Peaches for Lunch: Creating and Using Visual Variables

Abstract

In this article, I describe the process of systematically including nonverbal data in medical anthropology research. I demonstrate the process of visualizing and coding videotaped moments of life and show how we can analyze what is being done along with what is being said. I ground my discussion in toddler language socialization and then expand my observations to the realm of language pathologies. Aphasia from strokes, speech difficulties in neurologically based illnesses like Lou Gehrig's disease, and the variety of communication challenges that face those on the autism spectrum can all be studied in interesting ways by including precise descriptions of nonverbal actions. I discuss the process of recording and coding the data with the software Observer XT 11.5 by Noldus. This method of collecting and analyzing video data can be used for many anthropological questions, in addition to those concerned with communication.

Keywords: Embodiment; language socialization; multimodal communication; videotaped data.