DOI: https://doi.org/10.56712/latam.v5i5.2867
Do gestures have meaning? An empirical analysis on=
the
gestures performed by Fidel Castro at the United Nations
¿Los gestos contienen signific=
ado?
Un análisis empírico de los gestos realizados por Fidel Castro
dentro de las Naciones Unidas
Juan Carlos Rodrig=
uez
Burgos
juarodrigez@uqroo.edu.mx
Universidad
Autónoma del Estado de Quintana Roo
Cozumel –
México
William Eduardo Cime Canto
willoscime06@gmail.com
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Quintana Roo
Cozumel –=
México
Artículo recibido: 14 de octubre de 202=
4.
Aceptado para publicación: 28 de octubre de 2024.
Conflictos de
Interés: Ninguno que declarar.
Abstract
In everyday conversations, there are said to be unconscious meanings
that we convey through our body. For example, if a story is being told, our
hands move according to the message, following a rhythm and forming shapes =
that
we are unaware of. According to McNeill (1992), gestures are a form of lang=
uage
different from speech, but even though they have been regarded as individual
entities, they are, in fact, parallel and work in synch with each other. Th=
is
is the scope of the analysis of gestures. In the following paper, the objec=
tive
was to test whether there is an association between gestures and meaning.
Consequently, the gestures of former Cuban president, Fidel Castro, were
extracted and analyzed from his intervention at the United Nations in 1979.=
The
process of annotation was carried out on the program ELAN, based on a serie=
s of
categories: the type of gesture and topic, the position and movement of both
arms and hands as well as the orientation. Additionally, a series of
quantitative and qualitative analysis were performed through the statistical
program R. A Chi-squared test showed a significant relationship between the
type of gestures and the topics which was further corroborated through a
conditional inference tree and a multiple correspondence analysis, reaffirm=
ing
the idea that these are form-meaning pairs. Moreover, there was a strong
connection between the type of gesture and arm movement, suggesting that th=
is
is due to the intention of the message while the orientation of the hand wa=
s a
clear indicator of arm movement.
Keywords: gestures, disco=
urse
analysis, politicians, meaning, association
Resumen
Se
dice que existen significados no intencionales que se transmiten a
través de nuestro cuerpo dentro de nuestras conversaciones diarias; =
por
ejemplo, nuestras manos se mueven al compás del mensaje, siguiendo un
ritmo y creando figuras de forma inconsciente cuando se relata una historia=
. De
acuerdo a McNeill (1992), los gestos son una fo=
rma de
lenguaje ajeno al habla, pero, a pesar de que se han tratado como entidades
individuales, en realidad trabajan de forma paralela y en sincronía.
Este es el alcance del análisis de los gestos. El objetivo de esta
investigación fue comprobar si existe una asociación entre los
gestos y el significado; por ende, se extrajeron y analizaron los gestos del
expresidente cubano Fidel Castro los cuales fueron capturados durante su
intervención en las Naciones Unidas en el año 1972. El proces=
o de
anotación se realizó con ayuda del programa ELAN
con base a una serie de categorías que incluyeron los tipos de gesto=
y
de tema, la posición y movimiento de ambos brazos y manos, así
como su orientación. Adicionalmente, se realizaron unos análi=
sis
cuantitativos y cualitativos dentro del programa estadístico R y, a
través de un test de chi al cuadrado, se demostró una
relación significativa entre los tipos de gestos y los temas, la cual
fue corroborada por un árbol de inferencia condicional y un
análisis de correspondencia múltiple. Todo ello reafirma la i=
dea
de que estas dos variables crean pares de forma y significado. A su vez, se
halló una fuerte conexión entre el tipo de gesto y el movimie=
nto
de los brazos lo que indica que es causal de la intención del mensaje
mientras que la orientación de las manos es un indicador del movimie=
nto
del brazo.
