Yolmo aesthetics of body, health and 'soul loss'

To date, little attention has been paid to the cultural philosophies of experience which shape human behavior. The present paper contends that a culturally constituted 'aesthetics' of everyday life underlies moments of health, illness and healing among Yolmo Sherpa of Helambu, Nepal. The author examines cultural understandings of bodily and social experience to show how implicit aesthetics--from values of harmony and balance to fears of loss and decay--shape the ways in which Yolmo manage and evaluate their lives and how they construe and experience incidents of 'soul loss.' An analysis of shamanic ritual suggests, in turn, that while themes of imbalance, fragmentation and deficiency haunt the body in illness, healing works to reinstate a visceral sense of harmony, completion and vitality. These values reflect pressing political concerns. The paper concludes that a phenomenology of embodied aesthetics requires an analytic approach distinct from current semiotic, intellectualist, or psychological paradigms.