The contributions contained in the second volume of the two-volume set Body, Language and Mind introduce and elaborate upon the concept of sociocultural situatedness, understood broadly as the way in which minds and cognitive processes are shaped, both individually and collectively, by their interaction with socioculturally contextualized structures and practices; and, furthermore, how these structures interact, contextually, with language and can become embodied in it. Drawing on theoretical concepts and analytical tools within the purview of cognitive linguistics and related fields, the volume explores the relationship between body, language and mind, focusing on the complex mutually reinforcing relationships holding between the sociocultural contextualisation of language and, inversely, the linguistic contextualisation of culure. Stated differently, the notion of sociocultural situatedness allows for language to be seen as a cultural activity and at the same time as a subtle mechanism for organizing culture and thought. The volume offers a representative, multi- and interdisciplinary collection of new papers on sociocultural situatedness, bringing together for the first time a wide variety of perspectives and case studies directed explicitly to elucidating the analytical potential of this concept for cognitive linguists and other researchers working in allied fields such as AI, discourse studies and cognitive anthropology. The book brings together several core issues related to the notion of sociocultural situatedness, some of which have been addressed previously, although to a large degree sporadically and from a variety of disciplinary perspectives without fully exploring the possible analytical advantages of this concept as a tool for investigating the role of culturally entrenched schemata in cognition and language. In short, this is the first comprehensive survey of sociocultural situatedness theory.

As cognitive scientists continue to probe into the nature of the human mind, it is increasingly clear that research into cognition cannot be dissociated from the context in which our mental activity occurs. The papers collected in this book testify to the growing interest in adopting a broad characterisation of what counts as relevant context. The vices of seeking essences behind complex phenomena should not go unnoticed, the primary, and possibly the most crucial, downside of this approach being a reductionist treatment of the human mind. With this book, the authors want to show that humans are not merely brains, minds, speakers, learners, readers, etc., but, first and foremost, complex beings who communicate within and beyond the contexts of their own cultures.

Karen is a small and unfortunate child who is so poor she can't even afford a new pair of shoes. After her mother's death, she is taken in and adopted by an elderly blind woman, and it seems as though her life will take a turn for the better. But although Karen is a kind and gentle girl, something diabolical nests in her young soul: vanity. She is so overcome by the vain desire for something beautiful--a pair of red shoes--that those very shoes will be her demise. "Karen es una nina pequena e infortunada tan pobre que ni siquiera puede comprarse un nuevo par de zapatos. Tras la muerte de su madre, es acogida y adoptada por una anciana y parece que su vida va a mejorar. Pero aunque Karen es una nina amable y dulce, algo diabolico anida en su alma infantil: la vanidad. Es tan apoderada por el anhelo vanidoso por algo hermoso--un par de zapatos rojos--que esos mismos zapatos seran su desgracia."