ANT 340 Anthropology and the Abnormal

3 hours 

A study of the ways in which different societies define abnormal behavior with emphasis on the understanding of the societal basis of the selection and labeling of certain behaviorsas abnormal. The social uses of deviance are examined. Roles such as the shaman the transvestite the homosexual the saint the sinner the jokester the aged and the mental defective are analyzed in the context of specific cultures. Various forms of psychological and social therapies to treat the abnormal are discussed with examples drawn from both Western and non-Western cultures.