Psychological Anthropology

Psychological Anthropology: A Reader in Self in Culture presents a selection of readings from recent and classical literature with a rich diversity of insights into the individual and society.

• Presents the latest psychological research from a variety of global cultures
• Sheds new light on historical continuities in psychological anthropology
• Explores the cultural relativity of emotional experience and moral concepts among diverse peoples, the Freudian influence and recent psychoanalytic trends in anthropology
• Addresses childhood and the acquisition of culture, an ethnographic focus on the self as portrayed in ritual and healing, and how psychological anthropology illuminates social change

Acknowledgments x

Introduction 1

Part I Constructing a Paradigm, 1917–55 7

Introduction – Invisible Pioneers: “Culture and Personality” Reconsidered 9

1 The Polish Peasant in Europe and America 18
W. I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki

2 The Psychology of Culture 23
Edward Sapir

3 Culture and Experience 30
A. Irving Hallowell

Part II Emotion and Morality in Diverse Cultures 53

Introduction – Human Variations: A Population Perspective on Psychological Processes 55

4 Emotions Have Many Faces: Inuit Lessons 60
Jean Briggs

5 Moral Discourse and the Rhetoric of Emotion 68
Geoffrey M. White

6 Kali’s Tongue 83
Usha Menon and Richard A. Shweder

7 Shame and Guilt in Japan 102
Takie Lebra

8 Introduction to Culture and Depression 112
Arthur Kleinman and Byron Good

Part III Psychoanalytic Explorations through Fieldwork 117

Introduction – After Freud: Dramas of the Psyche in Cultural Context 119

9 Psychoanalytic Anthropology 124
Robert A. Paul

10 Is the Oedipus Complex Universal? 131
Anne Parsons

11 Kagwahiv Mourning I: Dreams of a Bereaved Father 154
Waud H. Kracke

12 Kagwahiv Mourning II: Ghosts, Grief, and Reminiscences 165
Waud H. Kracke

Part IV Childhood: Internalizing Cultural Schemas 175

Introduction – Childhood Experience: The Role of Communication 177

13 Cultural and Educational Variations in Maternal Responsiveness 181
Amy L. Richman, Patrice M. Miller, and Robert A. LeVine

14 Self-Construction through Narrative Practices: A Chinese and American Comparison of Early Socialization 193
Peggy J. Miller, Heidi Fung, and Judith Mintz

15 Parent–Child Communication Problems and the Perceived Inadequacies of Chinese Only Children 220
Vanessa L. Fong

Part V The Self in Everyday Life, Ritual, and Healing 239

Introduction – Cultural Narratives of Self: Strategies, Defenses, and Identities 241

16 The Self in Daily Dramas 245
Thomas Gregor

17 Sambia Nose-Bleeding Rites and Male Proximity to Women 269
Gilbert H. Herdt

18 Cross-Cultural Differences in the Self 295
Douglas Hollan

19 Clinical Paradigm Clashes 309
Joseph D. Calabrese

Part VI Psychosocial Processes in History and Social Transformation 325

Introduction – Culture Change: Psychosocial Processes in Social Transformation 327

20 The Psychosocial Experience of Immigration 329
Carola Suárez-Orozco and Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco

21 The Schooling of Women: Maternal Behavior and Child Environments 345
Robert A. LeVine and Sarah A. LeVine

22 Revitalization Movements 351
Anthony F. C. Wallace

23 Culture, Charisma, and Consciousness 365
Charles Lindholm

Index 378

"Vividly picture, frame, and imagine an exploratory vivisection of an entire human brain by 18 or so individuals from different specializations, research areas, and training levels doing talking points as each cuts, cleans, rinses, exposes, or excises the above at will into 23 overlapping chunks. If you can mentally formulate this image and want to know more, then Psychological Anthropology: A Reader on Self in Culture is a book for you." (PsycCritiques, December 2010)

Robert A. LeVine is Roy E. Larsen Professor of Education and Human Development, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He is author or editor of numerous books and articles, including most recently, Anthropology and Child Development (Blackwell, 2008, with Rebecca New), and is the recipient of both the Career Contribution Award from the Society for Psychological Anthropology and the Distinguished Contributions Award from the American Educational Research Association. Through selected articles LeVine demonstrates how psychological anthropology developed as a unified field of study that continues to influence our understanding of social theory, society, and self. Psychological Anthropology: A Reader on Self in Culture presents a series of illuminating readings from recent and classical literature that offer a rich diversity of insights into psychological anthropology. First tracing the growth of the field, LeVine and the authors then explore the cultural relativity of emotional experience and moral concepts among diverse peoples, the Freudian influence, and recent psychoanalytic trends in anthropology. Further readings address childhood and the acquisition of culture, an ethnographic focus on the self as portrayed in ritual and healing, and how psychological anthropology illuminates social change.

Psychological Anthropology: A Reader on Self in Culture is the first reader in decades to combine new historical insights with recent original research and bridges our understanding of the relationship of individuals to their societies.

“The best introduction currently available for the study of psychological experience and cultural contexts around the world, prepared by the leading psychological anthropologist in the field today.”
—Thomas S. Weisner, University of California, Los Angeles