalist hHlcouldian gesture- the house- inparticular, isorganized according to an el1semble01'homologousrelations- fire:water::cooked:raw::high:low:: light:shade :: night:day ::male:female ::inside:outside.The primal habitus of hOllseIllarkstheinfantwiththesehOlllologoussignsandthe childbecomes theembodieddispositionsreproducingthestrueturedrelationsintowhieh itwasborn.Asocioculturallyembodiedsubjectreproducespracticeswhich areproductsof amodus operandiover whiehthe subjecthaslittlediscursi ve consciousness.The modus operandi oftenhasanobjectiveintentionor logic whichisbothlarger thanandoutruns asubject'spartialconsciousness.For Baudrillard,thiswouldbeamatterof thesubject-as-codebeingcollapsed and dosed offshort ofdecoding its history as that habilu.l' oflinwhichitfinds itselrlllaterially ensconced. Contradictions are inevitable among homologoliS relations organizing the socialcosmology andthe bodily cosmogony. Oneofthesuggestiveimplicationsofthisline01'theorizingisthat corporeality,associocultura lcmbodi mentasthcohject01'Iheseemingl y trivi alanuinconscqucnlialpraclkcsufdn:ss,dcmcHnnr,ncaring.ma nncrs ano stylc,isIheIlI a leriali tyol'I1ICl llory.fhehlldy,asIheInl writtell hy (Jxpcricllcl.!:tnl! rccunlcdas 1ll,II k..u/dli lnl-":!Cr, a IlllwnltHllt: in whid.an: lns.'l'lx'dI hepll '"111' I/Wl ' OlllClll(1" CUhlll l' X.l BI 't ' (JMI N ( ;()IIII'I( - W IS; Thc principi es illIhis way are placedbeyondthe grasp 01' consciousness and hence cannot betouehed by voluntary, delibera te transformation ,cannot evenbemadeexplicit;nothingseemsmore inerfable,moreincommunieable,moreinimitable,and,thcrefore, moreprecious,thanthevalues givenbody,/l/adebodybythetransubstantiationachievedbythehiddenpersuasion01'animplicit pedagogy, capabk orinstilJing a wholc cosmology, an ethic, ametaphysic, apoltical philosophy, throughinjuneti ons asinsignificant as "standup straight" or "don't holdyour knifeinyour lefthand." (Bourdieu94) Thepolitical-economicsof cOllversationalturn-taking Aturn isself-reflexive; it lllaterializes as itself only inrelation to another turno And such asclf-reflexivc relationship isthe basis of ideologiealtransparency. An altcrnative formulation of conversation is amimetic form oThe Greekterm mimesis capturesthe existentialvalidityof transpareney.Mimesistranslates as self-imitationor self-present-in-motion.Here isMcIntyre's thinking of it : Inconversationswedonotonlyelaboratethoughts,arguments, theories,poems, dramas; wegesture,\Vedraw,\Vepaint,wesing.In so doing we give structurc to our thought; weinterpret arealitythat wasalreadypartiallyconstitutedbytheinterprctation01' the agents engagcdinthetransactionandourinterpretationismoreorless adequate, approaches or failstoapproachtruthmorenearly.What wasthefreeplayof conversa tion altransactionbecomesstructured mimesis and mimesis al\Vays cJaimstnlth. (43) Giventumasaconstitutivefeatureof conversation,andgiventheselfreflexivenessof aturn,thatwhichisconstitutedinandthroughthetaking of turns isitself self-reflexive.Conversationimitatesitselfbyinscribing itself inthe movement of aturn' s laking place.Totake aLUrnislo oricnl (fnd Clllend LO (/ sociocuLltlra//if'eworld by inscrihing .1]Jace/lime il/ClndIhroughlhe a{'()ustie! kineslheticmoremenls con\!ersing.Aturnanditsspace,time,andmoverncntareco-extensive.Aconversationalmoveistotakeaturn,andthe micropracticesof takingturnsinscribe\Vorlds01' subjects,objects, andtheir interpenetratedrelations of power. Turns are values, and as suchare sought, avoidcd,givcn,andtaken,andthewaysinwhichturn-taking distributesits partici patingmemberscanbethoughtthroughinpolitical-economicterms. Aswi thanypoltical-economy,theorganization01'turn-takingreproduces theverydi stributionalstructures of thatwhichit organizes.17('Ol1 vcl'sati onal mil:ropract icesare the st ructures of sharing and communily,aswellas01'hoan.l il1!,! :llldalicnati on- turnsareuistrihutive.Muchof

