Oakdale, Suzanne

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Oakdale, Suzanne

PERSONAL: Female. Education: University of Chicago, B.A., 1985, Ph.D., 1996.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of Anthropology, MSC01-1040, Anthropology, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131.

CAREER: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, associate professor of anthropology, 1998–.

WRITINGS:

"I Foresee My Life": The Ritual Performance of Autobiography in an Amazonian Community, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 2005.

Contributor to books, including Interacting with the Dead: Perspectives on Mortuary Archaeology for the New Millennium, edited by Gordon F.M. Rakita, Jane E. Buikstra, Lane A. Beck, and Sloan R. Williams, University Press of Florida (Gainesville, FL), 2005. Contributor to professional journals, including Ethno-history, American Ethnologist, and Ethos.

SIDELIGHTS: Anthropologist Suzanne Oakdale's debut study, "I Foresee My Life": The Ritual Performance of Autobiography in an Amazonian Community, uses analyses of ritual performances by the native Kayabi people of Brazil to shed light on the society of these indigenous people. By discussing the Kayabis' jawosi songs and maraca cure rituals from the perspective that these are types of autobiographical narratives, she offers "a satisfyingly coherent picture of these interesting rituals," according to Donald Pollock in his American Ethnologist review. Oakdale observes that though the words in these rituals draw on personal narrative from the performer, they are stripped down to their essences so that the intended audience can empathize and identify with what is being said in universal terms. In this way, the songs and chants offer clues into the Kayabi people's perspective on such issues as spirituality, social relations, and gender roles. "By focusing on the integration of autobiographical narratives within highly formal, collective ritual performances," commented Jonathan D. Hill in Biography, "Oakdale seeks to create a new way of doing life historical research that captures culturally specific forms of autobiographical narrative and indigenous notions of self and person." Although Hill felt this approach can have some limitations because it may oversimplify what are very complex behaviors, the reviewer added, "The result of Oakdale's method is quite satisfying, as the reader becomes familiar with the personal life experiences of several Kayabi men and (to a lesser extent) women, as well as three formal genres of Kayabi ritual performance."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Ethnologist, November, 2005, Donald Pollock, review of "I Foresee My Life": The Ritual Performance of Autobiography in an Amazonian Community.

Biography, summer, 2005, Jonathan D. Hill, review of "I Foresee My Life," p. 441.