The Anthropology of FriendshipSandra Bell, Simon Coleman Friendship is usually seen as a vital part of most people's lives in the West. From our friends, we hope to derive emotional support, advice and material help in times of need. In this pioneering book, basic assumptions about friendship are examined from a cross-cultural point of view. Is friendship only a western conception or is it possible to identify friends in such places as Papua New Guinea, Kenya, China, and Brazil? In seeking to answer this question, contributors also explore what friendship means closer to home, from the bar to the office, and address the following:* Are friendships voluntary?* Should friends be distinguished sharply from relatives?* Do work and friendship mix?* Does friendship support or subvert the social order?* How is friendship shaped by the nature of the person, gender, and the relationship between private and public life?* How is friendship affected when morality is compromised by self-interest?This book represents one of the few major attempts to deal with friendship from a comparative perspective. In achieving this aim, it demonstrates the culture-bound nature of many assumptions concerning one of the most basic building-blocks of western social relationships. More importantly, it signposts the future of social relations in many parts of the world, where older social bonds based on kinship or proximity are being challenged by flexible ties forged when people move within local, national and increasingly global networks of social relations. |
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Selves and Social Relationships | 21 |
The Hazards of an Ideal Relationship | 39 |
The Importance of Friendship in the Absence of States According | 59 |
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adult affinity Africa Anthropology argues Arthur and June autonomous behaviour blood-brotherhood Boorana Cambridge China Chinese societies close concept of friendship connections context contrast cultural described discussion distinct domino table dominoes Doris Durrenberger E.M. Forster Early Modern France economic emotional English Estonia ethnographic exchange farm farmers female friendship fieldwork friends ganqing gender gift Gísla saga Gísli goði groups guanxi hero Icelandic Commonwealth idea-value ideal identity idiom important individual interaction intimacy involved Íslendinga saga Kenya Kim Philby Lavialle Leyton lives London loyalty Maasai maids male marriage Melanesian middle-class mistresses modern moral neighbours networks Nigel Njáll Njáls saga one's Oromo Pálsson particular pastoral pastoralists perspective Philby political refer ritual Robbie role rural saga Scottish Enlightenment sentiment situation social relations spontaneous structure study of friendship suggests talk University Press village Wanet Western women youth sociability Þorgrímur