Unnatural Emotions:

Everyday Sentiments on a Micronesian Atoll and their Challenge to Western

Theory

By Catherine A. Lutz

An Evaluative Essay

Megan Willy
October 2004
 Evaluative Essay: Unnatural Emotions

Unnatural Emotions: Everyday Sentiments on a Micronesian Atoll and their Challenge to

Western Theory
By Catherine A. Lutz
An Evaluative Essay
Western culture and the culture of other non-Western societies treat psychologies
and emotions extremely differently. All too often, it is hard for people to break cultural
barriers, consequently claiming that other’s emotions are comparable to their own
cultural experiences with these same emotions. This comparison is simply erroneous.
Catherine A. Lutz’s book, Unnatural Emotions, has a purpose that is two-fold. First, she
attempts to “deconstruct an overly naturalized and rigidly bounded concept of emotion, to
treat emotion as an ideological practice rather than as a thing to be discovered or an
essence to be distilled” (4). Secondly, the book “demonstrates how emotional meaning is
fundamentally structured by particular cultural systems and particular social and material
environments” (5). Essentially, Catherine A. Lutz’s book, Unnatural Emotions, analyzes
how individuals’ emotional encounters are defined by their cultural experience.
Catherine A. Lutz was an assistant professor of anthropology at the State
University of New York, Binghamton. She completed fieldwork with the people on the
Micronesian island, Ifaluk, in order to study the links between culture and emotion. The
origins of her project began with the changes of the American gender system and turn to
feminism in the 1970s (15). The anthropologist’s observations of how emotions are
culturally constructed led her to interest in the cultural constructions of other’s emotions.
Her focus was on those of women versus men. Once on the island, she lives in the Ifaluk
“chief of foreigners” and head of the Kovalu clan, Tamalekar’s, home. There, she
conducted research mainly dealing with the female inhabitants of the island. (She was
neither accepted into the male realm, nor welcome at their political meetings.)
Lutz presents many cultural aspects of the Ifaluk society. This information is
important because it lays the foundation for her conclusions about cultural ties to
emotion. The history of the people of Ifaluk, roles of females on their island, treatment
of guests, and living conditions are the focus of her cultural discussion.
The history of the Ifaluk is much like that of many small Pacific Island people. It
is marked by continued invasion by strangers, the colonization of exploring nations, and

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the resultant struggles that the people were forced to endure. Natural disasters also
present challenges throughout the Ifaluk Islander’s history. This history created unique
differences in Ifaluk society and caused their emotions to be hardly comparable with
Western concepts of emotion.
The Ifaluk people migrated from Polynesia. The actual time period of this
occurrence is arguable. Alkire claims it happened before 1300 AD. However,
Rubinstein believes that the migration occurred in the earliest centuries of the first
millennium. Regardless of time period, this migration isolated the people from any large
landmass forcing their independence of other sources of materials. They became very
self-sufficient and used the natural resources found on the island for survival.
Typhoons are a catastrophic event for the people of Ifaluk. In Lutz’s research, the
people were still feeling the affects of two storms occurring in 1958 and 1975. These
storms not only have the ability to kill humans, but they wipe out many of the resources
the Ifaluk rely on for daily supplies. A network with the nearby islands of Woleai,
Faraulep, Elato, Satawal, Lamotrek, Eauripik, and the volcanic Yap provides exchange of
goods and intermarriage to take place, especially in the case of a typhoon.
The Spanish contact in 1521 marked the first invasion of outsiders on the peaceful
Ifaluk Island. Later, in 1805, trade between the Spanish Marianas and Carolines was a
major source of food when Ifaluk was experiencing the devastating typhoon strife. A
British missionary, James Wilson, makes observations of the workings of their society in
1802, depicting the influence of such missionaries at this time. American contact is
notably substantial in the 19th century when the whaling industry was at its height.
Germany purchased Ifaluk from Spain in 1898. This was the beginning of a long
history of exploitation of commercial and agricultural potential for the Ifaluk. Labor
recruitment of Germans and Japanese lead to Ifaluk slavery in the phosphate mines of
Angaur and Fais. Japan quickly gained control and lost it when America took Ifaluk.
1960s colonialism affected all of the Pacific Islands. Peace Corps workers educated the
children of the island by establishing schools. This history caused countless influences
on the Ifaluk’s way of life. One influence involves the roles of females in Ifaluk society.
Females are seen as the needy (gafago) sex on the island. They require the help
of other, more powerful persons. Unsurprisingly, these powerful persons are the men,

