Sleep Around the World Anthropological Perspectives

Although humans sleep for approximately one third of our lives, sleep itself is vastly understudied. As a biological universal, it is easy to overlook the degree to which culture shapes how we sleep, with whom we sleep, where and when we sleep, and how we conceptualize sleep. This edited volume explores the cultural dimensions of sleep in different societies around the world today, with the explicit intention of providing a comparative context through which we can understand the myriad ways in which sleep reflects, and literally (as well as metaphorically) embodies culture.

Katie Glaskin is Associate Professor in the Discipline of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Western Australia. Her major publications include the co-edited volumes Customary Land Tenure and Registration in Australia and Papua New Guinea (2007) and Mortality, Mourning and Mortuary Practices in Indigenous Australia (2008).Richard Chenhall is Senior Lecturer in Medical Anthropology in the Centre for Health and Society, Melbourne School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Australia. His major publications include Benelong's Haven: Recovery from Alcohol and Drug Misuse within an Aboriginal Australian Residential Treamtent Centre (2007) and the co-edited The Social Determinants of Indigenous Health (2007).