Palabras clave: gestos, análisis del discurso,
políticos, significado, asociación
Todo el contenido
de LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades,
publicado en este sitio está disponibles bajo Licencia <=
span
lang=3DES-MX style=3D'color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'>Creative Commons.![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image002.jpg")
=
Cómo citar: Rodriguez Burgos, J. C., & Cime Canto, W. E. (202= 4). Do gestu= res have meaning? An empirical analysis on the gestures performed by Fidel Cast= ro at the United Nations. L= ATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades 5 (5), 3351 R= 11; 3370. https://doi.org/10.56712/latam.v5i5.2867= <= o:p>
INTRODUCTION
There is more to speech than meets the eyes.
Every time we carry on conversation, we convey side meanings that are either
conscious or subconscious. We hardly ever pay attention to the way we move =
our
hands or body while uttering meaningful sentences. Therefore, are those
gestures part of a more complex pathway of meaning? If so, what exactly do =
they
mean? This is the general scope of the analysis of gestures.
To analyze these underestimated movements, a
political speech has been chosen since politicians ought to use their body
carefully to accomplish the goal of their message. Politicians represent a
great source of information for they either receive training on the subject=
or
they get carried away while addressing an audience. This paper will examine=
the
gestures made by one of the most influential politicians in Latin America:
Fidel Castro. He was well-known for his exaggerated movements while address=
ing
people as he hardly ever held back anything in terms of spoken words or
gestures.
There are many famous speeches given by Fid=
el
Castro, but this paper will focus on the one presented at the United Nation=
s on
the 12th of October 1979. The strength of his conviction and the power of h=
is
words made this speech one of the most memorable in his political career.
Castro was a man with a sharp tongue, so he barely restrained himself while
addressing anyone. He was a man equally loved and hated but, despite this, =
his
commitment to his country and yearned for freedom for his people still echo=
in
Cuba.
Firstly, this paper lays the theoretical fo=
undation
to understand the objective of this analysis. It will provide several conce=
pts
on gestures for the reader to have a better understanding of the topic.
Secondly, it will describe the process involved and the programs that were =
used
to analyze the data. Thirdly, we will point out some of the major findings =
in
the associations we expect to obtain, so the discussion will be accompanied=
by
the introduction of statistical methods, graphs and their results. Througho=
ut
the whole paper, previous literature will accompany the flow of the reading=
to
support the ideas presented here in order to give sufficient weight to the
claims made in the sections throughout the sections. Lastly, final remarks =
will
be part of a conclusion which addresses the issue of the lack of studies in
this area. Additionally, areas of improvement will be suggested so that the
linguistics debate can continue.
Gestures
When someone is involved in a conversation,
their body is consistent with the message they want to convey (Cienki and Müller, 2014, p. 1768). Some speakers=
are
aware of this phenomenon, so they restrict themselves to only use their bod=
y to
emphasize a part of the speech; others exaggerate their movements which
occasionally distracts the main channel of communication. Nevertheless, the=
se
conscious or unconscious movements must mean something other than just flic=
ks
of the hands. Thus, “gesture is one important way to focus the
addressee’s attention on the visible context of an utterance”
(Fricke, 2015, p. 708).
As David McNeill (1992) explains, “the
word ‘gesture’ covers a multiplicity of communicative movements,
primarily but not always of the hands and arms. Often, gestures are assumed=
to
comprise a channel different from speech, but careful investigation challen=
ges
this traditional view” (p. 1). This implies the following points:
firstly, hand and arms are said to be the prototypical gestures in speech;
thus, facial expressions, body movements, lips, etc., are said to revolve
around these central gestures. Secondly, and most importantly, traditional
views on this topic have regarded language and gestures as two separate
entities. However, these two concepts are also said to be associated in
different ways so that one accompanies the other to form one entity of mean=
ing
in the process of communication; this will be the goal of the paper.
