The Body as a Figurative Code in Luo Popular Culture, Vernacular Literature, and Systems of Thought

Abstract

Popular culture is commonly viewed as a process of producing meanings from social experience as well as the way such meanings are expressed by respective groups of people in their daily lives. Popular culture (as opposed to "high culture") may be viewed as folk culture that is favored by many people. This notion of popular culture encompasses a people's systems of thought and also embraces the cultural meanings that are woven into their language.
The premise of my argument is that according to Luo popular culture , oral literature, and systems of thought, the human body is deployed as a figurative code for modes of thought, feelings, and characteristics that do not coincide with English idiom. The Luo people's conception of "self" and "person-hood" is therefore, quite different from Western systems of thought.