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namely their brothers and husbands. Ifaluk women look to men for protection from
physical dangers and aggressors. Consequently, women are subordinate and respectful to
those powerful protectors. Their behavior in the presence of men portrays this respect
and subordination. Women bend over at the waist when passing men. The most
dramatic action of respect is performed between sisters and brothers. Women crawl on
hands and knees past their sitting brothers so that their heads will not be higher than
theirs. (35) Women are also expected to be privately sexual and do not show affection
publicly.
Despite these seemingly negative attitudes towards women on the island, females
in fact have a high status and an important role to play. Descent is matrilineal. Women
also benefit from the support of mothers, sisters, and others when coming into a marriage
where men must only come with material wealth and leave their families behind.
In addition to experiencing treatment of women in Ifaluk society on a personal
level, Lutz also was treated as a guest on the island. When visiting Ifaluk, one is
expected to dress and act as a member of the society. They live with a host family and
become a member for the remainder of their stay. Hosts are responsible for all of the
actions and socialization of the visitors. They constantly worry about their activities and
proper behaviors, wanting them to stay close to home and not cause embarrassment for
the household. Households are quite big and people have close living quarters because of
the limited available space on the island. Thus, extended family is recognized and valued
in Ifaluk culture.
With this cultural framework, Catherine Lutz then presents extensive
psychological material about the Ifaluk people in comparison with Western psychological
ideology. First, she explores the Western psychological view of emotion. She claims
this view has somewhat negative characteristics. She states that Western emotion is
defined by its negative estrangement, irrationality, uncontrollability, dangerousness,
physicality, nature, femaleness, and value. In addition, an important concept unique to
Western psychology is that it found within the boundaries of a person (56). Her text
explores each assertion.
Emotions cause negative estrangement or disengagement. The anthropologist
investigates this theory by offering some descriptive contrasts. Life versus death is the

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first. In other words, to be alive in Western culture is to have emotion. The dead are
unable to feel or interact. Thus, relationship against individualism is the next contrast.
Interactions with others cause emotions. To be individualistic is to have an emotionless
front. Furthermore, emotions are subjective versus the objective. In addition, females
are inferior because of their handicapping emotional nature. It supposedly affects their
decision-making and rationality.
Emotions are irrational. “To be emotional is to fail to process information
rationally and to undermine the possibilities for sensible or intelligent action” (60). Lutz
says that Westerners think that emotions inhibit clear thinking. She says, “Emotions tend
predominantly to lead either erroneous judgment and hence senseless, irrational actions,
or remain internal feeling states which organize no action, initiate no problem solving,
and constitute no rationality” (60). Perhaps because of this irrationality associated with
emotions, they are unintended and uncontrollable. Euro-Americans use such metaphors
as “under the influence of emotions, helplessly in love, hopelessly confused, and crimes
of passion” (62-63) to demonstrate this ideal.
Emotions are dangerous and leave a person vulnerable to the world. Rationality is
predictable whereas irrationality is uncontrollable, unpredictable, and dangerous. Lutz
elaborates, “because a rational individual does what is ‘sensible,’ she or he is also
predictable and, therefore, safe” (64). In fact, she goes on to say that the “link to
weakness is an expression of the ideological role of the culturally constructed split
between emotion and thought” (65). This is the essence of her point about emotion as
weakness.
Emotion is physical and natural. Catherine Lutz refers to the anthropologist,
Tomkin, to explain this theory. His claims state, “affects [emotions] are sets of muscular
and glandular responses located in the face and also widely distributed throughout the
body, which generate sensory feedback that is either inherently ‘acceptable’ or
‘unacceptable’” (66). The concept that emotion originates in a biological and physical
way is a common belief in Western thought. Perhaps because one internalizes their
emotions, they affect the body’s internal organs. This concept of emotion as physicality
relates to the idea that emotion is natural, not cultural or a learned aspect of humanity.