SI'II . N t ' l ',\NI! Nf' ll J Nll S,,. 'tlllllllll l ll l !l VII,III1" " ,1'."l lI lr l u ll't1illamI il l lJll1l1 fIltl1.I , "lp..1 1111 liS,allll fllIlIlt'lI gIUIII S I 11(1111 heIllctonymil:111 IlI l'111\; 1.11'111 ti 11 ,he l yday life is[l ulI~ I ) I'I " IS (IINII alcd\.: lI vcU 1'1'11111 Ihlidislim;li onlIIadl.:hylinguislsbl;lwccn"phoncmic"anu " phOIlClil', "Ihe l'orlller heing Ihe sllIdy 01' sounds rccogni '.cdas dislill\;t lVilhin a spccilic lallgllage,Ihela llerbcing the cross-lingualsluuy of distinguishablc humansoumJunils.Ken nethPike,whopropoundedthis dichotomy, should beallowedtoformulate,it:" Descriptionsof analysesfromtheeticstandpoinl are' alien.'withcriteri aexternalto thesystem.Emic descriptionsprovideanintcrnalview[oran" insideview"inH ockett'stcmls],withcriteria chosenfromwithinthe systelll . They represent toustheview01' one familiar withthissystemandwhoknowshowtofunctionwithinithi mself. "5F rolll thisstandpoint allt'ourof thestra tegiesof explanationproposedbyWhite dr awing onPepper- formism, organicism, Illechanjsm. and context ualismwouldproduceeticnarrativesiftheywereuscdtoprovideaccountsof societies outside thatWestern cultun Ilt radi ti ongcnerativel ylriangulatedby theIhinkingof Jerusalcm,Athens,andRomeandeontinuedinthephiJosophical ,literary,andsoeialscientifictraditionsof Europe,NorthAmerica, and their culturaloffshoots.Indeed,members of suchsocieties (the so-called ThirdWorld)haveprotcsted,asrecentlyas1973/' thatWesternattempts to "explain"their cultures amount to no more than"cognitive cthnocentrism," dimini shingthcircontributiontotheglobalhumanreHexivitywhichmodemcommunicationalandinformationalsystemsarenowmakingpossiblc, if hardlycasy.Inotherwords.whatweintheWestconsideretic,thatis, "nolllothetic,""non-culture-bound,""scientific,""objective,"theyare comingtoregard as emic. There arethen hOlhetie and emic ways01' regarding narralive. Ananthropologist , embeddedinthelife01'anat-first-wholly-othcrcultureandseparated,saveinmemory,fromhisown,haslocometotermswiththatwhich investsandinvadeshim.The situationisoddenough.Heistossedintothe ongoinglife 01' aparce! of people who not on1)'speak l di fferent language but also classifywhat wewOllldcaJl"socialreality"inwaysthat are at firstquite unexpected.HeiscompelJedtolearn,howeverhaltingly,thecriteriawhich provide the " insideview." lamawareof White's"t heory01'thehistoricalwork "andthatitbears importantlyuponhowtowriteethnographies aswellashistories;butIam alsoawarethatanydiscussionoflheroleofnarrativeinothercultures requiresthatanemicdescriptionof narrativebemade.Fortheanthropologist'sworkisdeeplyinvolvedinwhatl ilemightcalJ" tales.""stories," "folktales," "histories.""gossip:' and " inrormants' accounts"--types of narrativeforwhichtheremaybemanynativenames,not allof whichcoincide withourterms.Indeed,MaxGluckmanhascommentcdthatIheverylerm "anthropologist"meansinGreek"oncwhotalksaboulmen,"inother words, a"gossip. "Inour cult ure \Vehavc manyway:;or lal ki ngabolllmcn, descri ptivc mdanal Yl ica l,f(lrImll anuillrorl11 ... l,tradi tiona l anu\l pcn-enucu. Sinccoursis elIilera lc culture, chanu.:lcl il.cuby tirdincd divlSill1lnI'cult ura l labor,wehaveucviscdf1 UI11Cl'lll ISspt d ali /.cdgcnrcsbyII K'a !! '!,,1'whi chwe 11' ) S()('I\/1)1{\1\1\SANUS IIII(II ' SA\lOIIT' I' III\M scal1, uc:;cribc, alld ill lcrprcllllllhch... vior to\Vard onC anolher.But lhe impulse lo lalk aboLlIone anothcr indilTercnt ways, interms 01' different qualities and Icvclsor mutualconsciousness,precedes literacyinallhumancommunities. 