Sleep Around the World Anthropological Perspectives [Hardcover]

Although humans slumber for approximately one third of our lives, sleep itself is vastly understudied. This volume provides a comparative frame through which we can understand the myriad ways in which sleep reflects and embodies culture as contributors examine aspects of sleep in various countries and contexts.Introduction: Sleep Around the World: Anthropological Perspectives; Richard Chenhall and Katie Glaskin 1. Sleeping among the Asabano: Surprises in Intimacy and Sociality at the Margins of Consciousness; Roger Ivar Lohman 2. Embodied Meaning: Sleeping Arrangements in Central Australia; Yasmine Musharbash 3. Sensuous Connections in Sleep: Feelings of Security and Interdependency in Japanese Sleep Rituals; Diana Adis Tahhan 4. Envisioning Sleep in Contemporary Sleep Science; Lisa Carrie Goldberg 5. Infant Sleep and Waking: Mothers' Ideas and Practices in Two Italian Cultural Contexts; Monica Toselli, Angela Costabile, and M. Luisa Genta 6. Sleeping Safe: Perceptions of Risk and Value in Western and Pacific Infant Co-sleeping; Kalissa Alexeyeff 7. M?ori Collective Sleeping as Cultural Resistance; Toon van Meijl 8. Navigating Inspiration, Intimacy, Conflict, and Sleep in a Pagan Community; Rachel Morgain 9. Sleep Deprivation and the Vision Quest of Native North America; Shayne A. P. Dahl 10. 'In Their Dream They Go': Sleep, Memory, and the Metaphysical; Katie Glaskin

Sleep is understudied in anthropology - and there are remarkably few published resources available. This is not only ironic because of the many sleep-related experiences of fieldworkers, but because all human beings spend approximately one-third of their lives asleep - quite a lot of time to go by unexamined. The study of sleep is of tremendous and increasing popular (as well as academic) interest and this book will remain fresh for a long time. It will appeal to anthropologists in general, particularly medical, psychological, and cultural anthropologists. - Shelley R. Adler, Professor, UnivelÃ-