European University Institute Library

Emotional worlds, beyond an anthropology of emotion, Andrew Beatty

eng

index present

non fiction

Emotional worlds

electronic resource

dictionaries

1084655906

Andrew Beatty

New departures in anthropologyCambridge Social Sciences eBooks

beyond an anthropology of emotion

Are emotions human universals? Is the concept of emotion an invention of Western tradition? If people in other cultures live radically different emotional lives how can we ever understand them? Using vivid, often dramatic, examples from around the world, and in dialogue with current work in psychology and philosophy, Andrew Beatty develops an anthropological perspective on the affective life, showing how emotions colour experience and transform situations; how, in turn, they are shaped by culture and history. In stark contrast with accounts that depend on lab simulations, interviews, and documentary reconstruction, he takes the reader into unfamiliar cultural worlds through a 'narrative' approach to emotions in naturalistic settings, showing how emotions tell a story and belong to larger stories. Combining richly detailed reporting with a careful critique of alternative approaches, he argues for an intimate grasp of local realities that restores the heartbeat to ethnography.--, Provided by publisher

Contents -- Preface and acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Groundings -- Emotions in the field: recognition and location -- Nias: emotions dramatized -- Java: emotions analysed -- Narrative -- The case for narrative -- Persons and particulars -- The narrative understanding of emotion -- Writing emotion -- Perspectives -- Affect: a wrong turn? -- Concepts, words, feelings -- The uses of empathy -- Conclusion -- References -- Index