Public Spitting in ‘Developing’ Nations of the Global South: Harmless Embedded Practice or Disgusting, Harmful and Deviant?

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-65021-0_25

Paper

Public Spitting in ‘Developing’ Nations of the Global South: Harmless Embedded Practice or Disgusting, Harmful and Deviant?

Published 2018 · R. Coomber, L. Moyle, A. Pavlidis

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7

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Abstract

Largely taboo in ‘Westernized’ nations, spitting in public remains common in many parts of the world. Public health campaigns ‘beyond the West’ tend to stress that spitting in public spreads diseases and is also, in essence, disgusting, uncivilized and deviant. After considering the evidence for such public health concerns, we draw on research carried out in China and India to argue that public spitting is experienced by many in those countries as unproblematic and that anti-spitting campaigns often represent misguided ideas of the ‘civilizing process’ transposed from the global North. This chapter frames opposition to spitting through ‘disruptive cosmopolitanism’ and ‘inverted cultural relativism’ where indigenous elites, in Eliasian fashion, look beyond their own cultural mores to contrasting Western sensibilities and seek to impose them on their own people.

Study Snapshot

Key takeawayPublic spitting in China and India is perceived as unproblematic by many, and anti-spitting campaigns often represent misguided ideas of the 'civilizing process' imposed from the global North.

PopulationOlder adults (50-71 years)

Sample size24

MethodsObservational

OutcomesBody Mass Index projections

ResultsSocial networks mitigate obesity in older groups.

Public Spitting in ‘Developing’ Nations of the Global South: Harmless Embedded Practice or Disgusting, Harmful and Deviant?

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