GEN152: Affect: Understanding Emotions

                                                     Session 6- working sheet

                                     1) Short summary of the Abu- Lughod text

   The text is presenting an anthropological research that was focused on the
    concept of love in the Bedouin Society, a community that lives in Egypt's
      desert (and other places in the Mediterranean Sea area) and is based on
             agriculture, tribal and traditional way of life. In the text the
      anthropologist Abu- Lughot is presenting her perspective as an outsider
     that lived for two years in a Bedouin community (The "Awlad- Ali" tribe)
    and then came back to visit them a few years later, observing the changes
      that occurred as well as the influence of modernity during those years.
    Abu- Lughot uses Bedouin love songs as a way to understand the concept of
    love and other emotions in this special society. Her main conclusion from
           the poems is that the family is the most important concept in this
   society, and that kin relations are far more strong and basic that marital
     relations. As a result, a sexual relation can be seen as a threat to the
      blood relation and to the authority of the father towards his daughter,
       and that is why only a family member can decide which person shall the
       daughter marry (preferably a cousin). Even so, this does not mean that
     love is not relevant in the Bedouin society and that all marriages are a
     result of convenience. Abu- Lughot discovers through the poems a variety
              of emotions, a lot of them expressed by women, but also another
      phenomenon. In the last several years, due to changes in the economical
   and cultural situation, Bedouin women are more dependent in their husbands
      in order to survive financially, and are demanded to be more modest and
        restrained as a way of preserving the Bedouin structure and values in
    spite of the great changes (moving to houses, cars etc.) . In conclusion,
       Abu- Lughod is presenting a cultural perspective of emotions, in which
                   emotions can only be truly understood in a larger context.

    2) Dixon: Dixon, as well as Abu- Lughod is interested in understating the
    narratives that relates to emotions in the human society, they both agree
   that emotions are not universal or purely biological. Although the concept
      is very similar, Dixon's research is very different from Abu- Lughod's.
          Dixon's methodology is to observe books from different periods, and
     through noticing the terms and concepts to understand the historical and
          philosophical changes in the perception of emotions. Also, Dixon is
     researching the western- European society, which is the opposite of Abu-
                                                  Lughod's point of interest.

           Seligman: Seligman in presenting a much more universal approach to
          emotions, in comparison to Abu- Lughod's text. His research aims to
    understand happiness and other positive emotions, and then his goal is to
   implement those insights in everybody's daily routine of life. Seligman is
      not interested in the different concept of emotions in various cultures
         and societies; on the contrary, he wants to make the world a happier
                                                                       place.

         Ahmed: Ahmed's approach to emotions is very radical. She claims that
       happiness is a political concept that was designed in order to make us
   participate in a huge "happiness industry", in order to be able to measure
      the success of countries and more. According to her, happiness does not
    really exist and cannot be measures in a scientific way. Ahmed's believes
               that without cultures and societies emotions would be nothing.

     Evans explains in his text the cultural theory of emotions. Emotions are
          learned behaviours and transmitted culturally. So we have different
            emotions in function of our cultures, as A bu-Lughod said. But he
        emphasizes also that there are some basic emotions who are innate and
                                                     universal as Ekman said.

     Solomon agrees with the perception of Abu-Lughod. As Abu-Lughod, Solomon
     think that emotions is a cultural acquisition, more than by the function
       of biology. They think that emotions must be placed in their contexts.

     Rosaldo speaks about guilt and shame in his text. We don’t have the same
               meaning of guilt and shame. Everything depends on the culture.