'Andrew Beatty has produced a subtle, literate and humane account of how emotions are expressed, narrated and construed in very different societies. The study of emotions in context, set in narrative frameworks, demands a very special ethnographic engagement and empathy, but as Beatty argues, 'the field reveals what the lab and the library cannot'. Presenting ethnographic case studies, some based on his own extensive fieldwork in Indonesia, drawing on wide reading in anthropology and psychology, Beatty's moving, insightful book transcends disciplinary boundaries.' Adam Kuper, Boston University
Introduction; Part I. Groundings: 1. Emotions in the field: recognition and location; 2. Nias: emotions dramatised; 3. Java: emotions analysed; Part II. Narrative: 4. The case for narrative; 5. Persons and particulars; 6. The narrative understanding of emotion; 7. Writing emotion; Part III. Perspectives: 8. Affect: a wrong turn?; 9. Concepts, words, feelings; 10. The uses of empathy; Conclusion.