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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.
“The chapters …are very clearly written…and provide a wealth of materials illuminating diverse understandings of bodily, interpersonal, and existential dimensions of well-being, and how these are fostered and threatened in particular social-cultural settings and in relation to national institutions and global forces.” · Journal of Anthropological Research
Introduction: Anthropology, Happiness, and Well-Being
Gordon Mathews and Carolina Izquierdo
PART I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Chapter 1. Why Anthropology Can Ill Afford to Ignore Well-Being
Neil Thin
Chapter 2. Is a Measure of Cultural Well-Being Possible or Desirable?
Benjamin Nick Colby
PART II: WELL-BEING IN SMALL-SCALE SOCIETIES
Chapter 3. Well-Being Among the Matsigenka of the Peruvian Amazon: Health, Missions, Oil, and “Progress”
Carolina Izquierdo
Chapter 4. Embodied Selves and Social Selves: Aboriginal Well-Being in Rural New South Wales, Australia
Daniela Heil
Chapter 5. The Shifting Landscape of Cree Well-Being
Naomi Adelson
PART III: WELL-BEING, CULTURE AND THE STATE
Chapter 6. Well-Being: Lessons from India
Steve Derné
Chapter 7. Well-Being, Cultural Pathology, and Personal Rejuvenation in a Chinese City, 1981- 2005
William Jankowiak
Chapter 8. Finding and Keeping a Purpose in Life: Well-Being and Ikigai in Japan and Elsewhere
Gordon Mathews
PART IV: NEW ANTHROPOLOGICAL DIRECTIONS
Chapter 9. Pleasure Experienced: Well-Being and the Japanese Bath
Scott Clark
Chapter 10. Selfscapes of Well-Being in a Rural Indonesian Village
Douglas Hollan
Chapter 11. Well-Being and Sustainability of Daily Routines: Families with Children with Disabilities in the United States
Thomas S. Weisner
Conclusion: Towards an Anthropology of Well-Being
Gordon Mathewsand Carolina Izquierdo
Tables
Figures
Bibliography
Index