Based on the work of Adam Kendon,
McNeill (1992) addresses Kendon’s
classification and renames it as “Kendon’s=
Continuum”:
Figure 1
Classification =
and
renames
There are two reciprocal changes that occur=
as
one moves from left to right in the continuum: first, the degree to which
speech is obligatory reduces, and secondly, the properties of a language in=
crease.
In other words, Gesticulation requires speech to make sense of the message =
as
opposed to signs, for example. Additionally, the latter can be regarded as a
language in itself since signs carry meaning on their own, as in the case i=
n,
for example, American Sign Language.
Apart from McNeill’s interpretation o=
f Kendon’s work, researchers agree on a broader s=
cale
of gestures. On the one hand, emblems have been found which are the equival=
ent
of words; that is, they carry meaning in themselves without the use of
accompanying speech (De Ruiter, 2003, p. 338; Matsumoto and Hyi
Sung, 2013, p. 78; Sonneborn, 2012, p. 13). One of most common examples bel=
ongs
to the realm of insults: the middle finger carries a negative meaning and a=
s a
result, words are not needed to understand it.
On the other hand, there are illustrators w=
hich
are linked to words that highlight and stress the message (Matsumoto et al,
2013, p. 76). These speech illustrators can be further divided into five
categories (De Ruiter, 2003, pp. 338-339; Kühn,
2002, p. 165; Matsumoto et al, 2013, p. 76):
Iconic gestures=
or
pictographs: “Such gestures present images of concrete
entities and/or actions” (McNeill, 1992, p. 4). That is, they resemble
the shape of real or abstract referents. For example, when a person uses th=
eir
hands to describe the shape of an object.
Ideographs: They “only
refer to abstract referents. They diagram the logical structure of what is
said” (Roodenburg, 2001). An example coul=
d be
when a speaker tries to shape the concept of intelligence.
Deictic gesture=
s: They are also k=
nown
as pointing gestures and their representation is straightforward; they show
location or direction through prototypically, the use of the index finger.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>
Pantomimic: They also have=
the
name of kinetographs. These gestures are used when the speaker ‘acts
out’ activities. An example is when a person imitates the activity of
swimming.
Beats: These gestures=
are
also known as batons; they accompany the speech in a rhythmic way to show
stress and importance.
It is clear that the scope of study could t=
ake
different directions, but this paper will focus on the second classification
provided above; that is, illustrators. Additionally, since hands and arms
accompany these movements, they will also be part of the analysis (Matsumot=
o et
al, 2013, p. 81; McNeill, 1985, p. 351).
Gestures of
Politicians
Political communication can be understood as
any type of communication which involves politics. Dominique Wolton (1998, p. 31) defines it as the interaction be=
tween
information, politics and communication which are the foundations to legiti=
mize
a rightful democracy. Therefore, political speeches must be organized and
adapted to both the media and the audience. Their goal has always been to
persuade the audience and create a positive image of the speaker (Caramelo Pérez, 2015, p. 29).
As briefly mentioned in the introduction, t=
he
purpose of this paper will be to analyze the gestures made by politicians. =
They
represent a great source of fruitful research since their speeches are
representative of their persona and are targeted at large audiences. Thus, =
this
presupposes a careful thought of body movements. There are a few political
figures who seem to go with the flow of their words resulting in an effect =
on
the stability of their movements. One of those figures was the controversial
Cuban president, Fidel Castro.
Fidel Castro was known for his lengthy
speeches; in fact, he is said to have given the longest timed speech at the
82nd plenary meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations (DAG
Hammarskjöld Library, 2017). However, this paper will focus on the spe=
ech
given on October 12th 1979 to the General Assembly of the United Nations (<=
span
class=3DSpellE>Renraku87, 2012). In his speech, he emphasized social
inequality while addressing topics related to peace and democracy. In addit=
ion,
he emphasized that all nations should have a common fight: the right to hav=
e a
better life and human dignity (HispanTV Nexo Latino, 2016).
