SOCIAL NETWORKING, GOSSIP AND THE ANTHROPOLOGIST In order to understand, it is immensely important for the person who understands to be located outside the object of his or her creative understanding--in time, in space, in culture. For one cannot even really see one’s own exterior and comprehend it as a whole, and no mirrors or photographs can help; our real exterior can be seen and understood only by other people…(Bakhtin)

Today’s objectives to deconstruct gossip as a social, cultural and political arena in Nicaragua in which people (A) dominate and challenge one another and (B) cement social relations to glance the Nicaraguan social and political situation of the 70’s and 80’s through film and from a different point of view

Multidimensional approach to culture Many social realms; family community, race, etc. Discourse and social practices: gossip, compadrazgo Conventional and transformative: tools for domination: Dona Celia’s case to cement social relations Economic, psychological and political

Double edged sword To dominate and to be dominated: it can backfire State of in-between-ness Public and private A form of public opinion

A true collectivism of language Particular tone: Whispering Vocabulary: nicknames comment on political situations: During dictatorship Political discourse: Sandinista era

Not a trivial matter Not seen but present Practical: future information: coping with shortages present information: avoiding danger

The anthropologist and gossip S/he is also involved: information, participant observation Awareness of dimensions of local and global power “Nothing truly belongs to anyone; it all circulates in the form of information, speculation, between and among us”

The duality of gossip Offensive and defensive Malicious gossip Strategic

Critique 1.Fails to link gossip as a form of resistance against machismo 2.Fails to inquiry deep enough into some Nicaraguan social norms: resulting in cultural mis-representation

Gossip as a form of resistance Challenging the public identity of men Making information public Contradicting the public persona of men Two outcomes: punishment or stop abuse

Cultural misrepresentation Fails to understand local social action Does not investigate thoroughly enough one cultural given Puts into question his academic authority

summary Gossip transformative: adapts to particular circumstances A tool for domination and to create and maintain social networks Duality of culture

Pictures from a Revolution: a memoir of the Nicaraguan conflict 1991 By susan Meiselas, Richard Rogers and Alfred Gazetti