PhD Project: Interaction at Markets in Istanbul and Zurich: A Cross-cultural Comparison of Physical Communication Behavior and the Utilization of Spatial Resources

Kenan Hochuli was doctoral student in the Video Lab at Language and Space from 2014 to 2019, completed and presented in December 2019. The dissertation, titled Interaktive Konfigurationen und Prozesse an Marktständen in Istanbul und Zürich (2020, University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts), can be accessed here.

This study was a cross-cultural comparison of forms of interaction at markets in Istanbul (the Grand Bazaar and a traditional vegetable market) and Zurich (the Kanzlei flea market and different vegetable markets), specifically addressing the physical communication behavior of market visitors and vendors during the creation of interactional spaces. In addition to focusing on different modes of expression such as posture, gesticulation, or gaze, our analysis also focused on the role of spatial resources: how were the interactants at these particular markets influenced by spatial resources during the creation of interactional spaces? Could specific cultural mannerisms be discerned in the use of body and space? Were there similarities? The theoretical-methodological starting point for engaging these questions was multimodal conversation analysis. The central challenge of the project lay in the goal of researching seemingly obvious differences in the physical communication behavior of market visitors and vendors from two different cultures in a precise study. To address this challenge, different technical analytic methods such as classical video analysis of interactional sequences, still frames of specific areas of the market, and the use of eye-tracking data of market visitors were utilized.

Supervisors: Angelika Linke, Heiko Hausendorf,  Wolfgang Kesselheim

Funding source: URPP Language and Space