Towards a Critical Anthropology of Voice

Abstract

While it features regularly in anthropological literature, the concept of voice is rarely elaborated by way of definition or substantive application. In this article I develop a critical anthropological theorization of voice with reference to the ideas of Hymes, Bernstein, Bourdieu, Foucault and Bakhtin. I extend these conceptual claims substantively, by focusing on the relationship of cultural politics, phatic communion and globalization processes to voices that are shaped by class, regional and national identities. To illuminate a critical anthropological theorization of voice, I examine the politics of Scottish popular culture. In particular, I focus on the cultural politics of Scottish football and on the deterritorialized voices of expatriate Scottish football supporters.