The ecosocial self, place, and well-being: An ethnographic case study with Maasai women from northern Tanzania

Abstract

This article expands on “ecosocial” theories to consider the importance of the “ecosocial self” as a relevant theoretical construct for understanding and enhancing well-being among individuals whose sense of self is intimately intertwined with their ecological context or place, such as their land and livestock. This concept emerged from long-term ethnographic research with Maasai women in northern Tanzania. Fieldnotes, unstructured interviews with 71 women in a nonclinical community sample, and feedback from key informants inform this manuscript. Place-based stress on the land and livestock related to the local climate seems to be a driver of emotional distress for the female pastoralists in this study. Attending to the “ecosocial self,” or the part of a person who experiences themselves as intimately tied with their place (here, land and livestock) offers new solutions, especially in a social context where emotional distress is not interpreted as a sign of mental illness. The article concludes with recommendations about addressing mental health concerns related to place-based stress through interventions that seem to have nourished the “ecosocial self” in other contexts, such as land-based and animal-based interventions.