Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
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This thesis is a visual and reflexive auto-ethnographic exploration of the meaning of happiness on Curaçao. Through in-depth interviews and go-alongs, the researcher investigates how personal...Show moreThis thesis is a visual and reflexive auto-ethnographic exploration of the meaning of happiness on Curaçao. Through in-depth interviews and go-alongs, the researcher investigates how personal experience, social relationships, and cultural context intersect and shape individual conceptions and experiences of happiness. Additionally, by means of an auto-ethnographic diary the researcher reflects on how she emerged herself in and reflected on her interlocutors’ approaches to finding this happiness. The thesis also includes an audiovisual component which functions as a complimentary constitute to introduce the viewer to the researcher and interlocutors. In this film, the most significant part of each interview in accordance with the research question is depicted, as well as auto-ethnographic reflections of the researcher before and after her fieldwork period. The interviews revealed a triad of concepts - setting, values and mindset - as central to the life philosophies and conceptions of happiness among the interlocutors. The main auto- ethnographic findings from the diary are that the researcher has gradually started to value more eudemonic forms of happiness during her fieldwork. However, the limited auto-ethnographic data available from the research diary hampers considerably the ability to develop more comprehensive anthropological insights. Lastly, the researcher concludes with a methodological argumentation on the significance of using auto-ethnography as a relevant method for researching happiness, and reflects on the strengths and pitfalls of her own execution in this approach.Show less
