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Elusive Fragments: Making Power, Propriety & Health in Samoa (Carolina Academic Press Ethnographic Studies in Medical Anthropology Series)
Elusive Fragments Making Power Propriety Health in Samoa - Carolina Academic Press Ethnographic Studies in Medical Anthropology Series Author:Douglass Drozdow-St. Christian, Pamela J. Stewart The human body is a center of culture and the means by which culture is expressed through action and in thought. Yet, anthropological analyses continue to regard the body as a cultural artifact—something static, objectifiable, and removed from the everyday experiences of living in society. In Elusive Fragments, Drozdow-St. Christian argue... more »s that the body does not function simply as a cultural artifact. Based on ongoing field research in Samoa, the author illustrates how everyday actions and physical processes of village and family life actually act as the primary agent of cultural production. Elusive Fragments elucidates the Samoan concerns for dignity, humility, and strength by locating the central dynamics within Samoan culture in physical existence.« less