The Social Life of Achievement [Paperback]

What happens when people achieve? Why do reactions to achievement vary so profoundly? And how might an anthropological study of achievement and its consequences allow us to develop a more nuanced model of the motivated agency that operates in the social world? These questions lie at the heart of this volume. Drawing on research from Southeast Asia, Europe, the United States, and Latin America, this collection develops an innovative framework for explaining achievements multiple effectsone which brings together cutting-edge theoretical insights into politics, psychology, ethics, materiality, aurality, embodiment, affect and narrative. In doing so, the volume advances a new agenda for the study of achievement within anthropology, emphasizing the significance of achievement as a moment of cultural invention, and the complexity of the achiever as a subject position.

Nicholas J. Longis an Assistant Professorin Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the co-editor ofSoutheast Asian Perspectives on Power(Routledge, 2012) andSociality: New Directions(Berghahn Books, 2013),and author of the monographBeing Malay in Indonesia: Histories, Hopes and Citizenship in the Riau Archipelago(NUS/NIAS/University of Hawai’i Press, 2013).

The range of ethnographic settings is dazzling... there is something here for everyone and a veritable cornucopia for the lover of ethnographic diversity. ? American Ethnologist

We measure our lives in terms of success without questioning what it actually means to achieve it. The essays in this groundbreaking book show that what we perceive as achievement is highly influenced by culture and that... for some people coming close to a desired goal cló