Ekman

Katherine Brown (kbrown who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu)
Wed, 27 Mar 1996 11:16:02 -0800 (PST)

Hi colleagues, and a request for help.
I am on a list where there is a scuffle going on over whether or not
smiling is a universal human affect display of pleasure, submission,
etc. I am watching people bash each other over the head about whether
or not is is "vulgar marxism" to say that smiling for the camera, smiling
in front of photographers, etc. is a recent, western, industrial, bourgeois
phenomenon, whether or not people behave for cameras/photographers
differently, etc.
Someone named Jay Ruby is invoking Paul Ekman as the final word on
smiling and human development in a particularly arch and dismissive
way. I will suggest Mescheryakov's work on the development of the
deaf and blind (wherein he refers to the facial expression we might
call a smile) fixed on faces that are not social displays of happiness.
Is there more knowledge out there on responses/challenges/ on Ekman's
work?
Thanks in Advance.
Katherine Brown