Professor Bernhard Leistle

An Anthropology of Psychology

Since the discipline’s beginnings, some cultural anthropologists have made use of psychological methods and have been influenced by psychological theories, esp. Freud’s psychoanalysis. But there is also a tradition in anthropology of critiquing psychology as too “universalist” and underestimating the ways and depths in which our mental and emotional life is shaped by the cultural and social contexts we live in. In this lecture, we will present examples for this critique and talk about its justifications and limitations. Finally, we will argue that psychological anthropology has important things to say for our current understanding of mental health and illness.