What happens when a feeling we assume is a universal human experience is actually shaped, defined, and even created by our specific cultural language and material conditions?
Macquarie University's Future Fellow at the School of Humanities, Dr. Katie Barclay, joins host PJ Wehry to discuss the overlooked complexities of a deeply human emotion.
Dr. Barclay explores the history and cultural variety of this feeling in her book, Loneliness in World History. They examine how loneliness is frequently not just an internal psychological state, but rather a reflection of our relationships with our environment, our community, and the specific language we use to make sense of our world.
In this conversation they explore:
- How the "language trap" challenges our ability to compare emotions across cultures, and why translating words for love and loneliness requires understanding their thick cultural context.
- The surprising nighttime weeping rituals of the Kaluli people in Papua New Guinea, where singing about loneliness serves as a cathartic communal release of pain.
- Why the historical narrative of human "modernization"—moving from supposedly primitive communal selves to modern individualized subjects—carries deeply colonial and problematic assumptions.
- The physiological elements of isolation, including "touch hunger" and how the modern internet trend of Mukbang satiates the deep-seated desire to eat alongside a community.
- How physical places and material architecture—from fairy-tale forests to utopian high-rise flats and car-centric suburbs—actively teach us to feel isolated and shape our emotional experiences.
- The paradox of the "lonely genius," revealing how the supposedly solitary pursuit of art and creativity is fundamentally dependent on an unseen network of community support and labor.
This is a conversation for anyone interested in world history, anthropology, and the humanities who wants to understand the cultural weight behind our everyday emotions and how we can navigate our increasingly isolated, digital modern age.
Make sure to check out Dr. Barclay's book: Loneliness in World History 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1032359811/
Check out our website at chasingleviathan.com
Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud.
These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop.
Timestamps
0:00 Introducing Dr. Katie Barclay
0:48 Why a Love Historian Studied Loneliness
2:07 How to Study Loneliness Across Cultures
4:03 The Language Trap in Emotion and Translation
5:34 Imperialism, Medicine, and Measuring Pain
7:01 Thick Cultural Definitions of Emotion
8:43 Humor, Culture, and Everyday Misunderstandings
10:34 Defining Loneliness as Pain and Social Mismatch
13:01 Questioning Modern Western Psychology on Loneliness
14:07 Kaluli Ritual of Shared Grief and Loneliness
16:44 Community Survival and Existential Loneliness
20:15 Modernization Narratives and the Communal Self
23:36 East/West Stereotypes about Self and Loneliness
27:17 Philosophers, Hunger, and the Limits of Elite Theory
30:45 Bodies, Touch, Hunger, and the Physiology of Loneliness
32:22 Forests, Liminal Spaces, and Emotional Landscapes
36:03 Colonization, Land Displacement, and Indigenous Loneliness
38:12 Suburbs, High Rise Flats, and Designed Isolation
44:48 Solitude, Creativity, and the Myth of the Lone Genius
49:08 Closing Thoughts