1\11humanacts andinstitulions are enveloped, as ClifrordGeertz might say, in\Vebs01"interpretive words.Also,of course,wemime anddance withone another- weha vewebs or interpretive nonverbalsymbols. Andweplayone another- beginning as children- and continue through life to learn new roles andthesubculturesof hi gherstatusestowhichweaspire,partlyseriously, partlyironically. Ndcmbu make adistinction, akinto White' s divisi onbelween" chronicle" and " story" as levels of conceptuulizatioo in Western culture, between nsang'u andkahekaNsang'u,chronicle,mayrefer,forexample,toapurportedl y factualrecordof le mi gration01' theLundachiefs amI their followersfrom theKat angaregionof ZaireonIheNkalanyiRiver,toIheir encounter with theautochthonousMbwelaorLukolwepeoplesinMwinilungaDistrict,to battlesandmarriagesbetweenLundaandMbwela.. totheestablishmentof Ndembu-Lundachiefdoms,totheorder ofchietIyincumbentsdowntolhe present,totheraidsof LuvaleandTchokwcinthenincteenthcent uryto secure indentured labor for the Portuguese inSan Tome long after the fomlal abolition orthe slave trade, to the coming ofthe missionaries, foJlowedby Ihe BritishSouthAfricaCompany,andfinallytoBritishcolonialrule.Nsang'u may also denote an autobiographical account , apersonalreminisccnce, or an eyewitnessreportof yesterday'sinterestinghappening,N.\an/(u, likechronieJe,inWhite' swords, arranges "the eventstobe dealtwithinthetemporal orderof theiroecurrence"(p.5).JustasachronieJebecomesa"story, "in White'susage," bytherurther arrangementof theeventsintothe cornponents01'a'spectacle'orprocess01' happening,whichisthoughttopossessa discerniblebeginning,middle,andend.. . interms01'inauguralmotifs . .. terminating motifs... andtransitionalmotifs," so11,1'{ng' u becomes /whe/w. Thetermkahekacoversarange01'taleswhichollrfolklorists\Vollldno doubt sortout into anumber or etictypcs: myth,folktal e,marchen,legend, bailad, folkepic, andtheIike.Their distinctive fealureisthal theyarcpartl y told.partly sung.At keypoints inthcnarrationthe audience joins inasung refrain,breakingthespokenscq lIcnce.Itdependsonthecontextofthe situationandIhemodeof framingwhether agivensetof eventsisregardcd as Il san/(u 01'kahe/w. Take,for example, the series of talesabout the ancicnt Lunda chiefYalaMwaku, his dallghterLwejiAnkonde, her lover theLlIban hunter-princeChibindaIlung'a ,andherbrothersChing'uliandChinyama : theirloves,hates,l:Onflicts,andreconciliationsJed,ontheonehand,tothe establishmentof theLundanationand ,ontheother,tothesecessionand diasporaof dissident Lunda groups, thereby spreading knowledge of centralizeopolil ic-..t l organi zal ionoverawideterritory.Thissequencemaybetold byachicr01' putati veLunua0rigintopol it icaJl yinfluentialvi sitorsasa I/Sl/IIg '/1,a ch rolli de, pcrhaps tu justi ryhisti ticlOhi-; a rrice,Bul epi sodes rrolll 1I\ SI ' II I NUi\N II:-IIII ' II\LS( "'UIH.' lit isdllll llit.:l \:111;1 )'h.:i"!l'Sllll ll'.111.11 ,',11,11,/" ,Ipllllal01' /\(/11,,1\11),alluluid hy oldlo groupsII " "!IItd I hr "ildwll (ireduringIhe seasoll. Aparticular favoritestory, analyzedrecentl ybytlw dislinguishcdBclgian structuralistLuc de Hcusch. 7 relates howthe drunken king YalaMwaku was derided andbeatenbyhis sons but caredfortenderlyby hisdaughterLweji Ankonde,whomherewardedbypassingontoher,onhisdeath.theroyal bracelet, the /u/wnll (made 01' human genitaliafor the magical maintenanee of thefertilityofhumans,animals,andcropsinthewholekingdom) ,thus rendering her thelegitimateIllonarchof theLunda.Another story tellshow the young queenisinformedby hermaidens that ahandsome young hunter, Chibinda, having slain awaterbuck, had camped withhis companions on the farsioeof theNkalanyeRiver.She Sllmmonshimtoherpresence,andtbe twofallinloveatonceamItalkformanyhOllrsinagroveof trees(where tooaya sacreofire,lhe center of an extensivepilgrimage,burns constantly). She Iearns that he isthe youngest son of a