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Lutz argues that Westerners believe that emotions are precultural facts and features of
biological heritage, not cultural heritage (67).
Emotion is subjective and female. In the Western world, emotions cause biased
and irrational thinking, thus are subjective. Females are more likely to be motional and
therefore subjective and irrational opposed to the Western male. Maleness means
maintaining a rational, objective demeanor. Compared to women and any other minority,
men are the most valuable thinkers. The more “primitive” females and minorities are too
emotional and subjective to be trusted to make rational decisions. Thus, emotion shows a
system of value.
After exploring Western psychological ideology, Catherine Lutz presents material
concerning Ifaluk psychology. When compared with Western thought, the Ifaluk
nation’s treatment of emotion strongly supports her thesis that emotion is a culturally
defined aspect of human nature. She first presents information about the Ifaluk culture’s
personhood, undivided self, body, behavior, development, and moral concepts.
Immediately following this material, Lutz describes the emotions of fago and justifiable
anger. The cultural construction of danger is then detailed before Lutz makes her
conclusions about emotion and culture.
First, Lutz explores the Ifaluk’s beliefs about personhood. They claim that the
self comes into existence when a person is six to seven months old. Thus, if a child dies
in the early stages of life, it is easier for families to say goodbye. Material goods are
shared among the community members and referred to as communal objects; however,
clothing is a sign of sexuality and a private possession. Statements are always made in
the collective, otherwise, the speaker is deemed egocentric. An example depicts this
“rule” in Ifaluk culture: incorrect: “Do you (all) want to come with me to get drinking
water?” (88), correct: “We’ll go get water now, O.K.?” (88). Furthermore, Lutz says that
Ifaluk “people are frequently characterized as ‘following the thoughts/feelings’ of others;
in doing so, they take on the attitudes, angers, or plans of the other” (88). In sum, the
Ifaluk culture is unified and community-based in nature. The people refer to themselves
in the context of the entire community. Individualism is not valued. In order to maintain
peace, the tribe avoids referring to a singular, first person “I”. Instead, they refer to the
whole group using “we”.

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“In marked contrast to Western ethno psychology, sharp distinctions are not made
between thought and emotion, between the head and the heart, or between a conscious
and an unconscious mind” (91). This strong emotion is uniformly called nunuwan, or
thought and emotion. Nunuwan originates in the gut and refers to many feelings and used
in many different settings. Tip is what the Ifaluk use to talk about will, emotion, and
desire. Others follow one’s tip as a sign of intimacy and loyalty. Expression is extremely
important in this culture and should not be stifled. It may cause somatic discomfort if not
communicated to others. “Emotion, thought, and body are seen in ethno theory as
intimately linked though their roles in illness” (100).
The body is closely linked to thoughts and feelings in Ifaluk culture. It is not
simply biologically functional. The body is divided in to ubwash or the upper torso and
the sagash or the abdominal region. (98) Heart, liver, stomach, and brain organs are
seen sometimes as the origin of psychological and physical processes. The gut is the
traditional seat of thought, feeling, and will. It is the link between the mind and the body
and the core of the self in both physical and mental functions (99).
The Ifaluk believe they are responsible for the morality of one another. In fact,
“the extent to which other people are sometimes seen as the ultimate sources of one’s
own behavior often means that the responsibility for one’s eternal state lies with the
other” (103). An individual’s tip is spoken of as the reason for an action (103). If this
desire is egocentric or immoral, the behavior is unacceptable. Craziness is used to
describe the reasoning behind some people’s actions—it is the opposite of social
intelligence.
Lutz describes a “coming into social intelligence,” or socialization process next in
her literature. At five or six, children are socially inept and are still in the process of
learning correct social behavior. This process begins with weaning when the child is two
years old. When fully socialized, children are responsible for learning adult tasks. “The
most important point of discontinuity in the life cycle in Ifaluk ethnology occurs with the
gaining of social intelligence at around age six. Although still called children, they are
treated just like adults in many respects” (109). Finally, at death, an Ifaluk dies away
from the living. Those left behind struggle with this loss.

