Section 4: Paragraph 5-7 Carmel Laniado

Hi Rachel, I would agree with you that the gestures, simple expression of condensed meanings, can possibly cause misunderstanding and vagueness, when used between people who do not share the same cultural context, hence, cannot communicate clearly through that specific gesture. It is, however, important to notice that among people within a certain cultural context, body languages that are commonly shared and frequently used as efficient means of communication. People would clearly interpret what it means as those people in that certain culture have been using that gesture to communicate the specific meanings. As Geertz claims, knowing a specific, accurate 'meaning' of a body motion allows people to effectively communicate.

I really think Aram made a good point that gestures are strongly connected with contents. I just want to add that even if the gestures that are not commonly recognized by people, we are still able to interpret, because contents really explain it to us. For example, when I drive through a construction site, the person with stop sign often doing some random waving gestures, but for drivers, they can tell whether and where they should go. Because the content is based on a construction site.