Friendship

Michael Jackson

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 2023

Friendship

Michael Jackson

https://doi.org/10.9783/9781512824292

Overview
Contents

About this book

Drawing on philosophy, biography, ethnography, and literature to explore the meanings and affordances of friendship—a relationship just as significant as, yet somehow different from, kinship and love—renowned anthropologist Michael Jackson shows us how the elective affinities of friendship transcend culture, gender, and age.

In this book, renowned anthropologist Michael Jackson draws on philosophy, biography, ethnography, and literature to explore the meanings and affordances of friendship—a relationship just as significant as, yet somehow different from, kinship and love. Beginning with Aristotle’s accounts of friendship as a political virtue and Montaigne’s famous essay on friendship as a form of love, Jackson examines the tension between the political and personal resonances of friendship in the philosophy of Hannah Arendt, the biography of the Indian historian Brijen Gupta, and the oral narratives of a Kuranko storyteller, Keti Ferenke Koroma. He offers reflections on childhood friends, imaginary friends, lifelong friendships, and friendships with animals. He ruminates particularly on the complications of friendship in the context of anthropological fieldwork, exploring the contradiction between the egalitarian spirit of friendship on the one hand and, on the other, the power imbalance between ethnographers and their interlocutors.

Through these stories, Jackson explores the unpredictable interplay of mutability and mutuality in intimate human relationships, and the critical importance of choice in forming friendship—what it means to be loyal to friends through good times and bad, and even in the face of danger. Through a blend of memoir, theory, ethnography, and fiction, Jackson shows us how the elective affinities of friendship transcend culture, gender, and age, and offer us perennial means of taking stock of our lives and getting a measure of our own self-worth.

Author / Editor information

Jackson Michael :

Michael Jackson is Senior Research Fellow in World Religions at Harvard Divinity School.Michael Jackson is Senior Research Fellow in World Religions at Harvard Divinity School.

Reviews

"A compelling exploration of friendship, rich with insights and astute anthropological and philosophical reflections. Friendship offers a highly original treatment of an important topic in clear and incisive terms. I know of no other work that examines the many diverse aspects of friendship in people’s lives in such rich and informed ways."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Prologue Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Part I. The Politics of Friendship
Chapter 1. Oases of Friendship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 2. A Society of Friends Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
Chapter 3. No Man Is an Island Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
Chapter 4. Friendships in the Field Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	30
Chapter 5. Man’s Best Friend Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
Part II. Personal Friendship
Chapter 6. Elective Affinities Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
Chapter 7. Where Is the Friend’s House? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
Chapter 8. Childhood Friendships Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
Chapter 9. Imaginary Friends Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
Chapter 10. The Saronic Gulf Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
Chapter 11. A Soldier’s Story Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
Chapter 12. The Other in Oneself Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Chapter 13. A Plaited Rope, Entire from Source to Mouth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
Chapter 14. Friends and Familiars Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
Chapter 15. Objects in the Rearview Mirror (Are Closer Than They Appear) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
Chapter 16. The Rock and Pillar Range Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
Chapter 17. Love and Friendship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
Chapter 18. Fictive Friendship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
Chapter 19. Reunion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
Coda. All for One, and One for All Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199