Sleep Around The World: Anthropological Perspectives (culture, Mind, And Society)

Although humans slumber for approximately one third of our lives, sleep itself is vastly understudied. This volume provides a comparative frame through which we can understand the myriad ways in which sleep reflects and embodies culture as contributors examine aspects of sleep in various countries and contexts. Although humans sleep for approximately one third of our lives, sleep itself is vastly understudied. As a biological universal, it is easy to overlook the degree to which culture shapes how we sleep, with whom we sleep, where and when we sleep, and how we conceptualize sleep. This edited volume explores the cultural dimensions of sleep in different societies around the world today, with the explicit intention of providing a comparative context through which we can understand the myriad ways in which sleep reflects, and literally (as well as metaphorically) embodies culture Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-19 Sleeping among the Asabano: Surprises in Intimacy and Sociality at the Margins of Consciousness....Pages 21-44 Embodied Meaning: Sleeping Arrangements in Central Australia....Pages 45-60 Sensuous Connections in Sleep: Feelings of Security and Interdependency in Japanese Sleep Rituals....Pages 61-77 Envisioning Sleep in Contemporary Sleep Science....Pages 79-96 Infant Sleep and Waking: Mothers’ Ideas and Practices in Two Italian Cultural Contexts....Pages 97-111 Sleeping Safe: Perceptions of Risk and Value in Western and Pacific Infant Co-sleeping....Pages 113-131 Māori Collective Sleeping as Cultural Resistance....Pages 133-149 Navigating Inspiration, Intimacy, Conflict, and Sleep in a Pagan Community....Pages 151-170 Sleep Deprivation and the Vision Quest of Native North America....Pages 171-187 “In Their Dream They Go”: Sleep, Memory and the Metaphysical....Pages 189-205 Back Matter....Pages 207-245 "Sleep is understudied in anthropology - and there are remarkably few published resources available. This is not only ironic because of the many sleep-related experiences of fieldworkers, but because all human beings spend approximately one-third of their lives asleep - quite a lot of time to go by unexamined. The study of sleep is of tremendous and increasing popular (as well as academic) interest and this book will remain fresh for a long time. It will appeal to anthropologists in general, particularly medical, psychological, and cultural anthropologists."--Shelley R. Adler, Professor, University of California, San Francisco, USA "Although humans sleep for approximately one third of our lives, sleep itself is vastly understudied. As a biological universal, it is easy to overlook the degree to which culture shapes how we sleep, with whom we sleep, where and when we sleep, and how we conceptualize sleep. This edited volume explores the cultural dimensions of sleep in different societies around the world today, with the explicit intention of providing a comparative context through which we can understand the myriad ways in which sleep reflects, and literally (as well as metaphorically) embodies culture."--Publisher's website.