In:Bonding through Context: Language and interactional alignment in Japanese situated discourse
Edited by Risako Ide and Kaori Hata
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 314] 2020
► pp. 85–104
Chapter 4Bonded but un-bonded
An ethnographic account of discordance in social relations
Published online: 3 December 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.314.04tak
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.314.04tak
Abstract
Based on
naturally-occurring conversations and interview
narratives collected on Ishigaki Island in Japan’s
Okinawa Prefecture, this chapter presents
instances of “bonded but un-bonded” experience.
Drawing on the notion of discordance (Takekuro
2018), the chapter will bring unexpressed
conflicts into sharp focus. Through participants’
comments that suggest that they were not as bonded
as it seemed in their interaction, I will show
that aspects of bonding and un-bonding (defined as
a lack of or the opposites of bonding) are
intertwined in social life. Exploring the
resulting ambiguity of the two aspects, I attempt
to emphasize the importance of ethnographic
research and of incorporating the opposites of
bonding in considering how bonds are created and
maintained.
Keywords: bonding, un-bonding, discordance, social relations, ethnography
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Discordance
- 3.Ishigaki Island
- 4.What happened then vs. how they commented
on it later
- 4.1Seemingly bonded at the drinking gathering
- 4.2The participants’ comments about their temporary bonds
- 5.Implication of this study
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