METHODOLOGY
After having selected the appropriate speec=
h,
the process of annotation began. This was effectively done through the prog=
ram
ELAN (cf. http://tla.mpi.nl/tools/tla-tools/elan,
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, The Language Archive, Nijmegen)=
. A
total of 1508 annotations was analyzed in terms of certain categories.
To begin with, the type of gesture was
annotated. The categories belonged to the ones presented earlier, which inc=
lude
Beat, Deictic, Iconic, Ideographic, Pantomimic and, where there was no gest=
ure,
the control category N (that is, as having No Value). Having seen the video=
and
read the transcript, categories for Topic were extracted: Transition was co=
ded
for gestures which were used prior or right after the subject uttered a
sentence or word, or when he made a pause; Country was used to signal any
mention of a country; Negative was used to code negative connotations such =
as ‘war’;
Number was used when he mentioned any number; Subject, when Fidel Castro
referred to a physical or abstract referent; Order was used to signal
imperative sentences; and finally, Environment was used to code topics rela=
ted
to global warming, environment, and so on.
After these categories had been annotated, =
the
position and movements of both arms and hands were coded. Two categories we=
re
created for this part: synchronous and asynchronous. Then, the arms were
annotated on different categories: Wave aside, when they moved sideways or =
away
from the body; Open, when it resembled the action of opening a door; Bent, =
when
the arms were not straight but bent by the elbows; Hanging, when there was =
no
gesticulation so they remained loosely; and Pointing,
when Fidel Castro used his arms to point.&=
nbsp;
Hands were also annotated: for the variable
position, hands could be categorized as Fist, Open, Tog=
ether
(when they held each other), Holding (when they held the podium or his shee=
ts),
Pointing (when Fidel Castro used them to signal), Relaxed, and N (having no
value, in cases where it was impossible to determine their position). The
orientation was also annotated; therefore, the categories included Up (when=
the
palm faced the ceiling), Down (when the palm faced the floor), Towards (when
both palms faced each other), In (the palm faced the speaker’s body),
Front (the palm faced the audience), and N, when it was unable to be
categorized.
RESULTS
After having annotated the speech given by
Fidel Castro, it was possible to conduct a quantitative and qualitative
analysis of the data. This was done by means of the statistical program R (R
Core Team, 2016).
Firstly, it was tested if there is an assoc=
iation
between the type of gestures and the topics in the speech. To test this, a
Chi-squared test was performed which resulted in a significant association
between these two variables: x2(1): 746.8, p<
0.05. However, how strong is this association? A test of strength of
association was run through the ‘VCD’ package (Meyer et al, 201=
6):
Table 1
Chi-squared tes=
t
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image004.gif")
Since the data is large, Cramer’s V
signals that we have a moderate effect size. Moreover, since the x2 is fairly high, it was worth looking at the data a=
gain
to find which categories make a positive contribution to the effect size:
Graphic 1
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image006.jpg")
Association plot between Gestures and Topic=
We see that the topic environment does not =
make
a positive contribution to our effect size. This is because there are very =
few
annotated instances of this topic in the entire data. Additionally, we see =
that
economy/beat and transition/N are the most prominent since they are higher =
than
we would expect. For the category deictic, we see more instances of the sort
and a few more in each of the other types of gestures.
Despite having significant p-values, we
received a warning message that there were not enough observations in some =
of
the categories. For that reason, we needed to corroborate the results. Henc=
e, a
conditional inference tree and a multiple correspondence analysis were
performed made possible through the numerous potential predictors.
Graphic 2
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image008.jpg")
C-tree between Gestures and Topic
The C-tree’s null hypothesis is based=
on
the assumption of independence between the input and the predictor variable=
s. The
first split is between the topic transition and a group involving the rest =
of
the categories. The node of transition has 257 observations where the
accompanying gesture is N; that is, a gesture that was coded as having no
value. This illustrates the movement of Fidel Castro that is presented late=
r in
Figure 4. The left branch of this first split, on the other hand, presents =
more
nodes and branches. We see a second split in node 2 between the group econo=
my,
negative, number and order and a second group where country, environment and
subject are involved. Let us first explore the left branch: there is a split
between a new group (economy, number and order) and the topic negative. The
latter’s instantiations add up to 68 and, interestingly, this topic u=
ses the
most iconic gestures, but notwithstanding, beats make up most of the data. =
Node
4 is further divided where order (node 8) amounts to 168 observations. Node=
5
is split into number (node 6) and economy (node 7). What is interesting abo=
ut
the left branch is that all the nodes are accompanied almost entirely by be=
ats.