greatLuba chief but that he prefers thefreelifeof aforesthuntcrtothecourt.Nevertheless,hemarriesLweji outof loveand,intime,receivesfromherthelukul1l1- shehastogointo sedusion ouring menstruation and hands Chibinda the bracelet lest it become polluteo--making him the ruJcr ofthe Lunda nation.Lweji's turbulent brothers refuselorecognizehimanoleadtheirpeopleawaytocarveoutnewkingooms for themselves and consequentIy spread theformat 01' political centralizationamong stateless societies. JanVansina, the notedBelgian ethnohistorian,has discusseotherelationship betweenthis foundation narrative ano the political structures ofthe many centralAfricansocietieswhoc1aimthatthey"camefromMwantiyanvwa," asthe new oynasty carne to call He finosinthis corpus of stories more thanmyth,althoughHeuschhasiJluminatinglytreateditassuch;Vansina findsc1uestohistoricalaffinitiesbetweenthescatteredsocietieswhoassert Lunoaorigin-- indicationscorroboratedbyothertypesofevidence,linguistic, archaeological, ano cultural. As inother cultures, the same events may beframedas I1SCll1g'Uor kaheka.chronicJeor story,oftcnaccoroing totheir nooallocationinthetifeprolJessof thegroupor communitythatrecounts thcm.It alloepenos where andwhenanobywhomtheyare told.Thus,for some purposes the fOLlndationtales ofYala Mwaku anoLwejiaretreatcd as chroniclc to aovance lpolitical cJaim.for example. a c1aimto " Lundahooo, " aslanCunnisoncallstheirassertionof descentfromprestigio LIS migrants. f"orthepurpose of entertainment, the same talesare defi nedasstories,with manyrhetoricaltouches and tlourishes aswel!assongs inserted as evocati ve embellishment.Incidents may evenbeci teuduring01'Iitigationto legitimate or reinforce Ihe cJai ms or a rlai nl ilTinl dispute over boundarics or sLJ ccessionloOrfil:C. For I he a nl hropologisl.h OWCVt .wll ois cOllccrm:uwi I ht he sluoy 01' social i1di ollami:-: ocia lprocCl,S,ilis1101thcsc1'olll1ulgC'rm!sul" and 1141 .'lIJe' t :\I() I{ A Jl. 1 "..\Nu:- III IU I'SA !l O I I ' !'' ' rt t \ M laldll';\l'in; tllallllOstglil'al 11'111"'11hll!,rall1\.'I',as wchave secll,\Vhalwe wOllldl'allgossip,tal"alld1'lllllOl'SaholltIheprivalearrairs01'othcrs,what liteNdcl1lbllalldtheir neighbors. the Luvalc, callkudiyong'o/a,relatcdtothe vcrbkllyll/lg'(/,"locf()wdtogether,"formuchgossiptakesplaceinthe central,unwalled shelter of traditionalvillages. wherethe circumcised, hence socially"mature,"malesgathertodiscusscommunityaffairsandhearthe "news"fromwayfarers 01"other communities.Frank Kermode once defined thenovelasconsisting01"twocomponents:scandalandmyth.Certainly gossip,whichincJuoesscandal ,isoneof theperennialsourcesof cul t ural genres.Gossip ooes not occur inavacuumamongtheNdembu;itisalmost always"pluggedin"to socialorama. AlthoughitmightbearguedthatthesocialdramaisastoryinWhite's sense,Inthatithasoiscernibleinaugural,transitional.amIterminalmoti fs, that s. abeginning, a miodle, ano an end, my observations convinee me that itis,illdeed,aspontaneousunitof socialprocessandafad01'everyone' s experiellce inevery human society.My hypothesis, based on repeated observations of suchprocessualunitsinarange 01' socioculturalsystems anoon my reading inethnography ano history, is that social dramas, "dramas ofli ving," asKennethBurkecallsthem,canbeaptlystuJiedashavingfourphases. These Ilabel breach, crisis,redress, and eithel'reintegration 01'recognitionof schism.Socialoramas occur withingroups of persons who share values ano interests ano who have arealor alleged common history. The main actors are persons for whomthe group has ahighvalue priority, Most of LI S havewhat 1 callour" star"groupor groupstowhichweoweour deepestloyaltyano whose fateisforusof the greatestpersonal coocern.It istheone withwhich apersonidentifiesmost deeply ano inwhichhe findsfulfillmentofhis