The Strange Tools of Human Communication: The Voice, the Pen, and the Lyre by Ruth Finnegan

In The Strange Tools of Human Communication (Routledge, 2025), Ruth Finnegan blends scholarly research, personal insights, and field experiences—from the oral tales of Sierra Leone’s Limba storytellers to ancient cave art and modern iconography—to show how humans actively use communication as a tool. Through case studies of voice, gesture, writing, and ritual, she reveals how attention, authority, and belonging are managed in everyday life.

This book bridges theory and practice with ethnographic examples and accessible prose, making it suitable for teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Each chapter concludes with discussion prompts and activities, providing ready-made material for seminars and assignments. Cross-disciplinary in scope, the book is ideal not only for anthropology and folklore courses but also for communication, media, and cultural studies. Finnegan’s characteristic clarity challenges conventional wisdom while offering fresh, practical insights into the seemingly ordinary practices that underpin human societies.

Ruth Finnegan, OBE, FBA, FAmFS, is Emeritus Professor at The Open University and an internationally recognised anthropologist and cultural historian. She has authored prize-winning books with Oxford, Cambridge, Indiana, Wales, Routledge, Blackwell, and Bloomsbury. Her work has shaped two major research fields: the ethnography of oral/performed literature and the ethnography of music practice. A Fellow of the British Academy and the American Folklore Society, she is also an award-winning writer of fiction and children’s literature. This is her most recent book.