The right branch of node 2 illustrates a split between the group country and
environment, and subject. The latter has 276 observations, and it has beats=
as
the primary type of gesture followed by deictic in almost the same proporti=
on
as the rest of the categories. Finally, we see a split between environment =
and
country, in which the former has 97 observations and the latter 302. Althou=
gh
these numbers do not represent a marginal difference, it is interesting to =
note
that these two categories have marginal differences between the type of
gestures that accompany them. Country has the same proportion of beats and
gestures coded as N, followed closely by ideographs. The topic environment =
has
a preference for beats, but deictic and N have almost the same proportion, =
to
the point that the difference between the two is marginal. What we can conc=
lude
from this C-tree is that there is an association between the type of gesture
and the topic. At the same time, beats are the gesture which that accompani=
es
nearly all the categories of topic apart from transition.
Furthermore, the Multiple Correspondence
Analysis plot yields interesting associations:
Graphic 3
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image010.jpg")
Multiple
Correspondence Analysis (MCA) between Gestures and Topic
We see that the type of gesture N floats ar=
ound
the same area as the topic Transition. This is not surprising since a great
deal of such examples was coded under those particular labels whenever Fidel
Castro returned to a neutral position during a pause or right before he
continued with his next sentence.
We also see that topics economy, subject and number create a group t=
hat
clusters around the type of gesture beat. Therefore, these three topics are
highly associated to this movement. Deictic movements float around the same
area as the topic order, which could potentially signal an association betw=
een
the two; in fact, this type of topic was used with both deictic and beat
movements. This explains why these two cluster around the same area and cou=
ld
potentially signal that they form a pair. As for the other categories, they=
are
not associated or have a low association level as in the case of iconic
gestures and the topic negative. Ideographs seem to prefer the topic country
whereas environment approached the pair of beat and deictic movements.
The proportion of movement of both arms and
hands were calculated, as well as their respective bar=
plots
to visualize the data:
Graphic 4
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image013.gif")
The proportion of synchronization of moveme=
nt
in both arms and hands
We clearly see Fidel Castro’s tendenc=
y to
use synchronous movements. But this must be taken with a grain of salt beca=
use
when he did not move his arms or hands, they were annotated as synchronous =
as
it could be said that such activity of arms and hands was performed equally.
His arms and hands remained unmoved, held the podium or just laid bent with=
the
palms facing downwards during a great deal of the beginning of his speech. =
As
the message began to unfold, he made more asynchronous rather than synchron=
ous
movements.
Figure 1
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image016.gif")
Asynchronous movement (left photo) and
synchronous movement (right photo)
Additionally, it is worth looking at the
specific movement of both arms. For that reason, their respective proportio=
ns
and barplots were also created in the statistic=
al
program R:
Graphic 5
Barplots showing the proportions of movement of both arms
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image019.gif")
The results reveal that Fidel Castro used b=
ent
movements very nearly at the same level in both arms: 69.1% for the left arm
versus 62.8% for the right arm. This slight difference reflects the fact th=
at
he used his right arm more often than the left: the latter remained almost
continuously holding or facing the podium while the right performed differe=
nt
movements. This is supported by the variation in movement in the right arm =
to
the point that the category hanging appeared to a lesser degree (2.05%).
