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Tranquilo Notions of Happiness and Well-Being in Rural and Urban Paraguay

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Tranquilo Notions of Happiness and Well-Being in Rural and Urban Paraguay Todo Tranquilo Notions of Happiness and Well-Being in Rural and Urban Paraguay Fredrikke Herlofson Lunde Master thesis Department of Social Anthropology University of Oslo Spring 2018 © Fredrikke Herlofson Lunde 2018 Todo Tranquilo: Notions of Happiness and Well-Being in Rural and Urban Paraguay. Fredrikke Herlofson Lunde http://www.duo.uio.no Print: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo ii Abstract The world leading survey company Gallup ranked Paraguay the world's happiest country in 2015 (Clifton, 2014). Through my fieldwork during the first six months of 2017, I wished to review and investigate this conclusion critically. How is it that one of the world's poorest countries is also the happiest? What constitutes happiness for the people of the small town of Altos or the capital of Asunción in Paraguay, and do they perceive themselves as happy? I wanted to discover how people of both rural and urban Paraguay defined the good life and happiness in particular and how they experience and practice this emotional state. Throughout my fieldwork I discovered some characteristics of Paraguayan notions of the good life. Food consumption, family life and labour vs. leisure time are some of the repeating, key concepts of happiness in Paraguay. The Paraguayans I studied emphasised the importance of a good meal; however, I interpret this not merely as the act of consuming food, but I also investigate the social relations implied in this consumption. I never experienced any of my contacts eating alone; they shared their meals amongst family and often the extended kin. They did not merely eat and live together, but also worked together. I argue that balancing work and having enough money to fulfil their needs, and leisure to spend nurturing social relations, having a “tranquilo” life and attend or host “asados” were essential components. To better understand these topics, one needs to have an understanding of Paraguayan history and politics. A history consisting of colonialism, several devastating wars, dictatorships, massive financial and infrastructural flourishing and a following recession, has shaped the present Paraguay in several different ways. It has also affected Paraguayans notion of the good life, with the death of approximately 90 percent of the male population during the Triple Alliance War (1864-1870), and the resulting gender imbalance, amongst other. All of these factors are pivotal for Paraguayans notion of happiness, well-being and the good life. Keywords Happiness, Well-being, Good life, Paraguay, Surveys, Food, Gender, Family, Labour, Relations iii “To study the institutions, customs, and codes or to study the behaviour and mentality without the subjective desire of feeling by what these people live, of realizing the substance of their happiness – is, in my opinion, to miss the greatest reward which we can hope to obtain from the study of man”. (Malinowski, 1984 [1922], p. 25). iv Acknowledgements First, I want to thank my great friends in Paraguay who answered all my strange questions, allowed me to live with them and follow their every move. Without their openness and hospitality this project would have been unbearable and fruitless. To my advisor Arnd Schneider for having faith in this project. Thank you for the encouragement, guidance, great knowledge and thorough reading, it has been vital. To Andrew Nickson, for sharing time and thoughts with me over a cup of mate cocido in a café in Asunción. And for all his great books and texts, the Paraguay Reader in particular has been a massive source of inspiration and information. I am forever grateful for the invaluable feedback and support from my boyfriend, for aiding and assisting me every step along the way. Thank you. And to his family, for allowing me to live with them, providing access and insight. To my own family for their curiousness, for discussing the project with me and forcing me think. Especially thanks to my brother for the great discussions and knowledge. To my fellow students who have become my close friends through this strange and tough process. The help, both academically, personally and mentally, before, during and after fieldwork has helped me immensely. With the break room as our free-space for encouraging, crying, laughing and dancing. Thank you all. v vi Table of contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................v 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 Aim of the thesis.................................................................................................................1 Introducing the field ...........................................................................................................1 Geography, biggest towns and social composition ..............................................................2 Altos ...................................................................................................................................4 Economy, main industries and who owns what. ..................................................................5 Class differences and inequality ..........................................................................................6 Introduction to my hosts .....................................................................................................7 The García family ...........................................................................................................8 The Santos’ .....................................................................................................................9 The Johnson family....................................................................................................... 10 Happiness, well-being and the good life ............................................................................ 11 Outline of chapters ........................................................................................................... 12 2. Theoretical framework and method ............................................................................... 15 Why research on well-being is relevant ............................................................................. 16 Surveys............................................................................................................................. 16 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 18 Participate and observe ................................................................................................. 19 Interviews ..................................................................................................................... 20 Photos ........................................................................................................................... 20 Roles and arenas ............................................................................................................... 21 Ethical implications .......................................................................................................... 21 Gender .......................................................................................................................... 22 Nationality .................................................................................................................... 22 vii Theoretical approaches ..................................................................................................... 23 News, history and the importance of reading .................................................................... 24 3. Paraguayan history and politics ..................................................................................... 25 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 25 Timeline ........................................................................................................................... 26 Colonization ..................................................................................................................... 28 Jesuit era........................................................................................................................... 29 Independence, El Supremo and the 19th century ................................................................ 31 Triple Alliance War .......................................................................................................... 32 The Chaco War ................................................................................................................. 34 Stroessner’s dictatorship ................................................................................................... 34 Lugo and the “new dawn”................................................................................................. 36 EPP – Paraguayan people’s army ...................................................................................... 36 Present .............................................................................................................................. 38 “Only poor people go to jail” ........................................................................................ 39
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