Intimate Communications: Erotics and the Study of Culture (Paperback)

~ Gilbert Herdt (Author), Robert J. Stoller (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Intimate Communications is the first systematic effort to explore and interpret erotic experience and gender identity in a cross-cultural perspective. This is a diologic work that emphasizes the need for exact descriptions of people's statements, feelings, and fantasies, presenting data from individual interviews with the Sambia of Papua New Guinea. Using the ethnographic methods of anthropology informed by the clinical techniques of psychoanalysis, Gildbert Herdt and Robert J. Stoller explore the culture and erotics of the Sambia and the role of subjectivity in ethnographic research.

Product Details

• Paperback: 467 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (June 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231069014
• ISBN-13: 978-0231069014
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,018,170 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Widely cited reference, but deserves a mixed review, August 25, 1998

By A Customer

This book is one of the most widely cited and recommended among anthropologists. People in other disciplines may come away wondering why. The book emphasizes the importance of depth interviewing and Herdt gives much credit to Stoller (a psychiatrist) for his assistance. People trained in clinical interviewing or qualitative depth interviews will give much of the book a "so what's new" response, while those without these backgrounds may find it more illuminating. Regardless, the book is overlong and the esoteric sexual rituals of Herdt's study population become rather repetitious and boring, although the individuals he studied are themselves, vivid and interesting.