Figure 2
Continuum of Fi=
del
Castro’s neutral position
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image023.gif")
When it comes to the position of the hands,=
we
see more variation in the following visualizations:
Graphic 6
Barplots showing the proportions of the position of both hands
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image026.gif")
This time, it is clear his preference for the right
limb. The left hand has a strong preference for being open whereas this
category comes third after the others in the right arm with only 13.2%. Aga=
in,
the left arm/hand is almost static. Interestingly, we see more variation for
the right hand. Fidel Castro has a strong preference for this extremity whi=
ch
could signal that he is right-handed. Moreover, we see how the category
pointing has a great deal of observations, resulting in 41.1%. Curiously, t=
he
category fist appears only in 0.72% of the total from the right hand, and it
belongs to the variations he made to the type of gesture beat.
Figure 3
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image030.gif")
Different types of beats performed by Fidel
Castro: Index (left photo), fist (middle photo) and open hand (right photo)=
An association between the type of gesture =
and
the movement of both arms was also tested. The results were significant for
both arms: For the left arm, we obtained a x2(<=
span
class=3DGramE>1)=3D 88.7, p<0.05; and for the right arm, x2(1)=3D90.4, p<0.05. Both p-values are below our
significance level; therefore, it shows an association between the two
variables. Unfortunately, we also obtained a warning message after running =
both
chi-squared tests, so it was decided to perform their respective association
plots and conditional inference trees (figures are found in Appendix 1).
Interestingly, we see that the variable that
has the strongest association is Movement of Left Arm. The first split at t=
he
top divides the categories pointing, wave aside from bent and open (node 1).
The left branch is split into two branches (node 2): on the one hand, gestu=
res
with bent and hanging movements (node 6) which have a total of 283
observations. These movements are represented by gestures of the type beat =
and
where no gesture was coded, while beats and ideographs have a marginal
difference in proportion. On the other hand, we find a new node for movemen=
t of
left arm (number 3) which is further divided into two new branches: wave as=
ide
(node 4) and pointing (node 5). The former has a total of 141 observations,=
and
it is represented by gestures which were coded as N, whereas the latter has
only 11 observations and is highly distinguished by beats. On the right sid=
e of
the tree, node 7 is split into two branches again: hanging and pointing (no=
de
8) with a total of 181 observations and represented by beats; and node 9 is
further split into bent (node 10) with a total of 681 observations, and wave
aside (node 11) with a total of 211 observations. We see a preference for b=
eats
in nearly all the bar plots which represents one of the most used gestures =
by
Fidel Castro to accompany his speech. This is followed by gestures that were
coded as N, which reflects the tendency of the left arm to be static with
movements attributed to his neutral position.
Finally, we wanted to test if there is an
association between the position and orientation of hands. Our data was
introduced once more in R and the results are as follows: for both conditio=
ns,
we obtained significant outcomes. The left hand yielded a x2(1)=3D 675.14, p<0.05 whereas the right’s outc=
ome was x2(1)=3D 1035.6, p<0.05. In both situations, we get
extreme x2, but most importantly, we again rece=
ived a
warning message due to insufficient observations in some categories. This
prompted us to run their respective association plots and their classificat=
ion
trees (figures can be found in Appendix 2).
For the left arm, the association plot shows
that the categories that are higher than we would expect belong to in/holdi=
ng,
N/N, down/open, up/pointing, relaxed/in, relaxed/N and together/in. In
contrast, the right arm shows more categories; still, the most representati=
ve
categories belong to open and relaxed. We see that the category front and up
poorly contribute to the effect size but only the latter parallels the
contribution of the left arm.
In regards to the C-trees, let us first loo=
k at
the results for the left arm. The first split at the top divides the
orientation which was coded as having no value (N, node 2) and the group of
down, in and up. Node 2 has a total of 36 observations which are represente=
d by
the positions of hand open and N. The difference between the two is marginal
and not surprising since N was used to code observations where it was unabl=
e to
describe both position and orientation. The right branch is split in two
branches: node 4 for the orientation down and up, whose total number of
observations is 1339; and node 5 for the category in, with a total number of
observations of 133. The latter prefers relaxed positions which correspond =
to
the neutral gesture of Fidel Castro. However, this preference is marginal s=
ince
relaxed and open in this node have almost the same proportions. The rest of=
the
nodes have a strong preference for open which does not come as a surprise s=
ince
the left arm hardly ever moved or remained neutral.
