has to organize flashbacks to introduce earlier events needed to explain why current events develop in one way rather than another. Such a cognitively more complex mode of narration puts a greater burden on the linguistic capacity of the speaker, who must mark earlier events by using appropriate temporal and as- pectual modalities to warn the listener that ordo nat- uralis has been suspended. This is a particularly difficult feat for young speakers, who are unaccus- tomed to controlling such complex narratives. Other modes of language, such as description, ex- planation, and argumentation, all present their own characteristic problems for the unwary speaker. And, in addition, in every case the speaker must always attempt to judge what knowledge the listener will already have as well as what level of information will satisfy the listener’s intentions in listening. Then, taking all this into consideration, still before actually embarking on speech, the speaker must decide where to begin, always a hazardous enterprise. Bibliography Biber D, Johansson S, Leech G et al. (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow: Longman. Brown G (1995). Speakers, listeners and communication: explorations in discourse analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brown P & Levinson S (1987). Politeness: some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cicourel A (1981). ‘Language and the structure of belief in medical communication.’ Studia Linguistica 35(1–2), 71–85. Clark H H (1998). ‘Communal lexicons.’ In Malmkjær K & Williams J (eds.) Context in language learning and language understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 63–87. Goffman E (1967). Interaction ritual. New York: Anchor Books. Smith C S (2003). Modes of discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Performance in Culture D Kapchan, New York University, New York, NY, USA ß 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. To study performance in culture is to experience culture in action, culture as it is being created – in festivals, sermons, political speeches, elections, mar- riage ceremonies, war, and other events. Performance is enacted with the body and its senses, and some- times with words. It is often done face to face, but mediated performances also exist. To pay attention to performance and the performative aspects of culture is to attend to the evanescent – the moment of ‘now’ – and how it responds to and recreates the ‘then.’ Per- formances are ephemeral, yet the stories that we tell about performance determine the foundational myths of society and personhood, including definitions of gender, ethnicity, race, nation, and subjectivity. Think of the role of the Boston Tea Party in American histo- ry classes, for example, or national holidays like Thanksgiving and Columbus Day in the United States. These are narratives about past performances (in these cases, a rebellion, a first-fruits ceremony, and a contested myth of colonization) that may have little to do with the actual events as they transpired, but that are told as if they were factual (Turner, 1969). Indeed, history comprises cultural performances as they are narrated after the fact. The interpretation of cultural performances is thus the subject of debate and political struggle. What is a cultural performance? Is it necessarily public? To what extent is it creative and innovative? What are the implications of media on cultural performances and their interpretation? And if perfor- mances have so much political consequence, what tools exist for their analysis and interpretation? Who gets to perform the story, and how? Two Scenarios An herbalist sits on a blanket that he has laid on the asphalt in the main square, Jma al-Fna, in Marrakech, Morocco (Figure 1). This square is known for its performance traditions. In the evenings there are jug- glers, storytellers, clairvoyants, acrobats, and snake charmers. The audience for these performances is largely Moroccan and the language used in the square is Moroccan Arabic. During the day, however, there are fewer performers. Abdelnacer and his brother Abderrahman sit under a large umbrella in the square waiting for customers (Figure 2). They are Saharaoui (people from the Sahara), but they make their liveli- hood in Marrakech selling medicinal herbs, potions against magic, and other ritual goods – lizard skins, amber and other resins used as incense, ostrich eggs, whale bone, etc. (Figure 3). I sit with them in the Performance in Culture 275