Culture and Personality
(Psychological Anthropology)

Announcements

• Handout: Ch. 9 "The Sacrifice." From The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman (NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997), pp. 278-288
  
  
  • read for next time

Features of the Day

• Questions about papers/projects?

• Continuation of the Question: How do different practices in different cultures produce "Culture-Bound Syndromes," which are unique psychological correlates, or psychological characteristics closely comparable to one another?
  
  
  • note that this question has been broadened from the last time to include "psychological characteristics comparable to one another"
    
    
    • latah, for example, appears only in Malaysia and Indonesia
      
      
      • latah is unique to that area
        
        
    • mal ojo (evil eye) is more broadspread, appearing in Mediterranean and Latin American Hispanic Latina populations
      
      
      • and elsewhere in its more general manifestation of "the evil eye"
        
        
    • mal ojo is not therefore unique, per se, but it does center in Latin/Latina cultures
      
      
      
  • spirit possession is not generally considered a culture-bound syndrome
    
    
    • spirit possession exists in many cultures, and in many belief systems, including Christianity
      
      
    • spirit possession is an etic category

    
    
    

• Alterted States of Consciousness (ASC)
  
  
• Types
• Typology
• Distinctive Features
• Changes / Modifications
  
  

to top of page / A-Z index

• nlt 03:40 video: "Alejandro Mamani: A Case study in Culture and Personality"
  [From the Faces of Culture Series, Part 6]
  (ca. 30 min., 1994, VC 2466)
  
  
  
• Old Business
  
  
  • next week

Old Business

• next week

Assignments

• Read: Ch. 9, "Culture and Aggression," pp. 250-259
  
  
• Read: Ch. 9 "The Sacrifice." From The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman (NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997), pp. 278-288.

Anne Fadiman
NY: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1997.

Lia Lee is a Hmong child diagnosed with severe epilepsy,
whose family believes her seizure was caused by the slamming of a door by an older sister,
which caused Lia's soul to flee her body and the soul became lost to a dab.

dab, a spirit, is pronounced "da"
txiv neeb, a Hmong shaman, is pronounced "tsi neng"
(pp. 291-292)

next time

Notes

• Monday 31 March 2008: reviewed research project as outlined above, reviewed handout Culture-Bound Syndromes (amok, latah, mal ojo and susto), and viewed video: Latah: A Culture-specific Elaboration of the Startle Reflex (38 min., 1990, VC 4651) [NOTE: The UMD Library copy of this video, VC 4651, from the University of Indiana has a false start at the beginning. The actual video starts a couple of minutes after the blank section which follows the false start.]
• Wednesday 2 April 2008: Reviewed notes above, and terms/concepts from viewing guide, and viewed video: "Alejandro Mamani: A Case study in Culture and Personality" (ca. 30 min., 1994, VC 2466); 2 handouts