Revenge of the windigo : the construction of the mind and mental health of North American Aboriginal peoples / James B. Waldram.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Waldram, James B. (James Burgess)

Contributor:

Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

Series:

Anthropological horizons ; 26.

Anthropological horizons ; 26

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indians of North America--Psychology.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--Mental health.

Ethnopsychology--History.

Ethnopsychology.

Indians, North American--psychology.

Ethnopsychology--history.

History.

Medical Subjects:

Indians, North American--psychology.

Ethnopsychology--history.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 414 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Toronto : University of Toronto Press, [2004]

Summary:

Discusses our knowledge of Aboriginal mental health: who generates it; how it is generated and communicated; and what has been - and continues to be - its implications for Aboriginal peoples. The author undertakes an exhaustive examination of three disciplines - anthropology, psychology, and psychiatry - and reveals how together they have constructed a gravely distorted portrait of 'the Aboriginal.' Using interdisciplinary methods, the author critically assesses the enormous amount of information that has been generated on Aboriginal mental health, deconstructs it, and through this exercise, provides guidance for a new vein of research.

Contents:

Introduction: monsters and mental health

Part A: Constructing the aboriginal

Constructing aboriginal personality: the early years. Ruth Benedict and the Boasian tradition ; The emergence of psychoanalytical anthropology and the search for the Indians' 'basic personality structure' ; The Indian education research project

The psychoanalyst's aboriginal. Anthropology and the Rorschach: no experience required ; Atomism and the northern Indian ; Persistence of the Rorschach

Measuring the aboriginal. Measuring aboriginal personality: the Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory ; The confusion of race and culture in the measurement of aboriginal intelligence

Part B: The disordered aboriginal

The construction of aboriginal psychopathology. 'Latent schizophrenics and primitive people': early studies of psychopathology ; Marginality and the 'caught-between-two-worlds' paradigm

The alcoholic aboriginal. Indian drinking and white man drinking

The depressed aboriginal. Conceptualizing depression and suicide

The culture-bound aboriginal. Windigo psychosis ; Pibloktoq ; Ghost sickness ; Why the culture-bound syndromes persist

The traumatized aboriginal. Conceptualizing trauma and PTSD ; Trauma and the construction of 'residential school syndrome'

Part C: Treating the aboriginal

The clinician's aboriginal

Healing the traditional aboriginal. The holistic aboriginal ; The use of culture and tradition in treatment ; Defining 'traditional aboriginal healing'

Conclusion: the Windigo's revenge. Disturbed, disordered, and dysfunctional ; Problems of culture and history ; Defining the aboriginal ; Contemporary aboriginal cultural realities: Creolization and beyond.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 335-391) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0802088260

9780802088260

0802086004

9780802086006

OCLC:

53396855