Conversing While Massaging: Multidimensional Asymmetries of Multiple Activities in Interaction.

This study draws on video recordings of interaction in footbath volunteering, an activity that was performed at many emergency shelters after the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on March 11, 2011. In this activity, volunteers massaged the evacuees’ hands while bathing their feet to provide them with a few moments of relaxation. It was important for the volunteers to engage in conversation with evacuees while performing this service. We explore ways of organizing these two subactivities performed in parallel (hand massaging/foot bathing and conversing), focusing on (a) practices for the production of utterances regarding the ongoing massaging, and (b) practices for compromising the progression of massaging. Based on these explorations, we propose that the two subactivities are organized as multidimensionally asymmetrical. Data are in Japanese with English translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]