Experiences of loneliness vary widely across cultures and emerge from a range of situations – loss, displacement, social transformation and unmet expectations among them. How loneliness is felt, understood and responded to is deeply shaped by cultural values around kinship, belonging, autonomy and moral obligation. For some, loneliness is rooted in the absence of human companionship; for others, it reflects a disconnection from places, ancestors or spiritual entities that orient their sense of self and social position.

The four anthropological studies presented below illustrate this diversity. They include: an ethnography of Greenlandic concepts of loneliness in relation to kinship and longing, shaped by seasonal rhythms and ritual return (Flora); a study of youth and suicide in Japan, where loneliness is tied to broader failures of meaning and connection in society (Ozawa-de Silva); an exploration of post-Soviet Moscow, where loneliness stems from the collapse of mutual recognition and social purpose (Parsons); and my own research around ‘aloneness’ in West African migration, where loneliness and detachment become a socially sanctioned mode of self-cultivation (Stasik).

What follows are concise synopses of these works – not as substitutes for the originals, which merit close reading – but as invitations to reflect on the culturally situated ways in which loneliness takes shape.

Janne Flora’s Book

“Wandering Spirits: Loneliness and Longing in Greenland”¹

Janne Flora’s Wandering Spirits presents an intimate account of a Greenlandic Inuit community, revealing how shifting kinship bonds, shaped by the seasonal rhythms of summer and winter, subtly condition experiences of loneliness and longing. A key aspect of the Greenlandic understanding of loneliness is its deep connection to kinship and to the cyclicality of absence and return. Rather than seeing loneliness as a failure of social connection, Flora argues that it actively shapes interpersonal relationships. In this context, loneliness is not simply the absence of relatedness but an integral part of it – a recurring state shaped by the ongoing interplay of closeness and separation. In everyday kinship practices, feelings of loneliness, longing and homesickness, far from being purely negative, are understood as both outcomes of disrupted connections and necessary preconditions for their renewal.

The Greenlandic notion of ‘return’ (uterpoq) encapsulates this interplay: through ritual acts of reuniting – centrally, the re-invocation of names, as when newborns are bestowed the names of deceased relatives – community members seek to sustain continuity across separation. Loneliness, then, is not a static or pathological state but a relational possibility, one that emerges only in contexts where relatedness matters. This perspective challenges frameworks that treat loneliness either as a deficit of social ties (as in some of the sociological literature) or as a condition of human existence (as in existential philosophical thought).

As Flora poignantly asks:

‘Would loneliness really be anything at all if there were no such thing as relatedness? Might we not just as well argue, then, that it is relatedness that is inherent to us as human persons and that it is the temporary collapse or disappointment of relatedness that makes us feel and experience loneliness rather than inherent loneliness itself?’ (Flora 2019: 4).

Chikako Ozawa-de Silva’s book

The Anatomy of Loneliness: Suicide, Social Connection, and The Search for Relational Meaning in Contemporary Japan.²

Ozawa-de Silva’s research began with youth who frequented suicide websites in Japan, but her inquiry soon turned toward a broader, more deeply rooted condition affecting not only young people but society at large: loneliness, and its entanglement with feelings of being unseen, uncared for and unimportant. Central to her analysis is the argument that loneliness is inherently relational – a view that echoes Flora’s emphasis on the connection between loneliness and relatedness in Greenland.

Drawing on the Japanese concept of ikigai, which denotes the sense of meaning found in being needed and valued by others, Ozawa-de Silva suggests that loneliness emerges when social recognition weakens and expected relational ties begin to erode. She proposes a ‘relational theory of meaning’, positing that the presence of belonging, affiliation and care buffers against existential doubt, while their absence fosters alienation and the felt loss of purpose.

Ozawa-de Silva’s work raises important questions: What defines a society in which loneliness becomes so pervasive? Can a community itself experience a kind of collective loneliness, and if so, how might such a sweeping sense of disconnection be addressed? By linking personal experiences of loneliness with broader structural and cultural shifts, Ozawa-de Silva reframes the discussion around suicide. She challenges individualistic explanations and instead presents suicide as a symptom of a wider social crisis – a breakdown of meaning rooted in diminished relatedness and a fraying of the social fabric.

Michelle Anne Parsons’ Article

Being Unneeded in Post-Soviet Russia: Lessons for an Anthropology of Loneliness. (Open Access)³

Like Ozawa-de Silva, Parsons underscores the connection between loneliness and the sense of meaning people derive from being recognized and needed by others. In her study of post-Soviet Muscovites, she traces how this sense of social embeddedness was deeply shaped by Soviet-era exchange practices, which functioned much like a gift economy. These networks of reciprocal support and recognition not only provided material sustenance but also affirmed one’s moral place in society.

The abrupt transition to capitalism following the collapse of the Soviet Union dismantled these structures. The social and moral logic of mutual giving and recognition gave way to new forms of economic exchange that left many without clear roles or value in the emerging order. In this context, the feeling of being ‘unneeded’ became widespread – a specific form of loneliness tied to the erosion of everyday practices that once conferred belonging and worth. Parsons argues that this form of loneliness is not simply about social isolation, but about the loss of recognition within systems of moral and material interdependence. It is, in this sense, a social and historical phenomenon: rooted in the upheaval of the political economy, yet experienced intimately as a crisis of purpose and connection.

Michael Stasik’s Article

Aloneness and the Terms of Detachment in West African Migration (Open Access)⁴

In this article, I examine ‘aloneness’ among West African migrants as an ambivalent form of detachment that complicates conventional understandings of loneliness. Under pressure from expectations of reciprocity – particularly the demand for remittances – many migrants temporarily distance themselves from kin and friends to pursue a trajectory marked by both vulnerability and possibility. This phase of detachment involves a tension between emotional strain, born of longing and disconnection, and the opportunity to cultivate autonomy and fortitude. Rather than viewing such separation as socially harmful or morally suspect (as many of their kin do), migrants often frame their aloneness as a necessary and even productive stage – one that enables their eventual return and reintegration with renewed capacity for care and reciprocity.

The connection between migratory aloneness and outward movement is vividly expressed in the metaphors my interlocutors use – ‘the bush’, ‘the wilderness’ or simply ‘the outside’. These terms signal a departure from the known and familiar, tied closely to feelings of loneliness, while also invoking values of risk, exploration and transformation. Drawing on a long-standing repertoire of West African tropes associated with frontier mobility, these metaphors encapsulate the double-edged nature of detachment: it opens the path to self-realization, but also to the danger of losing one’s way and of becoming detached and lonely permanently. The experiences of these migrants challenge the view of loneliness as a solely negative condition, highlighting instead how emotional states like aloneness are shaped, mediated and valued within specific cultural and moral worlds.

Summary

Taken together, these studies show that loneliness is not a singular condition but a situated, often ambivalent experience shaped by cultural expectations, political economies and moral frameworks. Whether it is linked to a loss of social purpose, a disrupted sense of kinship or the ethical dilemmas of migration, loneliness emerges in distinct forms that cannot be understood outside their specific historical and social contexts. These works challenge universalist assumptions and instead foreground the importance of attending to emotional life as both intimate and structural.

Author: Michael Stasik