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Misfortune and what can be done about it: a Taiwanese case study

Stafford, Charles ORCID: 0000-0002-8024-5563 (2012) Misfortune and what can be done about it: a Taiwanese case study. Social Analysis, 56 (2). pp. 90-102. ISSN 0155-977X

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Identification Number: 10.3167/sa.2012.560207

Abstract

Drawing primarily on ethnographic material from Taiwan, this article focuses on misfortune and, more especially, on the ques- tion of whether people are felt to deserve what happens to them-be it bad or good. I examine the cases of several people who have suffered misfortune in life, exploring ways in which they might actively try to make good things happen as a way of convincing others, and indeed themselves, that they are, after all, good. In considering these cases, I discuss three intersecting accounts of fate that are widely held by ordi- nary people in Taiwan and China: a cosmological one, a spirit-oriented one, and a social one.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://journals.berghahnbooks.com/sa/index.php
Additional Information: © 2012 Berghahn Journals
Divisions: Anthropology
Asia Centre
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography
Date Deposited: 25 Sep 2012 13:33
Last Modified: 18 Sep 2024 06:51
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/46387

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