Collective moods in Western Isles structures of being

Abstract

This paper develops a relational framework to interpret ethnographic data on the way residents of a community-owned estate in the Western Isles of Scotland evaluated and contributed to collective quality of life. The analysis compares conversations with community development professionals and crofters to identify social and cultural structures influencing their contrasting interpretations of locally valued qualities of social attachment, belonging, and community. The framework integrates perspectives from phenomenological anthropology with Heidegger's theory of Being-in-the-world to describe how structures of care, temporality, mood, and discourse influenced the dynamics of sociocultural diversity, interpretations of social relationships, and collective efforts to compose favorable conditions for co-existence in a small population.