UCLA ANTH 136B

Hollan - Setting a new standard

*What is person-centered ethnography?

*What is person-centered ethnography? A study focusing on the person in-depth to get a better insight into themselves and their culture; an open ended interview.

*What were the issues with previous study methods? previous study methods only viewed the subject as an "informant", generalized experiences of culture

*Why was Levy so important? Levy revolutionized fieldwork methods and set a new standard for the depth of ethnographic research

Hallowell

Self and its Behavioral Environment

*What is phenomenology? Attempting to understand the structures of one's consciousness as experienced from 1st person POV; looking INSIDE their culture and at their own behavioral environment; taking a frame of reference to view the individual in another society in terms of the psychological perspective which his culture constitutes for him

*What does removing the 3rd person POV do for the interaction? Allows you to get a deeper insight into a person's psychological field, involving the most significant/meaningful aspects of the WORLD OF THE INDIVIDUAL as experienced by them, going further to understand ways in which they are motivated and act to satisfy their needs/desires/etc

*What are the 5 Basic orientations?

Self

Object

Spatio-Temporal

Motivational

Normative

Edgarton

Changing Perspectives in Mental Illness "Recognition of Mental Illness"

*What are the 3 aspects of the recognition process?

Perception, labeling, action

*What is chronic psychosis? Variable behavior that is widely accepted as abnormal within a society even by "people who have never seen a psychotic themselves"

*The recognition process is a social process that requires negotiation (Psychotic behavior is both chronic and severe, the requirements for non-negotiable labeling)

Crapanzano

Tuhami

What is intersubjectivity and how is it present in Tuhami?

*Intersubjectivity - our own consciousness is always being affected by other people and we, in turn, affect the consciousness of other people in a mutual way; In other words, they impact you and you impact them

*Transference vs countertransference and how is it present in Tuhami?

Transference - person's past emotional experience influences how they will interact in the future; you tend to interpret current and future emotions in light of your past

"I write: "I became a curer." In fact, I had already become a curer. This is evident in my notes, and the reader is certainly aware of the way in which Tuhami and I both negotiated our exchange into a therapeutic one. Tuhami provided me (and I feel the consequence of this even now, as I write) with the possibility for maneuver, manipulation and cure..." (133)

Countertransference - recognition by both patient and analyst that their past emotional experiences affected their interaction in some way

*Autobiography vs life history

Autobiography - how life is experienced by a particular person

Life history - facts

William Garriot & Eugene Raikhel

Addiction in the Making (Review of Literature)

*What do the authors refer to when they talk about therapeutics?

*How do the authors examine addiction? How addiction—as an object of knowledge and intervention—is produced, enacted, circulated, and remade through the "looping effects" linking experts and people "living under the description of 'addict'".

*According to the authors, therapeutic governance has shifted to _________

and what does this bring as a result? "authoritarian medicalization".

Hollan - Being There

Being There: Understanding others and being understood

*What is empathy? Hollan describes empathy as the combination of both imagination and experience; it helps one understand why another individual feels as they do apart from what that individual feels.

*Describe Geertz views on empathy. Geertz claims that one can never truly understand what another feels; empathy is only possible with the knowledge of the other's symbols and conceptual system and by setting aside one's own personhood to adopt the other's.

*Describe Rosaldo's, the author of "Grief and a Headhunter's rage" argument about empathy? Rosaldo argues that empathy is achieved by living experiences similar to the person one is empathizing with; only by modeling one's own experience with another can one understand the other's behavior.

Obeyesekere's "Medusa's Hair"

The genesis of the symbol of matted locks involves 3 processes.

*What are they? Loss of sexual love, increased idealized relationship with a divine alter, matted hair as a reward for renouncing eros for agape.

*What is the personal meaning of the matted locks? "beauty marks"

*What is the cultural message of matted hair? Penance

Obeyesekere - "Work of Culture"

*What is depression in the west?

Depression in the West is a painful series of affects pertaining to sorrow and is caused by a variety of antecedent conditions-genetic, sociocultural, and psychological. (it is also Free-floating, it has no cultural significance or ties)

*What are the implications of the mustard seed parable?

The parable follows the journey of a mother following the death of her infant child in which she seeks to revive the child with an impossible mustard seed. On the journey she realizes that her own personal grief is simply a part of a larger universal problem of suffering. It can also serve us as a parable on the nature of depression.

*What is the work of culture?

It's the process whereby painful motives and affects such as those occurring in depression are transformed into publicly accepted sets of meanings and symbols.

