The Cultural Context of Emotion - (Culture, Mind, and Society) by K Heider (Paperback)

About the Book

"Describing the second stage of Karl G. Heider's exploration of emotion as understood by the Minangkabau - a matrilineal, Moslem society of West Sumatra, Indonesia - this book uses semi-structured interviews with focus groups and individuals to allow emotions to lead us into the broader realm of Minangkabau folk psychology. Minangkabau have long been considered the intellectuals of Indonesia, and not surprisingly turn out to be deeply concerned with intelligences, with controlling one's own emotions, and with discerning the emotions of others. This fascinating work solidifies the situation of emotions at the center of investigation as a powerful ethnographic strategy"--

Book Synopsis

Based on the author's second stage of research on emotions of the matrilineal Moslem Minangkabau of West Sumatra, Indonesia, this book is a continuation of Heider's groundbreaking 1991 book, Landscapes of Emotion . This work demonstrates how situating emotion at the center of an investigation is a powerful ethnographic tool.

Review Quotes

"For more than a quarter century, Heider has led the way in the study of culture and emotion in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The Cultural Context of Emotion takes this extraordinary achievement further, offering readers the finest work on culture and emotion in Southeast Asia ever written. This brilliant work is a must-read work for Asianists, students of psychological anthropology, and cultural psychology." - Robert Hefner, Director, Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs, Boston University"Smart, subtle, engaging, and deeply informed, The Cultural Context of Emotion is a remarkable contribution both to our understanding of Minangkabau life and culture and to our sense of new strategies for ethnopsychological research. Heider charts a complex and fascinating emotional landscape with clarity and insight - a truly thought-provoking study." - Don Brenneis, Department of Anthropology, University of California - Santa Cruz "Heider s study of a very different culture's understandings of emotion allows us to recognize nuances and meanings that illuminate the fundamental nature of emotions in our own lives." - Paul Ekman, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of California - San Francisco and President, Paul Ekman Group, LLC

About the Author

KARL G. HEIDER is a Carolina Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emeritus at the University of South Carolina, USA.