[FRIAM] Social Dynamics vs Proxemics, Polychronic Time and High Context Culture.

[Michael Agar]

Steve--sad to say Ned left several years ago, stroke. Pretty sure he  
did invent "proxemics" and "polychronic," though he sure didn't  
pioneer cultural anthropology. One date for that is when Franz Boas  
took his first job at Clark University in 1889. Later they hired  
Nick, so they've been on a roll for quite some time. The mainstream  
field didn't like him much, since he was "applied" before the market  
drove the entire field in that direction. A lot of his early work  
comes from his time with the U.S. State Department, later stuff from  
consulting. Hofstede's famous cross cultural psychology used many of  
the variables he invented, and the field of Intercultural  
Communication credits him as a founder. In the end the American  
Anthro Assn did give him the "Anthropology in Media" Award, late 90s  
I think. We were both at an intercultural communication conference in  
Germany years ago and he took the place by storm.

His books are still on the shelves.

Mike




On Aug 25, 2007, at 3:32 PM, steve smith wrote:

> Anyone else here a fan of Ned (Edward T.) Hall's work?    I think I've
> discussed this a bit with Agar.
>
> Most relevant to the current discussion might be his books on human
> perception of interpersonal space and of time.
>
> "The Hidden Dimension" and "The Silent Language" both come to mind.
>
> I believe that Ned is credited with both pioneering the field of
> "cultural anthropology" and of coining the terms "Proxemics" and
> "Polychronic"
>
> Ned's notions of "High Context Culture"
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_context_culture may be relevant  
> to our
> recent musings.
>
> Ned spent one year (or just a semester) at the Los Alamos Ranch School
> as a boy, lead a group of Negro soldiers in WWII and spent many  
> years on
> the Navajo and Hopi reservations on public works projects and  
> trying to
> understand their culture.  For his "honeymoon", he rode with his new
> wife by horseback from Santa Fe back to his location on the  
> reservation...
>
> To my knowledge he is still alive (he would be 97 I think) in Santa
> Fe.   It has been 10 years since I have spoken with him, however.
>
>
>
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