The Potential of 'Watchful' Care

Preventing Suicide with Aloha in Hawaii

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2289002
AutoresLauren Sealy Krishnamurti (0000-0002-3496-2246, Department of Anthropology University of Pittsburgh, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen35
Número1
Páginas120-135
Fecha de publicación2021-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMedical Anthropology Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0745-5194 • E-ISSN: 1548-1387
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/maq.12610
PMID32812236
OpenAlexW3081217060
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas14

As a therapeutic practice of care, 'watchfulness' (Garcia 2010) implies a vigilant responsibility and constant mindfulness of others; in Hawaii, this is captured in the concept of aloha. This article explains how watchful care with aloha is discussed and mobilized in community suicide prevention in Hawaii. Rates of suicidality and suicide attempts in the state are high, among young people in particular. My ethnographic research follows a network of workers and volunteers as they incorporate local understandings of aloha into suicide prevention outreach. Following a history of aloha's meanings and (mis)uses in and beyond Hawaii, I draw on ethnographic examples to reveal how care with aloha prioritizes personal connection and individuality, rather than being rhetorically detached or 'anonymous' (Stevenson 2014). But as my central vignettes reveal, there are difficulties in the implementation of this kind of watchful care, which ultimately question its utility in suicide prevention

Aloha · Criminology · Ethnography · Outreach · Political science · Sociology · Watchful waiting · Child Welfare and Adoption · Computer Science · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Law · Medicine · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology