Richard Bauman
Encyclopedia
Richard Bauman is a folklorist and anthropologist who recently retired from Indiana University
Bloomington. He is presently Distinguished Professor emeritus of Folklore, of Anthropology, and of Communication and Culture. Before coming to IU in 1985, he was the Director of the Center for Intercultural Studies in Folklore and Ethnomusicology (presently known as the Américo Paredes
Center for Cultural Studies) at the University of Texas and a faculty member in the UT Department of Anthropology. Just before retiring from Indiana, he was chair of the IU Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, as well as an important member of the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Communication and Culture.
Bauman earned an B.A. with honors and distinction in English from the University of Michigan
. He then earned an M.A. in folklore in 1962 at Indiana University, working closely with W. Edson Richmond and MacEdward Leach, a University of Pennsylvania folklorist then visiting Indiana University. He next went to the Penn, where he received both the M.S. in Anthropology and the Ph.D. in American Civilization in 1968. At Penn he studed with the folklorist and linguistic anthropologist Dell Hymes
, Anthony F. C. Wallace
, an prominent historical and psychological anthropologist, and the historian Lee Benson.
He has been influential in a number of different fields, from performance studies
, linguistic anthropology
, and Quaker studies to semiotics
, the history of anthropology and folkloristics
. He wrote Let Your Words Be Few, one of the earliest works on language ideology
. This book inspired other scholars to begin exploring how people's ideas about how language functions shapes their linguistic practices. More recently, he has co-written a book with Charles L. Briggs
Voices of Modernity: Language Ideologies and the Politics of Inequality. In this book, Bauman and Briggs explore the language ideologies present in the work of Locke
and Herder
, among others, asking what assumptions about language shaped some of the most important philosophical work of the Enlightenment
. Bauman and Briggs won the Edward Sapir
Prize for this book from the Society for Linguistic Anthropology in November 2006.
Bauman has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
, Folklore Fellow of the Finnish Academy of Sciences, and twice holder of National Endowment for the Humanities
Fellowships. He is a Fellow of the American Folklore Society
and in 2008 he was awarded the AFS Lifetime Scholarly Achievement Award.
In addition to Charles L. Briggs
, his numerous scholarly collaborators include Roger D. Abrahams
, Joel Sherzer, Américo Paredes
, and his wife, the folklorist and anthropologist Beverly J. Stoeltje
.
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
Bloomington. He is presently Distinguished Professor emeritus of Folklore, of Anthropology, and of Communication and Culture. Before coming to IU in 1985, he was the Director of the Center for Intercultural Studies in Folklore and Ethnomusicology (presently known as the Américo Paredes
Americo Paredes
Americo Paredes was a Mexican-American author born in Brownsville, Texas who authored several texts focusing on the border life that existed between the United States and Mexico, particularly around the Rio Grande region of South Texas. His family on his father’s side, however, had been in the...
Center for Cultural Studies) at the University of Texas and a faculty member in the UT Department of Anthropology. Just before retiring from Indiana, he was chair of the IU Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, as well as an important member of the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Communication and Culture.
Bauman earned an B.A. with honors and distinction in English from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. He then earned an M.A. in folklore in 1962 at Indiana University, working closely with W. Edson Richmond and MacEdward Leach, a University of Pennsylvania folklorist then visiting Indiana University. He next went to the Penn, where he received both the M.S. in Anthropology and the Ph.D. in American Civilization in 1968. At Penn he studed with the folklorist and linguistic anthropologist Dell Hymes
Dell Hymes
Dell Hathaway Hymes was a sociolinguist, anthropologist, and folklorist whose work dealt primarily with languages of the Pacific Northwest. He was one of the first to call the fourth subfield of anthropology "linguistic anthropology" instead of "anthropological linguistics"...
, Anthony F. C. Wallace
Anthony F. C. Wallace
Anthony Francis Clarke Wallace is a Canadian-American anthropologist who specializes in Native American cultures, especially the Iroquois. His research expresses an interest in the intersection of cultural anthropology and psychology...
, an prominent historical and psychological anthropologist, and the historian Lee Benson.
He has been influential in a number of different fields, from performance studies
Performance Studies
Performance studies have been growing as an academic field since the 1960s. Performance studies believe in the social act of Doing as it takes performance itself as the object of inquiry.The process of defining it becomes a practice in performance studies itself...
