In this chapter, Chapin argues that research with children is crucial for developing a more robus... more In this chapter, Chapin argues that research with children is crucial for developing a more robust theory of culture. Drawing on her ethnographic work with Sinhala children in a predominantly Buddhist village in central Sri Lanka, Chapin makes five points about culture. (1) People develop and assemble personal versions of cultural models through culturally patterned experience beginning in childhood, where this largely occurs through everyday interaction with important others. (2) As cultural models are derived through this kind of experience, they are imbued with emotions and motivations. (3) It is also through this process that pieces of culture may acquire psychodynamic underpinnings, giving them unconscious force. (4) As people grow and age, the human developmental life course presents varying opportunities for cultural lessons to be learned differently; at the same time, the course of that development is fundamentally shaped by culturally patterned experience. (5) Understanding...
This article presents the case of a Sri Lankan woman who tells of an early life fraught with suff... more This article presents the case of a Sri Lankan woman who tells of an early life fraught with suffering and problematic dissociation. After a 30-year career as a priestess during which she became renowned for deep possession trances, firewalking, and blood sacrifices, she no longer participates in these activities. The analysis of this case argues that problematic dissociation outside a ritual context can be used in and transformed by involvement in culturally available possession rituals to promote healing. This counters Melford Spiro and others who have viewed possession experiences as necessarily abnormal, psychotic, and symptomatic of mental disorder. It supports Gananath Obeyesekere's assertion that engagement with these symbolic systems can lead to “progressive transformations.” Parallels between this priestess' lifestory and Western psychotherapy extend Obeyesekere's conception of “the work of culture” beyond the domain of meaning and symbol to include roles for em...
In this chapter, Chapin argues that research with children is crucial for developing a more robus... more In this chapter, Chapin argues that research with children is crucial for developing a more robust theory of culture. Drawing on her ethnographic work with Sinhala children in a predominantly Buddhist village in central Sri Lanka, Chapin makes five points about culture. (1) People develop and assemble personal versions of cultural models through culturally patterned experience beginning in childhood, where this largely occurs through everyday interaction with important others. (2) As cultural models are derived through this kind of experience, they are imbued with emotions and motivations. (3) It is also through this process that pieces of culture may acquire psychodynamic underpinnings, giving them unconscious force. (4) As people grow and age, the human developmental life course presents varying opportunities for cultural lessons to be learned differently; at the same time, the course of that development is fundamentally shaped by culturally patterned experience. (5) Understanding...
This article presents the case of a Sri Lankan woman who tells of an early life fraught with suff... more This article presents the case of a Sri Lankan woman who tells of an early life fraught with suffering and problematic dissociation. After a 30-year career as a priestess during which she became renowned for deep possession trances, firewalking, and blood sacrifices, she no longer participates in these activities. The analysis of this case argues that problematic dissociation outside a ritual context can be used in and transformed by involvement in culturally available possession rituals to promote healing. This counters Melford Spiro and others who have viewed possession experiences as necessarily abnormal, psychotic, and symptomatic of mental disorder. It supports Gananath Obeyesekere's assertion that engagement with these symbolic systems can lead to “progressive transformations.” Parallels between this priestess' lifestory and Western psychotherapy extend Obeyesekere's conception of “the work of culture” beyond the domain of meaning and symbol to include roles for em...
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Papers by Bambi Chapin