Joel Robbins

*What is the savage slot and what are some criticisms of it?

The savage slot refers to early anthropology that focused on the study of societies defined as both 'other' to the the anthropologist's own and often in some respects primitive. A critique given by a number of anthropologists is that it misrepresented the other and denied others their own voice in anthropological writing. The West became the West by creating the savage as its antithesis.

What is the Suffering Subject and what are some criticisms of it?

In the late 1980s Anthropology experienced transformations in the broader symbolic organization that defines the West and the savage in opposition. From the early 1990s onward to an important extent it has been the suffering subject who has come to occupy the spot formerly occupied by the savage. The subject living in pain, in poverty, or under conditions of violence or oppression now very often stands at the centre of anthropological work.

The Suffering subject presents the figure of humanity as united in its shared vulnerability to suffering.

Robbins argues that some strengths of earlier anthropological work were lost in the transition. The suffering subject focuses on what we have in common rather than our differences, and somewhat limits our ability to think about difference.

*What is anthropology of the good?

Recent trends in anthropology might coalesce in a further shift, this one toward an anthropology of the good capable of recovering some of the critical force of an earlier anthropology without taking on its weaknesses.

An anthropology of the good seeks to explore the different ways people organize their personal and collective lives in order to foster what they think of as good.

Rosaldo

Grief and a Headhunter's Rage

*How does Rosaldo define empathy?

"The ethnographer, as a positioned subject, grasps certain human phenomena better than others. He or she occupies a position or structural location and observes with a particular angle of vision... The notion of position also refers to how life experiences both enable and inhibit particular kinds of insight."

*Why do the Ilongots headhunt?

"rage, born of grief, impels him to kill his fellow human beings. He claims that he needs a place ''to carry his anger.'' The act of severing and tossing away the victim's head enables him, he says, to vent and, he hopes, throw away the anger of his bereavement".

*What is the difference between cultural depth and cultural elaboration?

"question the common anthropological assumption that the greatest human import resides in the densest forest of symbols and that analytical detail, or ''cultural depth,'' equals enhanced explanation of a culture, or ''cultural elaboration.'' Do people always in fact describe most thickly what matters most to them?".

Briggs

"Never In Anger"

*Describe the Inuit tradition of gift-giving.

They are incredibly generous and giving to their Kapluna visitors, however not altruistic. They treat their wealthy Kapluna visitors as honored guests, however later expect gift giving and trading of goods between them

*How are antisocial individuals perceived in Inuit culture?

Fatigue is called on to explain lethargy and weakness that are produced by a variety of causes. A person who is mildly ill will describe himself as "no sick, only tired". There are less kinds of ways of describing lethargic, unsocial behavior too. If an Utku were lethargic or withdrawn as frequently and as unpredictably as Briggs was, his neighbors would have murmured in disapproval.

*Who was Briggs adopted by and how did this create expectations for her?

Inuttiaq had adopted Briggs as his daughter (235)

Pala became her grandfather (231) She lived on Pala's camp and was fed by his family (232)

Freud

Mourning and Melancholia

*What characterizes Melancholia? It's suspected to be a pathological disposition. The distinguishing Mental features are profoundly painful dejection, cessation of interest in the outside world, loss of capacity to love, inhibition of all activity, and a lowering of the self-regarding feeling to a degree that finds utterance in self reproach and self revilings, and culminates in a delusional expectation of punishment.

*What is the difference between mourning and melancholia

Mourning is usually a consequence of experiencing loss,( of a loved one of a job of a status) the feeling of mourning is typically time limited. In some the experience incites melancholia; those people are of a pathological disposition. Melancholia is typically prolonged and has no real time limitation.

*What is the reason for self reproach in those with melancholia? they take the deceased into their ego

Rosenhan

"On being sane in insane places"

*Depersonalization- How?

Institutionalized people are stripped from their personhood by verbal/physical abuse by the medical staff, punishment for minor offenses, dehumanization (can't initiate contact with staff; general invisibility), lack of privacy (staff can go through their belongings, no door for toilets, their folders with personal history/medical info is accessible to all staff regardless of relationship to patient), powerlessness, by the fact that no one cares (ex.: many patients do not take their medications and it goes unnoticed); complete loss of agency

*Diagnostic Labels and Patients' Response?

