Unit ETHNOPSYCHIATRY
- Course
- Socioanthropological studies for integration and social security
- Study-unit Code
- A002696
- Curriculum
- In all curricula
- Teacher
- Massimiliano Minelli
- Teachers
-
- Massimiliano Minelli
- Hours
- 36 ore - Massimiliano Minelli
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2021
- Offered
- 2022/23
- Academic discipline
- M-DEA/01
- Type of study-unit
- Opzionale (Optional)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- The course provides an introduction to approaches and methods of Ethnopsychiatry, exploring the relationship between mental disorders, psycho-therapeutic devices and socio-cultural contexts. Ethnographic investigations about the relationships between psychic disorders and healing practices are considered.
In the second part, focusing on concrete situations with a historical-ethnographic approach, we will examine power relationships, the activation of social networks and processes of change, in several contexts of mental health.
A group of case studies, drawn from ethnographic research concerning different therapeutic devices and ritual practices, will allow to investigate how social agents are collectively involved in transformative practices.
Furthermore, case-studies concerning ritual practices of spirit possession in different social and historical contexts will be presented, with specific reference to the Afro-Brazilian cults. - Reference texts
- - Beneduce R., Etnopsichiatria. Sofferenza mentale e alterità fra storia, dominio e cultura, Carocci, Roma, 2007.
- On spirit possession - one of the following books:
Bastide R., Sogno, trance e follia, Jaca Book, Milano, 1974.
Bastide R., Il sacro selvaggio e altri scritti, Jaca Book, Milano, 1979.
Beneduce R., Trance e possessione in Africa. Corpi, mimesi, storia, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 2002.
De Heusch L., Con gli spiriti in corpo. Trance, estasi, follia d'amore, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 2009.
De Martino E., La terra del rimorso. Contributo a una storia religiosa del Sud, Il Saggiatore, Milano, 1961.
Gallini C., La sonnambula meravigliosa, L’Asino d’Oro, Roma, 2013.
Leiris M., La possessione e i suoi aspetti teatrali, Ubu Libri, Milano, 1988.
Metraux A., Il vodu haitiano. Magia, stregoneria, possessione, Ghibli, Milano, 2015.
Minelli M., Memorie e possessione, Morlacchi Editore, Perugia, 2007.
Pizza G., La vergine e il ragno. Etnografia della possessione europea, La Rivista Abruzzese, Lanciano, 2012.
Paulon M. (a cura di), Il diavolo in corpo. Sulla possessione spiritica, Meltemi, Roma, 2019.
Rouget G., 1986, Musica e trance. I rapporti fra la musica e i fenomeni di possessione, Torino, Einaudi, 1986.
Texts in English suggested as alternatives (2 books):
- Kleinman A., Rethinking Psychiatry. From Cultural Category to Personal Experience, The Free Press - Collier Mac Millan Publisher, New York- London, 1988.
¿- Laderman C. - Roseman M. (eds). 1996. The performance of healing, Routledge, London - New York.
¿- Lakoff A., Pharmaceutical reason. Knowledge and value in global psychiatry, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005.¿
- Lambek M. - Strathern A. (Eds.), Bodies and persons. Comparative perspectives from Africa and Melanesia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998.
- ¿Lewis I.M., Religion in Context. Cults and Carisma, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,1986.
¿- Stoller P., Sensuous scholarship, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1997.¿
- Young A., The harmony of illusions. Inventing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ., 1995. - Educational objectives
This teaching provides the basic knowledge on Ethnopsychiatry, and promotes the acquisition of epistemological and methodological skills in the area of research concerning the relationship between cultural processes and mental illness. The students will acquire the following main skills: knowledge of the theoretical orientations and methods in Ethnopsychiatry; knowledge of different approaches to social suffering, mental illness and migration; The main skills that allow to apply the acquired knowledge are: ability to analyze social situations, for the activation of networks able to act on social suffering; ability to explore, from various perspectives, multiple healthcare relations between different subjects; ability to interpret the material and symbolic exchanges that take place in therapeutic relationships; ability to study the processes of transformation, which are involved in ritual practices and in psychotherapeutic devices; ability to think over the positioning of the researcher and the dislocation of the others actors involved in therapeutic settings.- Prerequisites
In order to be able to understand and to tackle the module of ethnopsychiatry, the student must have basic knowledge concerning the theories of social sciences and the history of cultural anthropology. This precondition is valid both for attending or not attending students.- Teaching methods
The course is organized as follows: lecturers on all subjects of the course; practical activities and discussion groups; projection of ethnographic video-materials that will complement the lectures.- Other information
During the course, in addition to research materials and to the projection of ethnographic audiovisuals, will be provided more bibliographic information. Not attending students are warmly recommended to contact the teacher in office hours, in order to agree the exam program.- Learning verification modality
- Oral examination, consisting in a discussion-interview on the topics covered during the lectures and the issues present in recommended texts. The interview is used to check the level of knowledge of the concepts and the analytical tools of Ethnopsychiatry, as well as the student's ability to reflect on the transcultural dynamics in community mental health.
The oral exam consists of an interview, of about 30 minutes, and is aimed at assessing:
- the level of knowledge of the theoretical contents of the course (Dublin descriptor 1);
- the level of competence in presenting their knowledge (Dublin descriptor 2);
- autonomy of judgment (Dublin descriptor 3).
- the student's language skills in answering the Commission’s questions, to sustain a dialectical relationship during the interview and to demonstrate logical-deductive and summary abilities in the exhibition of one's thought (Dublin 4 descriptor).
The grade will be express by the Commission in thirtieths.
Note: In case a student intends to anticipate his/her exam in a year preceding the one it is scheduled in his/her curriculum, it is recommended to anticipate as well the attendance of the lessons and to schedule the exam in the first useful session after the lessons have been concluded. - Extended program
- The course is divided into two parts.
The first part deals with the theoretical orientations and methods of Ethnopsychiatry: an area on the border, where several disciplines (anthropology, psychology, psychiatry) explore the relationship between mental disorders, psycho-terapeutic devices and socio-cultural contexts. Within a historical perspective, and with a ethnographical definition of the areas of interest, will be analyzed problems, methods and research policies, regarding the relationship between cultural processes and mental health, in different human societies.
In the second part, focusing on concrete situations with a historical-ethnographic approach, we will examine power relationships, the activation of social networks and processes of change, in several contexts of mental health.
A group of case studies, drawn from ethnographic research concerning different therapeutic devices and ritual practices, will allow to investigate how social agents are collectively involved in transformative practices.
Furthermore, case-studies concerning ritual practices of spirit possession in different social and historical contexts will be presented, with specific reference to the Afro-Brazilian cults.