The Anthropology of Empathy : Experiencing the Lives of Others in Pacific Societies

Exploring the role of empathy in a variety of Pacific societies, this book is at the forefront of the latest anthropological research on empathy. It presents distinct articulations of many assumptions of contemporary philosophical, neurobiological, and social scientific treatments of the topic. The variations described in this book do not necessarily preclude the possibility of shared existential, biological, and social influences that give empathy a distinctly human cast, but they do provide an important ethnographic lens through which to examine the possibilities and limits of empathy in any given community of practice. Contents Acknowledgements The Anthropology of Empathy: Introduction PART I History and Fieldwork as Lenses on Empathy 1 Empathy, Ethnicity, and the Self among the Banabans in Fiji 2 The Boundaries of Personhood, the Problem of Empathy, and “the Native’s Point of View” in the Outer Islands PART II Universal and Particular Aspects of Empathy 3 Empathy and “As-If” Attachment in Samoa 4 Empathic Perception and Imagination among the Asabano: Lessons for Anthropology PART III Personhood, Morality, and Empathy 5 Suffering, Empathy, and Ethical Modalities of Being in Yap (Waqab), Federated States of Micronesia 6 Do Anutans Empathize? Morality, Compassion, and Opacity of Other Minds 7 Bosmun Foodways: Emotional Reasoning in a Papua New Guinea Lifeworld PART IV Vicissitudes of Empathy 8 Vicissitudes of “Empathy” in a Rural Toraja Village Empathy and Anthropology: An Afterword Notes on the Contributors Index Exploring the role of empathy in a variety of Pacific societies, this book is at the forefront of the latest anthropological research on empathy. It presents distinct articulations of empathy in the Pacific region. More specifically, the volume examines significant regional patterns in the experience, enactment, recognition, and limits of empathy that challenge many assumptions of contemporary philosophical, neurobiological, and social scientific treatments of the topic. The variations described in this book do not necessarily preclude the possibility of shared existential, biological, and soc