Books by Joel Sherzer

A cross-cultural look at speech play, from jokes to verbal duels.

The Kuna Indians of Panama, probably best known for molas, their colorful applique blouses, also have a rich literary tradition of oral stories and performances; this book contains the texts of many such works.

This book, by one of the leading scholars in linguistic anthropology, concerns the verbal art of the Kuna Indians of San Blas, Panama. Theirs is a world in which all knowledge and information, from history and geography to the latest sport news from Panama City, is orally conceived, perceived and transmitted and Joel Sherzer demonstrates how experience is shaped by these verbal discourses.