Happiness in the Amazon: Concepts and Everyday Causes of Happiness among the Tsimane’ Indigenous People in the Bolivian Amazon

Researchers agree that most people value happiness, but they debate whether happiness is universal or varies according to culture. A major setback in the research on cultural explanations of happiness is its bias toward industrial societies, urban areas of the developing word, and student populations. In this chapter, I explore explanations of happiness among the Tsimane’ Indigenous People of the Bolivian Amazon. Data were collected through participant observation, free listings, and surveys. Free listings captured elements of the concept of happiness among the Tsimane’, whereas the surveys captured the reasons that made the respondents feel happy. According to free listings, the Tsimane’ sense of happiness centers on social relations (i.e., spending time with close family, drinking home-brewed beer, having visitors) and on success in subsistence activities (i.e., hunting, fishing, agriculture). Neither wealth, nor money, or participation in market-based activities (e.g., buying and selling) appear as important sources of happiness for the Tsimane’. Frequency of responses varied between Tsimane’ living near to and far from the market town, with social interaction being more commonly cited as a reason for happiness among those living far from the market town. By exploring Indigenous People’s perspectives on the drivers of happiness, this work helps to provide a more accurate, complete and balanced overview of Indigenous Peoples’ happiness.