, linguistic anthropology
Linguistic anthropology
Linguistic anthropology is the interdisciplinary study of how language influences social life. It is a branch of anthropology that originated from the endeavor to document endangered languages, and has grown over the past 100 years to encompass almost any aspect of language structure and...
, and Quaker studies to semiotics
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
, the history of anthropology and folkloristics
Folkloristics
Folkloristics is the formal academic study of folklore. The term derives from a nineteenth century German designation of folkloristik to distinguish between folklore as the content and folkloristics as its study, much as language is distinguished from linguistics...
. He wrote Let Your Words Be Few, one of the earliest works on language ideology
Language ideology
In sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, a language or linguistic ideology is a systematic construct about how particular ways of using languages carry or are invested with certain moral, religious, social, and political values, giving rise to implicit assumptions that people have about a...
. This book inspired other scholars to begin exploring how people's ideas about how language functions shapes their linguistic practices. More recently, he has co-written a book with Charles L. Briggs
Charles L. Briggs
Charles Leslie Briggs is an anthropologist who currently works at the University of California, Berkeley. Before working at Berkeley he held a position as Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at University of California, San Diego....
Voices of Modernity: Language Ideologies and the Politics of Inequality. In this book, Bauman and Briggs explore the language ideologies present in the work of Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
and Herder
Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried von Herder was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar Classicism.-Biography:...
, among others, asking what assumptions about language shaped some of the most important philosophical work of the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
. Bauman and Briggs won the Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir was an American anthropologist-linguist, widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the early development of the discipline of linguistics....
Prize for this book from the Society for Linguistic Anthropology in November 2006.
Bauman has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences is an American interdisciplinary research body in Stanford, California focusing on the social sciences and humanities . Fellows are elected in a closed process, to spend a period of residence at the Center, released from other duties...
, Folklore Fellow of the Finnish Academy of Sciences, and twice holder of National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
Fellowships. He is a Fellow of the American Folklore Society
American Folklore Society
The American Folklore Society is the US-based professional association for folklorists, with members from the US, Canada, and around the world. It was founded in 1888 by William Wells Newell, who stood at the center of a diverse group of university-based scholars, museum anthropologists, and men...
and in 2008 he was awarded the AFS Lifetime Scholarly Achievement Award.
In addition to Charles L. Briggs
Charles L. Briggs
Charles Leslie Briggs is an anthropologist who currently works at the University of California, Berkeley. Before working at Berkeley he held a position as Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at University of California, San Diego....
, his numerous scholarly collaborators include Roger D. Abrahams
Roger D. Abrahams
Roger D. Abrahams is a prominent folklorist whose work focuses on the expressive cultures and cultural histories of the Americas, with a specific emphasis on African American peoples and traditions. He is the Hum Rosen Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, at the University of Pennsylvania where he...
, Joel Sherzer, Américo Paredes
Americo Paredes
Americo Paredes was a Mexican-American author born in Brownsville, Texas who authored several texts focusing on the border life that existed between the United States and Mexico, particularly around the Rio Grande region of South Texas. His family on his father’s side, however, had been in the...
, and his wife, the folklorist and anthropologist Beverly J. Stoeltje
Beverly J. Stoeltje
Beverly J. Stoeltje is a professor in both the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University . She also serves as Affiliated Faculty in African Studies, American Studies, Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, and at the Russian-East European...
.
Representative Publications
- Richard Bauman (1983) Let Your Words Be Few: Symbolism and Silence among Seventeenth Century Quakers. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Richard Bauman and Charles L. Briggs (1990) "Poetics and Performance as Critical Perspectives on Language and Social Life." Annual Review of Anthropology. 19:59-88.
- Charles L. Briggs and Richard Bauman (1992) "Genre, Intertextuality, and Social Power." Journal of Linguistic Anthropology. 2(2):131-72.
- Richard Bauman, ed. Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainments: A Communications-Centered Handbook. New York: Oxford University Press.
- 2003. Voices of modernity: Language Ideologies and the Politics of Inequality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Richard Bauman and Charles L. Briggs (2003) Voices of Modernity: Language Ideologies and the Politics of Inequality. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Richard Bauman (2004) A World of Others' Words: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Intertextuality. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.