Mixed Emotions: Anthropological Studies of Feeling

by Kay Milton (Editor), Marushka Svasek (Editor)

Emotions are of increasing interest in all the human sciences. In the past two decades, a growing number of anthropologists have explored emotional dynamics in a variety of geographic and cultural settings, and have developed various, at times conflicting, theories of emotion. This book fills a major gap by providing a concise introduction to the anthropology of emotions that outlines some of the major themes and controversies. Drawing on fieldwork undertaken in Europe, Japan and Melanesia, the authors explore how consciousness, memory, identity and politics are intimately related to emotional processes. A broad range of case studies covers such topics as how fear is managed in Belfast, how Spanish gypsies grieve and why Japanese tourists are drawn to monkey parks. This book will be of interest to anyone seeking to understand the formative impact emotions have on culture and society in an increasingly globalized world.

244 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 28, 2020

About the author

Professor Kay Milton, BA (Durham), PhD (QUB), Professor of Social Anthropology is Director of the Anthropology research network in the School of History and Anthropology. Her research interests include environmental and ecological anthropology: environmental activism as cultural practice; environmental discourse in local and global contexts; the use of anthropological knowledge to address environmental issues; how human beings relate, through their cultural ideas and actions, to the non-human world; environmental perception and understanding through emotional and cognitive processes, the role of religion in human–environment relations.