| Summary: | It is probably true that no culture has been found which does not have some equivalent of what we in modern North American society loosely term the party. Yet, virtually no studies of this important form of social interaction exist. What little we do have is largely anecdotal and descriptive rather than analytical. This dissertation is a study of partying in culture with special reference to "times" in Newfoundland traditional culture. In particular, the study focuses microcosmically on one small Newfoundland fishing village with a view to understanding the rules which govern behavior on such occasions when people come together to interact, play, perform, cermonialize, and make fun. The study is basically ethnography. It is diachronic and synchronic and multi-dimensional at the same time since it attempts to look at all aspects of what is going on. The basic model is Hymes' "ethnography of speaking" to which concepts are added from various other scholars, especially Goffman, Hall, Birdwhistell, and Labov.
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