Abstract
In this article, I explore local constructions of empathic access and social knowing among the highland Maya of San Juan Chamula. I argue that a pervasive sense of social opacity-a presumed inability to accurately know the motivations, potencies, and identities of social others-gives rise to a moral-interpretive dilemma centering on the degree of concordance between the publicly presented self and the subjective or "private" self. I introduce the phrase "empathic in-sight" to refer to those processes-both real and fantasy based-intended to produce an understanding of the inner states of others (in terms of underlying emotions, feelings, motivations, thoughts, and desires), thereby restoring a degree of transparency to everyday social interactions. The phrase is meant to suggest a dynamic and active process of "seeing within," through which one attempts to gain access to, and understanding of, otherwise occluded conative and cognitive states-particularly those dimensions of the self that are actively hidden from view.
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 427-448 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Ethos |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2008 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Social opacity and the dynamics of empathic in-sight among the tzotzil maya of Chiapas, Mexico. / Groark, Kevin P.
In: Ethos, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2008, p. 427-448.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Social opacity and the dynamics of empathic in-sight among the tzotzil maya of Chiapas, Mexico
AU - Groark, Kevin P.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - In this article, I explore local constructions of empathic access and social knowing among the highland Maya of San Juan Chamula. I argue that a pervasive sense of social opacity-a presumed inability to accurately know the motivations, potencies, and identities of social others-gives rise to a moral-interpretive dilemma centering on the degree of concordance between the publicly presented self and the subjective or "private" self. I introduce the phrase "empathic in-sight" to refer to those processes-both real and fantasy based-intended to produce an understanding of the inner states of others (in terms of underlying emotions, feelings, motivations, thoughts, and desires), thereby restoring a degree of transparency to everyday social interactions. The phrase is meant to suggest a dynamic and active process of "seeing within," through which one attempts to gain access to, and understanding of, otherwise occluded conative and cognitive states-particularly those dimensions of the self that are actively hidden from view.
AB - In this article, I explore local constructions of empathic access and social knowing among the highland Maya of San Juan Chamula. I argue that a pervasive sense of social opacity-a presumed inability to accurately know the motivations, potencies, and identities of social others-gives rise to a moral-interpretive dilemma centering on the degree of concordance between the publicly presented self and the subjective or "private" self. I introduce the phrase "empathic in-sight" to refer to those processes-both real and fantasy based-intended to produce an understanding of the inner states of others (in terms of underlying emotions, feelings, motivations, thoughts, and desires), thereby restoring a degree of transparency to everyday social interactions. The phrase is meant to suggest a dynamic and active process of "seeing within," through which one attempts to gain access to, and understanding of, otherwise occluded conative and cognitive states-particularly those dimensions of the self that are actively hidden from view.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=57749198820&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1548-1352.2008.00025.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1548-1352.2008.00025.x
M3 - Article
VL - 36
SP - 427
EP - 448
JO - Ethos
T2 - Ethos
JF - Ethos
SN - 0091-2131
IS - 4
ER -