Ray L. Birdwhistell

1918-1994

    Ray L. Birdwhistell was an American anthropologist who studied and became an expert in kinesics and nonverbal communication. He was born in 1918. He grew up with one brother and was raised and schooled in Ohio.  Birdwhistell attended Fostoria high school and graduated in 1936 in a class of about 16 other students. He was also very active in high school and was involved in the history club, debate team, journalism, and school plays. Athletics also played a role in his life. He participated in cheerleading and tumbling.

    Birdwhistell received his Ph.D. from University of Chicago in Anthropology. He taught at the University of Toronto, then at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, and later at the University of Buffalo. He was for some years attached to the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Research Institute in Philadelphia and finally became Professor of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, Anneberg School of Communications.  Birdwhistell was very interested in nonverbal communications and decided to base most of his studying on kinesics.

    Birdwhistell analyzed the way people interacted through watching films. He found people seemed to transmit information through  their eye movements, their facial expressions, and their chest. These forms of nonverbal communication were being used without people even realizing it. This was most fascinating to Birdwhistell. Dr. Birdwhistell, along with Jacques van Valck, were responsible for making the film known as TRD 009 which is an eighty minute, 16 mm, black and white sound film of an English pub scene in a middle class London hotel. Throughout this film they observed behavior of listeners in relationship to speakers.

    Birdwhistell wrote two books. His first book was published in 1952. It was called Introduction to Kinesics. This book discusses his studies of body motion and gesture in nonverbal communication. His second book, which he's more known for, is called Kinesics and Context. It is about body motion and the use of nonverbal communication. It was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Ray L. Birdwhistell was a very successful anthropologist and made many new observations when dealing with kinesics and nonverbal communication. Unfortunately, he died October 19, 1994. He was 76 years old, and left behind a wife, two daughters, a brother, and four grandchildren.

References

Former link, http://216.239.35.120/translate_c?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://fr.encyclopedia.yahoo.com/articles, (2006)

Former link, http://www.Fostoria.org/org/schools.FHS/LMC/seniors30s.html#36, (2006)

Weitz, Shirley. Nonverbal Communication, Readings with Commentary, 2^nd Edition, Oxford University Press, New York, 1979

Written By: Emily Kirby