Nishizaka2011

Nishizaka2011
BibType	ARTICLE
Key	Nishizaka2011
Author(s)	Aug Nishizaka
Title	Touch without vision: Referential practice in a non-technological environment
Editor(s)
Tag(s)	EMCA, Tactile, Sequence, Midwife, Sequence organization, Medical EMCA, Reference, Touch
Publisher
Year	2011
Language	English
City
Month	January
Journal	Journal of Pragmatics
Volume	43
Number	2
Pages	504-520
URL	Link
DOI	10.1016/j.pragma.2009.07.015
ISBN
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Howpublished
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Abstract

In the tradition of interaction studies, the organization of vision has been well investigated since video became available for the detailed analysis of the directions in which participants in interaction look. The focus of this article is rather on the organization of touch, and, in particular, on ways in which reference to a body part is accomplished when the body part is only tactilely accessible to participants. Through the detailed analysis of segments from vaginal palpation (or 'pelvic examination') performed by a Japanese independent midwife, I elucidate practices that these participants employ to deal with the limitation on the accessibility of what they refer to in their interaction. The practices to be elucidated include current position marking, spatial-pattern evoking, and being explicitly responsive. The elucidation reveals that reference is interactionally accomplished through deployment of more or less generic practices in ways sensitive to situational particularities. In conclusion, I discuss a possible consequence of the analysis to the conceptualization of human interaction in technological society.

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