Rethinking Depth Metaphors with a Cosmocentric Self

The "Steep" and the "Level" in Akha Emotional Practices

Bibliographic Data

ID2263804
AuthorsDeborah E Tooker (Le Moyne College, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume47
Issue3
Pages346-366
Publication date2019-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthos (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-2131 • E-ISSN: 1548-1352
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/etho.12248
OpenAlexW2974547300
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited35

This study critically engages two analytic constructs: western psychological individualism (with its assumed emotional interiority) and the notion of a generic sociocentric self. By looking at the emotional practices of the Akha of Northern Thailand in a nonmodern context, I aim to show the distinctiveness of a particular type of socio- and cosmo-centric self, that of the "microcosmic," "level" self, which is not a depth self. This analysis examines the semiotic ideology in which Akha emotions and self concepts are co-constituted as part of a process of inner/outer alignment with both communal and cosmic templates that affect the flow of a life force energy. In addition, Akha social dynamics resist and deflect from the emergence of a potentially dangerous individualized depth self with emotional interiority and an inner/outer boundary, suggesting an ideological component, and, thus, the relevance of historical and political-economic contexts in the study of emotional practices

Aesthetics · Affect (linguistics) · Context (archaeology) · Ideology · Individualism · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Communication · History · History of Emotions Research · Philosophy · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology

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