Abstract

This work provides a phenomenological description of gesture, and its significance for the perceptual process. Defining gesture as a social response to a situation that evokes a response from that situation, I examine the different types of social relations that make possible communication through gesture. Next, I consider the significance of bodily intentionality for the development of individual gestures. Specifically, I offer an account of how a bodily style emerges through specific gestures, and I discuss the reciprocal relationship that exists between an individual's style, and his or her body image. ;Through an exploration of the anonymous and personal aspects of the body image, I describe how gender associations can lead to a more anonymous or a more personal way of viewing one's body, and one's bodily capabilities. This leads to a "contextual" account of communication through gesture that employs a Gestaltist, "figure-ground" framework for understanding how gestures are interpreted from a particular perspective that emerges within a more general context of significance. The phenomena of misunderstanding, creativity, conventionality, and repetition, are specifically addressed in relation to one another, and I assess the impact each makes upon communication through gesture. ;Misunderstanding is proposed as a primary impetus for the development of creative gestures, and misunderstanding is discussed as a function of the different social contexts that individuals bring to a given situation. Determining the meaning of a specific gesture or series of gestures is understood to be an ongoing social project that cannot be reduced to the intentions or responses of a single individual. The failure to define the meaning of a given gesture once and for all is attributed to the ambiguity and indeterminacy that attend all communication through gesture. These latter are discussed, moreover, as a positive, rather than a negative, feature of perceptual experience