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The meaning of the emotion fago is rightfully discussed next. Fago is sought by
the Ifaluk and is the responsibility to nurture the less fortunate at times of illness, death,
kinlessness, and other forms of need. Lutz says, “what makes the concept of fago an
appropriate marker is the expectation that the sick person is suffering and in need, not
only of recovery, but of elaborate and constant care of others” (122). She then goes on to
describe fago in times of illness through the story of Gachipemar’s sickness. “The fago
that begins in illness is intensified when death occurs, and the experience is described as
that of a ‘ripping stomach’” (125). Thus, the anthropologist describes the connection
between emotions and biological discomfort. The story of Thomas’ death and funeral
elaborates how the Ifaluk cope with illness resulting in death.
To be without kin is the worst fate of the Ifaluk people and the time where fago is
most certainly expected. Kin represents companionship and social and economic support
and survival, especially concerning food and nourishment. “The parent-child relationship
is, along with that between brothers and sisters, the most frequently understood with the
concept of fago” (131). Another form of need that was described in Lutz’s depiction of
fago was shame and embarrassment (men are more susceptible to this shame than
women). Discomfort with being the center of attention, preventing violence, preventing
suicidal violence, and drinking (a taboo subject) were the other forms of need in the
Ifaluk culture. The ideal Ifaluk person is tied to the emotion of fago because a this person
creates fago within others. The good and gentle person is the most valued in the Ifaluk
nation. “The calm or gentle person is the epitome of the good person in Ifaluk” (141).
Compassion is a part of fago because it is oriented towards an action done for the good of
the needy. It is not simply enough to feel fago for others.
In comparing the meaning of fago to American’s meanings of love and sadness,
the American translation is not quite adequate. In American understanding, love is the
“idealization of the other, has a sudden onset, invokes physiological arousal, and
commitment to the other” (145). American love requires a target. In the Ifaluk’s
understanding, fago is “much more often an assessment of the inequality of ability and
resources and status between two people” (146). The Ifaluk’s view of death is similar to
a Western view of death because it is a grievous loss and can leave the living weakened
and profoundly saddened. (148)

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The practice of fago could possibly relate to the need of order on such a small
island. In order to live in harmony, the Ifaluk show mutual regard for the upbringing of
the young, responsibility between siblings, and adopt children regularly in the
community. The concept of fago “indicates something about the strength of ties that
exist among all of the people on the atoll” (151).
“Justifiable anger” or song is another emotion that is an indicator of moral
behavior in the Ifaluk nation. There must be immediate communication of the emotional
position (175) and it must be directly followed by some “performance of semiformal
‘emotional counseling’ by someone close to the angry person (175). This anger is used to
show rank and dominance, everyday values, social changes, and moral situations.
First, it is the chiefly anger used between the ranking officers of the island and the
commonplace Ifaluk. If a taboo is violated or a traditional law disobeyed, people point to
the song of the chiefs on the island. (158) Justifiable anger is strongly associated with
the chiefs because they are the moral arbiters on the island. This anger is also felt when a
person has failed to live up to his or her obligation to share with others in everyday
actions (160). This shows the Ifaluk value of community and need for unification. In
moral situations, song causes fear in the person to whom it is directed and it is the way
the Ifaluk discipline and socializes their youth. Also in a family context, song is used to
show domination in the stratified society. This “justifiable anger” depicts the regular
exercise of power and struggles that occur on Ifaluk (170) between brothers and sisters,
generations, and younger women.
Anger is a very different concept in Western terminology. In American English,
anger is used when a person is injured, offended, or restrained from desirable actions.
Personal restraint violates the moral principles of freedom. The sequence of American
anger that Lutz gives is the offending event followed by anger followed by an attempt at
control followed by loss of control followed by an act of retribution. This sequence is
undeniably different for the Ifaluk. In Ifaluk, “justifiable anger” produces fear, moral
condemnation, and is morally obligatory for mature people (181).
Finally, Lutz concludes her discussion of the Ifaluk’s psyche by describing the
use of fear and danger in their society. Fear is used to describe oneself as “harmless,
conformist, or desirous of the company of others” (206). Thus, it is a positive emotion.

