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"Gestures are fundamental to the way we communicate, yet our understanding of this communicative impulse is clouded by a number of ingrained assumptions. Are gestures merely ornamentation to speech? Are they simply an 'add-on' to spoken language? Why do we gesture? These and other questions are addressed in this fascinating book. McNeill explains that the common view of language and gesture as separate entities is misinformed: language is inseparable from gesture. There is gesture-speech unity. Containing over 100 illustrations, Why We Gesture provides visual evidence to support the book's central argument that gestures orchestrate speech. This compelling book will be welcomed by students and researchers working in linguistics, psychology and communication"--

This landmark study examines the role of gestures in relation to speech and thought. Leading scholars, including psychologists, linguists and anthropologists, offer state-of-the-art analyses to demonstrate that gestures are not merely an embellishment of speech but are integral parts of language itself. Language and Gesture offers a wide range of theoretical approaches, with emphasis not simply on behavioural descriptions but also on the underlying processes. The book has strong cross-linguistic and cross-cultural components, examining gestures by speakers of Mayan, Australian, East Asian as well as English and other European languages. The content is diverse including chapters on gestures during aphasia and severe stuttering, the first emergence of speech-gesture combinations of children, and a section on sign language. In a rapidly growing field of study this volume opens up the agenda for research into a new approach to understanding language, thought and society.

Technology has revolutionised reporting on North Korea. David McNeill reveals how a clandestine network is getting the word out despite restrictions

In 1993, Aboriginal Australian rules footballer Nicky Winmar mounted a protest against racism in the game by approaching abusive supporters of an opposing team, lifting his jersey and pointing to his black skin. The now famous photograph which captured the incident condenses in a single image a key moment in the long history of struggle by Indigenous Australians for cultural recognition and economic equality. Taking the photograph as its cue, this article explores the ways in which Australia's residual white-settler culture continues to exclude certain groups from national belonging. In particular, it is argued that Winmar and other black sports stars of the early 1990s were able to challenge the unofficial code of `mateship' in Australian male culture which, more recently, has been an important bulwark of the country's post-9/11 neo-nationalist mood.

In 1993, Aboriginal Australian rules footballer Nicky Winmar mounted a protest against racism in the game by approaching abusive supporters of an opposing team, lifting his jersey and pointing to his black skin. The now famous photograph which captured the incident condenses in a single image a key moment in the long history of struggle by Indigenous Australians for cultural recognition and economic equality. Taking the photograph as its cue, this article explores the ways in which Australia's residual white-settler culture continues to exclude certain groups from national belonging. In particular, it is argued that Winmar and other black sports stars of the early 1990s were able to challenge the unofficial code of `mateship' in Australian male culture which, more recently, has been an important bulwark of the country's post-9/11 neo-nationalist mood.

This article examines recent developments in the communication sector in Japan in the light of the recent economic meltdown of the former miracle economies of South East Asai. It argues that the telecommunications, computer and electronics industries are undergoing a restructuring of their activities under the state-endorsed banner of `multimedia' which, we suggest, is an extension of earlier rhetorical strategies concerned with the promotion of an `information society' in Japan. We look in particular at Sony Corporation's activities as it seeks new points of convergence between its computing, telecommunications and entertainment software interests in an increasingly deregulated national and global communications environment. Our investigation of the current relationship between the Japanese state and corporate interests like Sony leads us to take issue with those sociologists and media theorists who would have us believe that the phenomenon of `informationalization' is best understood as the appearance of post-industrial economy and polity based on `collective reflexivity'. We argue instead that multimediatization represents a drive by Japanese capital to restore conditions of profitable accumulation, a phenomenon which is increasingly drawing the other countries of South East Asia into Japan's `circuits of capital'.