Labeling plays a dominant role in psychiatric assessment, and once people have been labeled, they can't overcome that label. Physicians are more inclined to declare healthy people sick, than sick people healthy → erring on the side of caution. Once a person is discharged, they are labeled "in remission", not healthy, which implies that they were never healthy to start with. The diagnostic label colors others' perception of the labeled person and their behavior. Consequently, even normal/healthy behaviors are misinterpreted. It also determines the treatment the labeled person receives overall. Patients might behave "insane" due to the nature of the setting, would not behave like this outside of institution.

*Mortification?

Process of socialization to psychiatric institution: loss of autonomy, self-determination, freedom of action; includes process of depersonalization.

Complex personhood

understand things (i.e. race, social class, etc.) are important but they aren't the only thing

-These things affect different people in different ways & to different extents

-The goal of psychoanalytical anthro is to understand the differences/changes/effects of complex personhood

-Anthropologists should always assume complexity in people regardless of similarities.

Intersubjectivity

People around us influencing us and contributing/influencing our personality/behavior

-Power, race, & class manifest in one individual

-intermingling of subjects, we are affecting and affected by others.

Transference

past emotional experiences set up expectations of how people will understand you in the future

Countertransference

how other person sees one from their past experiences

-how Crapanzano assumed Tuhami viewed him

-recognition by both patient and analyst that their past emotional experiences affected their interaction in some way

Person-centered interview

forget external determinants, focus on the person in their insider POV

-Strategy for accessing people's unconscious thoughts/feelings, used in Tuhami

-"Interviewing people over period of time"- Robert Levy

-You can observe overt behavior, but are aware it is censored; censor is lessened w/ close friends so topics which aren't socially normative are discussed.

Cultural phenomenology

how one experiences the world culturally

-how people of two cultural perspectives experiences differ

-"What does it feel like to be an American?"

Culturally constituted behavioral environment

World as experienced by the actor

Self orientation

language, pronouns that distinguish self from everything else

-Personal names distinguish you from others.

Object orientation

Spirits/Gods affect people's lives in real ways

Spatiotemporal orientation

Space/time usually linear

-except in reincarnation

Motivational orientation

What is valued affects how one experiences the self

Normative orientation

What is w/in cultural norms feels "right"

Empathy

Diff views of emotional understanding

-all are to a degree which exceeds simple projection

Personal symbols

Specific parts of culture that get deeply internalized & become sacred w/in one's behavior

-One that has both immense cultural significance and deep psychological meaning

ex. spirits are believed to be normal in Moroccan culture, but only certain people experience them

Reflexive anthro

Use of ethnographer's own emotional reaction to better understand informant & parts of informant's culture

-Learn more about yourself in the process

-Aware of own transference & try to work against it

Labeling

Naming, diagnosing, & possible prescription as a result of "troubled" experiences

-May involve lg implications—social stigmatization & altering of social class

-Results inc. action & intervention

Looping effect

self-fulfilling prophecy

Melancholia vs. Mourning

Sense of loss & hopelessness after losing something important

-Recurring in the melancholic

-Eventually pass w/ "normal" mourning

Implicit bias

Subconscious thoughts/feelings people have regarding various social groups/processes

-"...the choices social scientists make about what to study...are always driven by the values they hold to be most important...we are unaware that values play this role in directing our attention & defining what we see as available for study"-Robbins (448)

humanity

The ability to recognize suffering in its universal form (Robbins 455)

"Towards an Anthro of the "Good""

Robbins, 2013

-Shift from "savage slot" to "suffering subject" due to implicit bias

-Use of trauma as a universal link b/w cult (growing interest in empathy)

-Deemed savage slot ethno ineffective b/c implicit biases & tied to what might constitute a perfect society (no neutral method/standard)

-Mentions Urapmin Christianity

According to Robbins, what is anthro of the good?

Focus on how ppl in diff societies strive to create good in their lives

-Concept of "good" & how ppl define its proper pursuit varies

-Emphasis on studies of value, morality, imagination, empathy, care, "the gift", time, change, & hope

-Emphasizes cult diff b/c anthro was too focused on cross-cult analysis that it didn't focus on diff b/w cult (key for full understanding)

Urapmin Christianity

3 Key Ft:

1) Achieve salvation via churches/prayers = individual/collective goal

2) Salvation = dependent on moral self-regulation (i.e. emotional reg = heart monitor)

3) Jesus could return at any time = always morally ready for his arrival (aka 'strengthening ea other's belief')

-Moral self watchfulness = moral torment —> cycle of fear

-Dismissive of Urapmin tradition = no longer savage

-Suffering subject b/c trauma of colonization/cult loss through preocc w/ moral failures

"Setting a New Standard"

Hollan, 2005

-Examines Levy's use of "person-centered interview" & observing

-PCI prompted reflection & conversation

-Follow the informant's lead ("Tell me about yourself")

-Trust = key

-NOT attempting to change person's subjectivity

"The Self and Its Behavioral Environment"

Hallowell, 1954

-Self is concrete/conceptual & should be viewed through individual's eyes, NOT an "objective" outsider

-Idea of self = generic human trait caused by socialization

-"cultural identifiable variabl"= intrinsic part of cult heritage of all societies

-Behavioral environment affects perceptions of self

According to Hallowell, what is the behavioral environment?