The C-tree corresponding to the right arm s=
hows
more nodes and variation. The first split at the top divides the group of d=
own,
front, N and up and the group of in and towards. Let us explore the right
branch first as it only has three nodes. Node 7 is split into two branches:
towards (node 8) with 349 observations and in (node 9) with a total of 372
observations. We see that this difference is marginal and how both have a
strong preference for pointing movements. This matches the beat movements of
the right arm, during which he had his hand open, as well as matching the
movement of wave aside, which is involved in a continuum of gestures where =
the
hand faces the audience at the beginning, then faces the left hand, and fin=
ally
the background. The second node is split into two branches which separates =
node
3 (orientation N, having no value) and the group of down, front, up. Node 4=
is
split into the pair of front and up (node 5) with a total number of
observations of 31; and node 6, corresponding to orientation down, with a t=
otal
of 643 observations. Node 6 has a strong preference for the position holding
which illustrates the neutral position when Fidel Castro held the podium,
whereas node 5 prefers an open position of the hand. This exemplifies the
gestures where Fidel Castro extended his arms with the palms facing the cei=
ling
(see figure 5, right photo) and where he had his arm extended with the palm
facing the audience, while waving it rapidly to signal that he disagreed or=
to
represent the word ‘No’.
DISCUSSION
An association has been found between the t=
ype
of gesture and the topic in Fidel Castro’s speech. Though the Chi-squ=
ared
test showed significant results, they needed to be corroborated through a
non-parametric test due to the lack of observations in some categories. A
conditional inference tree and a MCA showed
significant results overall, but once the MCA was analyzed, we see that not=
all
the topic categories were associated with the dependent variable. Still, su=
ch a
result reflects the idea that gestures and topic are form-meaning pairs.
Another contributing factor for Castro̵=
7;s
exaggerated movements might have to do with the country in which he was bor=
n.
It has been suggested in the literature that people from warmer countries t=
end
to gesture more (Calero, 2005, p. 114). Therefore, the passion that runs in
Latin America might be parallel to the way they gesture. This, of course, n=
eeds
further research.
While annotating his speech, it was fascina=
ting
to notice that Castro emphasized syllables. Almost all the beats he perform=
ed
accompanied the syllabic rhythm of the words in his speech. It would be
interesting to further explore the frequency of these movements as well as =
the
kind of beats which he prefers to use when stressing syllables or complete
words, as was pointed out in figure 9 where he used three different beats.
Castro also used more personal space when gesturing. His movements were
greater, occupied more space, and at times seemed more threatening; that is,
his body usually moved forward while his hand shook rapidly.
There was also a relationship between the t=
ype
of gesture and arm movement. Interestingly, the analysis yielded significant
results which allow us to support the idea that the movement of arms is
influenced by the intention or intended result of the gesture; that is, they
support words and facilitate and form the basis of successful communication=
(Sollmann, 2013, p. 49). At the same time, we tested if
there was an association between the movement and orientation of hands. Aga=
in,
there were significant results, so the orientation of hands influences the
movement of arms.
We also pointed out Castro’s tendency=
to
use his right arm almost exclusively to gesture. In some websites, it is st=
ated
that he was left-handed, but this information is false and has been conside=
red
one of the myths surrounding his persona. “Castro is biologically
right-handed,” reported the writer Carlos Alberto Montaner after
interviewing Carlos Franqui, who fought side-by=
-side
with Castro during the Revolution in Sierra Maestra (E=
scribano,
2003). This urban legend gained strength since Castro used to hold his cigar
with the left hand. In the quantitative part of this paper, we noticed that=
the
left arm remained almost unmoved; still for both arms, the bent category st=
ood out.
