Out of Place : : Madness in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea / / Michael Goddard.

The Kakoli of the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), the focus of this study, did not traditionally have a concept of mental illness. They classified madness according to social behaviour, not mental pathology. Moreover, their conception of the person did not recognise the same physical an...

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Bibliographic Details
Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2000-2013
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Place / Publishing House:New York; , Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2011]
©2011
Year of Publication:2011
Language:English
Series:Social Identities ; 6
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource (200 p.)
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Other title:Frontmatter --
Contents --
Preface --
Acknowledgements --
Map --
Introduction --
1. The Development of Psychiatry in Papua New Guinea --
2. Psychiatric Theory and Practice in Papua New Guinea --
3. Madness and the Ambivalent Use of Psychiatry in the Kaugel Valley --
4. Affliction and Madness --
5. The Social Construction of Madness: Lopa’s Season --
6. The Social Construction of Madness: The Mad Giant --
Conclusion: In Anticipation of a Kakoli Ethnopsychiatry --
Appendix A: Orthography --
Appendix B: Glossary of Umbu Ungu Terms --
References --
Index
Summary:The Kakoli of the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), the focus of this study, did not traditionally have a concept of mental illness. They classified madness according to social behaviour, not mental pathology. Moreover, their conception of the person did not recognise the same physical and mental categories that inform Western medical science, and psychiatry in particular was not officially introduced to PNG until the late 1950s. Its practitioners claimed that it could adequately accommodate the cultural variation among Melanesian societies. This book compares the intent and practice of transcultural psychiatry with Kakoli interpretations of, and responses to, madness, showing the reasons for their occasional recourse to psychiatric services. Episodes involving madness, as defined by the Kakoli themselves, are described in order to offer a context for the historical lifeworld and praxis of the community and raise fundamental questions about whether a culturally sensitive psychiatry is possible in the Melanesian context.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780857450951
9783110998283
DOI:10.1515/9780857450951
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Michael Goddard.