Pursuits of Happiness

Well-Being in Anthropological Perspective

Inbunden, Engelska, 2008

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Anthropology has long shied away from examining how human beings may lead happy and fulfilling lives. This book, however, shows that the ethnographic examination of well-being—defined as “the optimal state for an individual, a community, and a society”—and the comparison of well-being within and across societies is a new and important area for anthropological inquiry. Distinctly different in different places, but also reflecting our common humanity, well-being is intimately linked to the idea of happiness and its pursuits. Noted anthropological researchers have come together in this volume to examine well-being in a range of diverse ways and to investigate it in a range of settings: from the Peruvian Amazon, the Australian outback, and the Canadian north, to India, China, Indonesia, Japan, and the United States.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2008-12-01
Mått152 x 229 x 22 mm
Vikt585 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor290
FörlagBerghahn Books
ISBN9781845454487

Tillhör följande kategorier

Antropologi inom Samhalle och politik
Samhälle och kultur inom Samhalle och politik

Gordon Mathews is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has written What Makes Life Worth Living? How Japanese and Americans Make Sense of Their Worlds (1996) and Global Culture /Individual Identity: Searching for Home in the Cultural Supermarket (2000), and co-written Hong Kong, China: Learning to Belong to a Nation (2007); he has co-edited Consuming Hong Kong (2001) and Japan’s Changing Generations (2004).

Introduction: Anthropology, Happiness, and Well-BeingGordon Mathews and Carolina IzquierdoPART I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDChapter 1. Why Anthropology Can Ill Afford to Ignore Well-BeingNeil ThinChapter 2. Is a Measure of Cultural Well-Being Possible or Desirable?Benjamin Nick ColbyPART II: WELL-BEING IN SMALL-SCALE SOCIETIESChapter 3. Well-Being Among the Matsigenka of the Peruvian Amazon: Health, Missions, Oil, and “Progress”Carolina IzquierdoChapter 4. Embodied Selves and Social Selves: Aboriginal Well-Being in Rural New South Wales, AustraliaDaniela HeilChapter 5. The Shifting Landscape of Cree Well-BeingNaomi AdelsonPART III: WELL-BEING, CULTURE AND THE STATEChapter 6. Well-Being: Lessons from IndiaSteve DernéChapter 7. Well-Being, Cultural Pathology, and Personal Rejuvenation in a Chinese City, 1981- 2005William JankowiakChapter 8. Finding and Keeping a Purpose in Life: Well-Being and Ikigai in Japan and ElsewhereGordon MathewsPART IV: NEW ANTHROPOLOGICAL DIRECTIONSChapter 9. Pleasure Experienced: Well-Being and the Japanese BathScott ClarkChapter 10. Selfscapes of Well-Being in a Rural Indonesian VillageDouglas HollanChapter 11. Well-Being and Sustainability of Daily Routines: Families with Children with Disabilities in the United StatesThomas S. WeisnerConclusion: Towards an Anthropology of Well-BeingGordon Mathewsand Carolina IzquierdoTablesFiguresBibliographyIndex