Elusive fragments
Subtitle: making power, propriety & health in Samoa
By: Douglass Drozdow-St. Christian.
Series: Carolina Academic Press ethnographic studies in medical anthropology series
Publisher: Carolina Academic Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Durham, N.C
Language: eng
Number of pages: 260
Subjects: Anthropology -- Samoa.; Cultural Characteristics -- Samoa.; Health -- Samoa.; Social Environment -- Samoa.; Samoans -- Health and hygiene.; Traditional medicine -- Samoan Islands.; Medical anthropology -- Samoan Islands.
Other titles: Making power, propriety & health in Samoa
Description: "The body is a central reality of culture and a fundamental site at which culture is expressed in 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. These are the central ideas in Elusive Fragments: Making Power, Propriety & Health in Samoa. In this book, the author argues for another way of thinking about the body and bodies.

Based on ongoing field research in Samoa, the author describes everyday processes of village and family life as the primary sites through which the body works as an agent of cultural production. By locating the body as a process of awareness and enactment, he links it with Samoan concerns for dignity, humility, and strength, thereby illuminating central dynamics within Samoan culture."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-256) and indexes.