Can we judge Amerindian social behaviour by our own standards? To what extent is social success based on love and anger in the Amazon region?
The Anthropology of Love and Anger provides remarkable evidence that Anthropology is a thriving subject. In this highly original discussion the editors have brought together papers that question the very foundations of western sociological thought.
In their examination of the 'social structure', or rather 'sociality' (the former expression being inapplicable in this context) of indigenous peoples from across the South American continent, the contributors have come to realise that western thought does not possess the vocabulary to define the very fundamentals of indigenous thought and practice. The dualisms of public and private, political and domestic, individual and collective, even male and female, in which western Anthropology was founded cannot legitimately be applied to peoples whose 'sociality' is based on an 'aesthetics of community'.
For indigenous peoples success is measured by the extent to which conviviality, (all that is peaceful, harmonious and sociable) has been attained. Yet it is not just a conviviality or 'sociality' which relies on love and good but instead it relies heavily on an even balance between all that is constructive, love, and all that is destructive, anger. This sociability is as much reliant on managing the negative features of communal living, anger, jealousy, hate and greed as it is in promoting the positive.
With case studies from across the South American region, ranging from the (so-called) fierce Yanomami of Venezuela and Brazil to the Enxet of Paraguay, and with discussions on topics from the efficacy of laughter, the role of language, anger as a marker of love and even homesickness, The Anthropology of Love and Anger is a seminal, fascinating work which should be read by all students and academics in the post-colonial world.