Studying emotions across different cultures

[Meenakshie VERMA]

Are emotions universal across cultures?

[MAI Saptenno]

MAI Saptenno said:

MAI Saptenno said:

For Hildred Geertz the variety and quality of emotional experience for all human beings are the same, although socialization selects, elaborates, and emphasizes certain qualitative aspects from within the variety in a particular culture. As shown in the Balinese cockfight, the structure of feeling of the Balinese articulates reflexive complexity. Clifford Geertz argued about how the Balinese emotions could strike similar emotions to people from other temperament, he referred to Lear and Crime and Punishment, and took such themes as masculinity, rage, pride, etc. Fred Myers on Pintupi-speaking Aborigines in Australia argued that emotions are ways of making sense of other people’s motivations, although they don't necessarily represent their inner state of feelings in social life accurately. Raymond Williams reminded us that what emerged in a particular setting was not quite articulable by subjects or the analysts.

[Meenakshie VERMA]

Yes, I quite agree about that. while studying emotions in a North Indian woman and a Catholic French woman I noticed that the range of emotions both the women experienced could be covered under the 'Rasa' theory( Theory of 9 emotions) in the traditional Hindu thought. However, while coming to this conclusion I also realized the cultural specificity of what all goes into making of a personality type e.g. 'Sources of Self' . For example it can be put as 'What are the visible/invisible sources of self in a Hindu Indian woman' compared to that of 'What are the visible/invisible sources of self in a Catholic french woman'.

I can tell you, the result was exhaustive!!! To be contd...








MAI Saptenno said:

MAI Saptenno said:

MAI Saptenno said:

For Hildred Geertz the variety and quality of emotional experience for all human beings are the same, although socialization selects, elaborates, and emphasizes certain qualitative aspects from within the variety in a particular culture. As shown in the Balinese cockfight, the structure of feeling of the Balinese articulates reflexive complexity. Clifford Geertz argued about how the Balinese emotions could strike similar emotions to people from other temperament, he referred to Lear and Crime and Punishment, and took such themes as masculinity, rage, pride, etc. Fred Myers on Pintupi-speaking Aborigines in Australia argued that emotions are ways of making sense of other people’s motivations, although they don't necessarily represent their inner state of feelings in social life accurately. Raymond Williams reminded us that what emerged in a particular setting was not quite articulable by subjects or the analysts.