The right arm showed more tendency to be used extensively with different
gestures, but beats were by far the ones he preferred the most. The positio=
n of
this arm also showed more variation as it was not only used to point but
remained open or holding either the podium or his printed speech; still, the
arm remained hanging after a number of beats.
CONCLUSION
The topic of gesture analysis is fascinating
and enlightening. Every person moves their hands and arms differently when =
they
are involved in communication; hence, the desire to know the function of th=
ese
intriguing body movements. Is there a relationship between the meaning and
them? Do they simply accompany the message without any relationship? That is
the purpose of this paper and the literature of gesture analysis. The
literature on this topic is still new and therefore still being developed.
Therefore, more research needs to be carried out in the different realms wh=
ere
gesture appears: TV presenters, politicians, everyday speech, teaching envi=
ronment,
and so on.
Fidel Castro has posed a challenge on this
topic since he exaggerated his movements when speaking. Coding and annotati=
ng
his speech were difficult, but still, it has offered more areas of analysis.
While the results have been interesting, it would be fruitful to compare it=
to
another speech that he gave. At the same time, his interviews might be
interesting to look at and see how threatening and dominant his gestures we=
re
when answering questions.
Another area that could be exploited is to
compare his movements to those politicians who belong to the same school of
politics: Hugo Chávez, Che Guevara, Nicolás Maduro, Evo Moral=
es,
just to mention a few. The impact that he had on Latin America is undeniabl=
e,
and that might be reflected on the way these former and current presidents
portray themselves. Outside the American continent, it might be interesting=
to
study if there is a relationship between Fidel Castro and Adolf Hitler. Are
their gestures a tool to gain control over the audience? Are there social
factors that could trigger these gestures? These topics could expand the sc=
ope
of this paper.
Love him or hate him, Fidel Castro was and
remains one of the most influential politicians in Latin America. Studying =
his
gestures has been of much interest because it has revealed insight into wha=
t he
prepared in his equally famous speeches. This paper is by no means the defi=
nite
conclusion, so it encourages others to continue working on many aspects of =
his
gestures in order to verify and corroborate the findings that are presented
here.
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APPRENDIXS
Graphic 1
Association plot
and Conditional Inference Tree between Gesture and Movement of Both Arms
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image033.gif")
Graphic 2
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image035.jpg")
Conditional Inference Tree between Gesture =
and
Movement of Both Arms
Graphic 3
Association plot
and Conditional Inference Tree between the Position and Orientation of the
Right Arm
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image037.jpg")
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image039.jpg")
Graphic 4
Association plot
and Conditional Inference Tree between the Position and Orientation of the =
Left
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image041.jpg")
Arm
![](3D"1142_RodriguezBurgos_archivos/image043.jpg")
Table 1
Coding
|
Gestures |
Topic |
MovBothArms<= o:p> |
MovH |
OrienLH/Ori=
enRH |
|
Deictic |
Country |
Async |
Async |
Down |
|
Iconic |
Environment=
|
Sync |
Sync |
Front |
|
Beat |
Order |
|
|
In |
|
Pantomimic<=
span
lang=3DES-MX style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Roboto;mso-fareast-fon=
t-family:
Roboto;mso-bidi-font-family:Roboto;color:black'> |
Negative |
MovLArm/Mov=
RArm |
PosLH/Pos=
RH |
Up |
|
Ideograph |
Number |
Bent |
Fist |
Towards |
|
N: No gesture |
Subject |
Hanging |
Holding |
N: No gesture |
|
|
Transition<=
span
lang=3DES-MX style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Roboto;mso-fareast-fon=
t-family:
Roboto;mso-bidi-font-family:Roboto;color:black'> |
Open |
Open |
|
|
|
|
Pointing |
Pointing |
|
|
|
|
WaveAside |
Relaxed |
|
|
|
|
|
Together |
|
|
|
|
|
N: No gesture |
|