The people in one society may agree to meet at a certain hour, but in a society without clocks, people may agree to meet when the sun is at a certain point in the sky. Systems of time reckoning represent a fundamental basis for intersubjectivity and interpersonal coordination. They entail abstract conceptions of time and temporal norms. In our societies, however, there is also variation in the perceived passage of time. This variation is often manifest as distortion in our experience of standard temporal units. We may perceive time passing slowly or quickly relative to the standard temporal units of clocks and calendars, or we may experience a rough synchronicity between subjective and objective time. An erotics of time is centrally concerned with our temporal sensations--that is, the study of variation in temporal experience. Prior research has emphasized cross-cultural differences in systems of time reckoning while neglecting variation in the perceived passage of time. We can begin to address this oversight by asking ourselves three questions. First, can we formulate a theory that accounts for variation in the perceived passage of time? Second, can this theory reconcile the determinism in systems of time reckoning with the self-determination of temporal agency--that is, our efforts to control, manipulate, or customize our own experience of time? Third, can we apply the resulting theory to societies where systems of time reckoning are quite different from our own? These questions constitute the agenda for a cross-cultural erotics of time. Regarding the third question, to date, we have only bits and pieces of data from widely scattered sites. Typically, these glimmerings of data were collected by scholars who were not directly engaged in the study of time or temporal experience. Yet, in concert, they suggest that people in very different societies may perceive the passage of time in parallel ways.

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