Sensual feasting: Transforming spaces and emotions in Lihir

Abstract

This chapter explores how shifts between differing emotions are mediated spatially and sensually. Drawing on Hochschild's (1979) concepts of 'feeling rules' and 'emotion work', the chapter questions how spatial and sensual aspects of social events may evoke particular emotions and, in turn, how feeling rules for social situations may be transformed in the process. I focus on the case of events surrounding a project for women's development in Lihir, Papua New Guinea, in the early 2000s. One form of anger, a simmering withdrawal, was changed to open conflict following a large feast to mark the opening of a sewing centre. The sensuality of feasting, with its sounds, smells, tastes and crowds, allowed women to take ownership of the centre and of their right to openly express hostility. This case allows for critical reflection on the concept of feeling rules in a setting that places less emphasis on individual emotional management and more on social relatedness.