major socialandpersonaldesires.Weareallmembersof manygroups,formalor informal ,fromthefamilytothenationorsorneinternationalreligiousor politicalinstitution,Eachperson makes his/hcr own subjective evaluationof the group' s respective worth: some are "dear"toone, others itisone's"duty to oefend," and so on. Some tragic situations arise frolll conflicts ofloyalty to different star groups. Thereisnoohjeclil'erankorderinanycultureforsllchgroups.Ihave known academic colleagues whose supreme star group, believeit or not, was aparticularfacultyadministrative committee andwhosefamiliesandrccrcationalgroupsrankeoIllLlchlower,otherswhoseloveandloyaltywere towaro the localphilatelic society,Inevery culture one isohliged to be10ng to certaingrollps,usuallyinstitutionalizeoones- family.age-set ,school,firm. professionalassociation,anothelike,Butsuchgroupsarenotnecessaril y one' sbclovedstar groups.It isinone'sstargroupthatonelooksmostfor love,recognition,prestige,office.andol hertangible anointangiblebenefits and rewarJs.In it one achieves self-respect and a sense ofbelonging withothers rol'whomonchas Noweveryobjecti vegrOll phassomemelll bers wltosceilaslhcirSlll l)'I(IIIP,whileolhersmayregaroitwithinoifference, I I .) V\! IId l"hk;Rclillhlll.,1111 11 1111' I hc grllltpCIl'! :I H'pll l llIUI, ld v :lIuhivaknl, t!t OS\::11111 11 11:11I\: llIhclS 01lI ndelll clI! ulyIUlllll y1"1whidl,perII llp"IIB'SI; II:!IUUpIS (, ()N SlI MI'II O N isIrulyhumallisthepulil icalrcalIllpurged01'allncccssil y.Shell1akesa furtherdistinctionlhercpelilivelabor01'reprodudionandtheproductionof works01'art ,whichisneithertrulyunproouctivenormereanimalistie existence. As1 noteoearlier,MarxOOCSnot countheterosexualreproduetionasproollctionperse.Infac!.hescemstofeel ,notunlikeMaril ynWaring(lf'Womel'l Co/./nled,286), thattheinscriptiollof sexualrelations inmarket terms isacorruptiollof whatshouldbevallledonitsownoistinctterms(1844Mal1uscripls,105). ButI amnot here particularly interestedinMarx's views ofhetero- or homosexuality exeepttothe extent that ,asParker argues,theyl'orlllametaphoric basis ror hisanalysis of proouetionanounproductivity,respectively . 66Parker,"Unthinking Sex,"34-] 5. 67bid. ,25. 68Parker reliesheavilyonE veKosofskySeogwickinhisa rgumenthere,citingher asscrtio!lof thetiebetweenself-displayandsexualityinthenineteenthcentury (straightlIlendonotengageinself-display).Separately,inexplicitlyantihomophobicprojectsshedocsengageincelebrations01'heterogeneity:forinstance, (J/llieC10sel (Berkelcy:University ofCaliforniaPress,1990)begins \Vithanelaborationof thesheervarietyof possiblesexualpreferences (anopossibleoetinitionsof sexualpreference),al!ofwhichhavebeencondenseointothe binaryhOllloVS.hetero;andTel1del1cies(Durham,N. e. :DukeUniversityPress, 199])beginswithanattempttoseparateoutthedi versepiccesol'identitythat haveallbeeliconoenscdinto genoer.Howevcr,Iamnot surethatScdgwiekties heterogeneity,theatrieality,andhOlllosexualitytoanantiproductiviststanceas Parkerdoes,siJlceshealsoc1aimstobefaseinatedwiththeproouetivity01' perforlllativity- the ability01'thespeeehaettoprooucetherealityitdescribes. 69 WhileStal!ybrassusesthe181hBrunwiretolocateiuMarxarecognition01'the ilTlPortaneeofthepolitieal(arepresentationaloroiscursivereallll\Vithsome inoependencefrollleconomic determinism), Parker foeuses onMarx' s conoemnationof thisindependeneeandthusfindsMarxinaself-contradietion,rejeeting performative, oiscursive, andrhetorieal strategies even while he uses them.I'm not surewhatthepointisof catehingMarxinthisself-eontradietion:itseelllsto meIllorepolitical!yusefultoseeMarxreeognizing anoofferingausefulstrategy thantopositMarxasthe enemyanotothrow out,alongwithMarx' s clcarand repugnanthomophobia- whiehParkerhasveryvaluablyuncovered- ..hisvery potent