Are emotions given by biology or are they learned? Are they the same everywhere, or culturally variable? Research on the emotions tends to be polarized between neo-Darwinian and culturalist perspectives. In this volume, biological and cultural anthropologists attempt to transcend the traditional oppositions, proposing various strategies for integrating biological and cultural approaches to the study of emotion. Discussing a variety of fascinating ethnographic examples, topics range from the effects of music to the relationships between emotion and respiration. The editor's introduction lucidly reviews the state of the field.

1. Introduction: developing a biocultural approach to the emotions Alexander Laban Hinton; Part I. Local Biology: 2. Emotions Carol M. Worthman; 3. Toward an understanding of the universality of second order emotions Daniel M. T. Fassler; 4. Steps to an evolutionary ecology of mind James Chisholm; Part II. Embodiment: 5. Music hath charms ... fragments toward constructionist biocultural theory Iain D. Edgewater; 6. Emotion and embodiment Margot L. Lyon; Part III. Biocultural Synergy: 7. Affecting experience: toward a biocultural model of human emotions Keith McNeal; 8. Making symbols meaningful: a role of human emotions Este Armstrong; 9. Brain and emotion relations in culturally diverse populations Lee Blonder; Part. IV. Systems Theory: 10. Outline of a bioculturally-based 'processual' approach to the emotions Alexander Laban Hinton; 11. Emotion: a biogenetic structural approach Charles Laughlin and Jason Throop.