Ray Birdwhistell

Ray Birdwhistell (1918-1994) was an American anthropologist who founded kinesics as a field of inquiry and research.Danesi, M (2006). Kinesics. "Encyclopedia of language & linguistics". 207-213.] The term kinesics was originally coined by Birdwhistell, and he also proposed the term kineme. [Ottenheimer, H.J. (2007). "The anthropology of language: an introduction to linguistic anthropology". Kansas : Thomson Wadsworth. p129.]

He was born in 1918 and died October 19, 1994. He was raised and went to school in Ohio.Kirby, E (2006). Ray L. Birdwhistell. Retrieved October 16, 2007, from Biography Web: Minnesota State University Web site: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/birdwhistell_ray.html] He graduated from Fostoria High School in 1936, and was very involved by being part of the history club, debate team, journalism, and school plays. Birdwhistell attended the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. in Anthropology. Afterwards he taught at the University of Toronto (Ontario), University of Louisville (Kentucky), and the University of Buffalo (New York). From 1944 to 1948 he worked with G. Gordon Brown and Edmund S. Carpenter, who were in the same department as him at the University of Toronto. [Banning, T (2001). Department of Anthropology: University of Toronto. Retrieved October 15, 2007, from A Brief History of Anthropology Web site:http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/anthropology/history.htm] For some years he was affiliated with the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in Philadelphia, where he worked with Gregory Bateson, Adam Kendon, Albert Shefflin and others to develop an interactive approach to the study of mental illness.Lee, L (2006). University of Pennsylvania: Folklore & folklife. Retrieved October 16, 2007, from Graduate Handbook Web site: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/folklore/grad_program/handbook/archive_special.html] Later, he became a professor at the Anneberg School of Communications, at the University of Pennsylvania, teaching communications.

He was influenced by his professor’s views, Margaret Mead (1901-1978) an anthropologist, and the work of David Efron in the early 1940s. Birdwhistell became interested in kinesics by analyzing the way people interacted in films. He observed how people unconsciously transmitted information through facial expressions, postures, and eye movements.

Birdwhistell pointed out that “human gestures differ from those of other animals in that they are polysemic, that they can be interpreted to have many different meanings depending on the communicative context in which they are produced”. And, he “resisted the idea that “body language” could be deciphered in some absolute fashion”. He also indicated that “every body movement must be interpreted broadly and in conjunction with every other element in communication”Barfield, T (1997). "The dictionary of anthropology". Illinois: Blackwell Publishing.]

The film, "TDR- 009", was a result from his productive collaboration with film maker Jacques D. van Vlack. "TDR-009" is an eighty minute, 16 mm, black and white sound film of an English pub scene in a middle class London hotel. Birdwhistell and van Vlack observed behavior of listeners in relationship to speakers during the film.Birdwhistell wrote Introduction to Kinesics, Kinesics and Context, and encyclopedia entries and essays. His first book "Introduction to Kinesics" was published in 1952, but he is more known for his second book "Kinesics and Context".

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