article

Embarrassment as pride: narrative resourcefulness and strategies of normativity among Cretan animal-thieves

Anthropological linguistics30 (3-4)Published In 1988 • Pages: 319-344

By: Herzfeld, Michael.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a careful analysis of two animal raiding narratives by Cretan highland pastoralists, focusing on the excuses made by the narrators for their actions. In the first story the narrator excuses himself for participating in a raid at too-old an age, by emphasizing the fact that he was responding to, and therefore respecting, an unusual request by his son to accompany him. In the second story the narrator makes an excuse for collaborating with the authorities in nabbing a thief, by revealing how the theft violated the normal protocols of stealing. The stories are expressions of self-regard (EGOISMOS) and are meant to show off the narrators' acute understanding of social structure and strategies.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Verbal arts
Ethics
Property offenses
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Greeks
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2003
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Europe
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southeastern Europe
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
article
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Ian Skoggard ; 2002
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1974-1984
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1974-1984
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
'Glendi,' Crete, Greece
NotesAdditional notes
Michael Herzfeld
Includes bibliographical references (p. 342-343)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
71004564
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Greece