A combination of environmental variables (inc geographic variables) which affect the perception of self

-"Basic cult orientations" (i.e. self, object, spatiotemporal, motivational, normative) allow for fn/interaction w/in society

-Understanding of orientations needed to understand mult roles req of the individual

-"The behavioral environment is the most significant aspect of the world to an individual as experienced by him in terms of which they think, are motivated to act, and satisfy their needs."

-Self image & interpretation of exp is married to concept of self w/in their society

"Never in Anger"

Briggs, 1970

-Uses reflexive anthro to examine her mental/physical rxns to work w/ Utku tribe

-Honesty = acknowledgment of cult diff b/w self & tribe

-Ex: feels useless to Utku; torn b/w self needs/tribe needs

-Utku react diff to conflict so never angry w/ Brigg's isolation/inadequacy

"Grief and a Head Hunter's Rage"

Rosaldo, 1993/1989

-Uses reflexive anthro to study Ilongot Men of N. Luzon (Philippines) practice of headhunting as mourning ritual b/c of grief turned rage

-Cutting off & throwing away heads = "throw away" burdens/bad feelings

-Author's rage from grief = vastly diff so they manage feelings diff

-Warns against over-generalization of cult

"Being There"

Hollan, 2008

-Halpern's def of empathy = emotional reasoning in which person resonates w/ exp of another w/ attempt to imagine situation from other POV

-Diff from simple projection b/c it's ongoing, intersubjective, & fluid

-Geertz understanding = recog expression of symbols/other conceptual sys

-Rosaldo empathy = resonation of emotional understanding (need to have similar exp)

-Wikan empathy = understand context of their life then you'll have practical knowledge (necessary for empathy)

-Winnicott empathy = illusion/transitional cult exp (Never truw understanding, but feel understood)

"Work & Culture"

Obeyesekere, 1990

-disease & illness = culturally defined ailments

-symptoms = psychiatric epidemiology (isolated from cult)

-Carstairs & Kapur say isolate psych symp & relate them to psych need

-Meditation on revulsion = contemplation of corpse in stages of decay ideally lead to sense of disgust towards self pleasure

"Medusa's Hair"

Obeyesekere, 1981

-Personal symbols are not mandatory

-Analysis of personal symbols from origin

-Spirit possession in Sri Lanka is widespread, but few actually possessed

"On the Recognition of Mental Illness"

Edgerton, 1969

-Szaz says, "While I argue that mental illnesses do not exist, that does not imply the social and psychological occurrences so labeled do not exist"

-Devereux says there's thought models/templates that permit fake illness to simulate psychosis

"On Being Sane in Insane Places"

Rosenhan, 1973

-developed exp to demonstrate notions of "normal"/"abnormal"

-admit 8 psuedo patients

-psuedo patients = powerless & depersonalized

"Addiction in the Making"

Garriott & Raikhel, 2015

-Addiction in literature focuses on medicalization of addiction in Western countries

-Enviro/social factors should be recognized when treating/discussing/diagnosing

-Anthro work broadens ideas/def of addiction

"Ambivalent Attachment"

Segal, 2016

-Follows Palestinians growing ambivalence toward independence of state, emotional fatigue for hope, loss by death has emotionally drained them

-51% have PTSD

-most report to "feel broken" over state of nation

Tuhami

Crapanzano, 1980

-personal history v. Autobiographical truth (actor's perspective v. Observer's)

-idea of "truth" is a Western notion —> assumptions (false)

-Tuhami = suffering subject

mourning:

someone you feel attached to and you lose someone. Freud: when the libido(affective attachment) has been lost. That is when we begin to feel better.

melancholy

you experience it forever. They can articulate the loss but can't fully understand it. Something about it is unresolved because of the ambivalence of it. Synonymous with depression.

"becoming aggrieved"

Ralph

"becoming aggrieved" has underlying causes and we need to think about the concept.

Life History (Crapanzano; Tuhami)

Facts

Fanon "colonial war"

colonization and its affect on both parties.

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