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It is also used to discipline and teach children moral values. Fear is used in regards to the
stranger, spirits, threat of physical injury or death, interpersonal violence, other’s
justifiable anger, and the unexpected. There is some gender variation in the perception of
threat. Women are expected to be afraid and men are expected to protect them, however,
men also experience fear.
The stranger invokes fear in the Ifaluk by causing afraid or anxious feelings when
an alien is present in the household. In Lutz’s perception, “one of the most fundamental
contradictions in the Ifaluk sociocultural system involves the perception of others as both
nurturing and dangerous” (185). This may be true because others were also described as
part of the society and included as family. Spirits are a cause of fear because they may
signify obligations to the relative that had been unfulfilled before death. Spirits lack fago
and emotion and therefore are merciless to the living.
Typhoons, illness, and the death of an infant are examples of the threat of physical
injury or death in Ifaluk culture. In these times, men are expected to be brave in the face
of danger more so than women. Lutz’s description of the fear or interpersonal violence
involves a personal story about a man entering the house and making her afraid. She
screamed and gained approval of her household because of her fear. In addition, “rank,
taboo, and cross-gender interactions are dangerous because each context involves the
potential for justifiable anger” (201) Finally, the unexpected may rightfully cause fear on
the island. The most significant form of fear comes from the unexpected behavior of
others (203). This fear is unlike the English understanding of surprise because Ifaluk fear
is only unpleasant even in the least problematic or serious cases (203).
After this lengthily analysis of Ifaluk psychology, Lutz presents her conclusions
on the broader scope of culture and psychology. She theorizes: “Everyday life on Ifaluk
demonstrates how shared ways of thinking and speaking about emotion help order lives
and how emotional meaning is a social and cultural achievement” (210). About foreign
observers and their emotional theories, Lutz says that one must leave their culture behind
to understand the emotions of people in a different cultural context. “By
unselfconsciously using the category of emotion and categories of discrete emotions that
have been drawn into the analysis simultaneously, there to reconstruct the emotional lives
of members of other cultures” (219). Furthermore, she talks about culture and ideology

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in academic emotion theory. “No amount of conceptual reworking will prevent the
imposition of assorted contemporary western ideas about the nature of the person, of
rationality, and of morality onto the experience of others. However, reflection can help
to mitigate the effect of their use by removing them into the cultural and historical
realms” (225). Collectively, Lutz’s thesis about emotion and culture is that individuals’
emotional encounters are defined by their cultural experience.
Unnatural Emotions was organized in three sections. The introduction described
the inspiration of Lutz’s anthropological expedition, gave a basic layout of her claim on
culture and its ties with emotion, and identified the Ifaluk’s historical contexts. The
second section gave differences with Western and Ifaluk’s views of emotion and self. It
described Western emotion and thought and depicted its various connotations. Then,
Ifaluk ethno psychological contexts of emotion were described. The third section, “Need,
Violation, and Danger”, defined fago, “justifiable anger”, and cultural danger. Then,
Lutz’s emotional theories were presented. These included local theories of emotion,
foreign observation and their emotional theories, and culture and ideology in academia.
In my opinion, Unnatural Emotions was a good book. Despite Lutz’s excessive
preaching in some areas and lack of reference to her anthropological project in the first
half of the book, the book had more significant strengths. She made very supported
conclusions at the end and referred back to much of her previous speculation when
making these final clear conclusions. She also maintained a focused and organized
presentation of information that she intended to include in the book. On a whole, I feel
that this book was very successful at supporting her conclusion that an individual’s
emotional encounters are defined by their cultural experience.

Lutz, Catherine A. Unnatural Emotions: Everyday Sentiments on a Micronesian Atoll

and their Challenge to Western Theory. 1988: The University of Chicago Press,

Chicago.

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