In Pursuit of the Good Life: Aspiration and Suicide in Globalizing South India

Description

Once celebrated as a model development for its progressive social indicators, the southern Indian state of Kerala has earned the new distinction as the nation's suicide capital, with suicide rates soaring to triple the national average since 1990. Rather than an aberration on the path to development and modernity, Keralites understand this crisis to be the bitter fruit borne of these historical struggles and the aspirational dilemmas they have produced in everyday life. Suicide, therefore, offers a powerful lens onto the experiential and affective dimensions of development and global change in the postcolonial world. In the long shadow of fear and uncertainty that suicide casts in Kerala, living acquires new meaning and contours. In this powerful ethnography, Jocelyn Chua draws on years of fieldwork to broaden the field of vision beyond suicide as the termination of life, considering how suicide generates new ways of living in these anxious times. upso-9780520281158-miscMatter-001 Title Pages Jocelyn Lim Chua Title Pages (p.i) In Pursuit of the Good Life (p.iii) In Pursuit of the Good Life Title Pages upso-9780520281158-miscMatter-002 Endorsement Jocelyn Lim Chua Endorsement upso-9780520281158-miscMatter-005 Dedication Jocelyn Lim Chua Dedication upso-9780520281158-miscMatter-007 (p.ix) Acknowledgments Jocelyn Lim Chua (p.ix) Acknowledgments (p.ix) Acknowledgments (p.ix) Acknowledgments Additional Acknowledgments upso-9780520281158-miscMatter-008 (p.xiii) Note Jocelyn Lim Chua (p.xiii) Note upso-9780520281158-chapter-001 Introduction Jocelyn Lim Chua Introduction Jocelyn Lim Chua Abstract and Keywords Introduction Precarious Lives Introduction Introduction Introduction Refusing Life in a Needy Nation Introduction Introduction Life not Worthy of Living? Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction The Good Life Introduction Introduction Living in a Time of Suicide Introduction Introduction Accountabilities Introduction Introduction Notes: Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction upso-9780520281158-chapter-002 Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Jocelyn Lim Chua Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Jocelyn Lim Chua Abstract and Keywords Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Bitter Fruit Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Unhappy Developments in India’s Developmental Miracle Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Consuming Desires Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea A “Return” to the Happy Family Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea “We Get Agitated at these Developments” Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Disordered States Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Notes: Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea Between the Devil and the Deep Sea upso-9780520281158-chapter-003 Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Jocelyn Lim Chua Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Jocelyn Lim Chua Abstract and Keywords Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops The Making of a Crisis Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops At the Razor’s Edge Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops The Faustian Bargain of Transnational Households Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Idealizations of the Contented and Invulnerable Poor Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Immune to Desire? Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Eating Pills to Fill the Stomach Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops The “Problem” of Suicidal Fraudulence Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Parental Aspiration and Suicide as Traveling Sign Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops The Death of Desire Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Notes: Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops Gazing at the Stars, Aiming for the Treetops upso-9780520281158-chapter-004 Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Jocelyn Lim Chua Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Jocelyn Lim Chua Abstract and Keywords Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Individual Death, Social Pathology Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell (p.89) Ajith’s Memo Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Kanthamma’s Testament Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Rumors of What “Really” Happened Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Ghost Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell An Unidentified Body Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell “Social” Suffering Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Notes: Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell Tales the Dead Are Made to Tell upso-9780520281158-chapter-005 Care-full Acts Jocelyn Lim Chua Care-full Acts Jocelyn Lim Chua Abstract and Keywords Care-full Acts Care-full Acts Troubling Suicide Care-full Acts Care-full Acts A Decent Girl Care-full Acts Care-full Acts Care-full Acts Precious Child Care-full Acts Care-full Acts Care-full Acts Care-full Acts Love’s Disenchantments Care-full Acts Care-full Acts Care-full Acts Care-full Acts Vanishing Points Care-full Acts Notes: Care-full Acts Care-full Acts Care-full Acts Care-full Acts upso-9780520281158-chapter-006 Anywhere but Here Jocelyn Lim Chua Anywhere but Here Jocelyn Lim Chua Abstract and Keywords Anywhere but Here Anywhere but Here Trapped Anywhere but Here Anywhere but Here Anywhere but Here Leaving is the Only Way to Live Anywhere but Here Anywhere but Here “Choosing” Uncertainty Anywhere but Here Anywhere but Here (p.146) Exile at Home and Practices of Not Belonging Anywhere but Here Anywhere but Here Attaining “Malayali-Ness” Anywhere but Here Anywhere but Here Anywhere but Here Broken Promises Anywhere but Here Anywhere but Here Anywhere but Here A Space of Death Anywhere but Here Notes: Anywhere but Here Anywhere but Here upso-9780520281158-chapter-007 Fit for the Future Jocelyn Lim Chua Fit for the Future Jocelyn Lim Chua Abstract and Keywords Fit for the Future Fit for the Future Population Quality and the “Return” of Weak Children Fit for the Future Fit for the Future Fit for the Future Broiler Children and the Loss of the World in Miniature Fit for the Future Fit for the Future Cutting the Strings Fit for the Future Fit for the Future Playgrounds, Quality Time, and Object Lessons Fit for the Future Fit for the Future Courage and Confidence for a Global Future Fit for the Future Fit for the Future Fit for the Future Parent Trap Fit for the Future Fit for the Future Fit for the Future Grown in the Fire Fit for the Future Notes: Fit for the Future Fit for the Future Fit for the Future upso-9780520281158-chapter-008 Afterword Jocelyn Lim Chua Afterword Jocelyn Lim Chua Abstract and Keywords Afterword Afterword Afterword Afterword Notes: Afterword upso-9780520281158-bibliography-001 (p.219) References Jocelyn Lim Chua (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References (p.219) References upso-9780520281158-indexList-001 (p.237) Index Jocelyn Lim Chua (p.237) Index (p.237) Index (p.237) Index (p.237) Index (p.237) Index (p.237) Index (p.237) Index (p.237) Index