Pursuits of Happiness

Well-Being in Anthropological Perspective

Gordon Mathews editor Carolina Izquierdo editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Berghahn Books

Published:1st Dec '08

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Pursuits of Happiness cover

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

ISBN: 9781845454487

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 585g

290 pages