This book is in the field of trans-cultural psychology, and is intended for college courses in anthropology and psychology, and general readership. The book focuses on intriguing facts about primitive cultures around the world, and provides insights into living traditions and different world views. A principal theme of the book is that we can gain a better understanding of ourselves by a “detour” to other cultures. The book shows how modern ways of thinking are parallel to those of primitive cultures, and engages readers to become more aware of who they are. As shown throughout the book, there is not, after all, a very wide gulf between primitive and modern cultures. The book covers many topics including animism, shamanism, totemism, hunting and cultivation rituals, altered states of consciousness, envy and the evil eye, how people deal with conflicts, potlatches, cargo cults, how people satisfy the need for social approval, culture-bound syndromes, folk medicine, treatment of women, raising of children, nomadic peoples, treatment of the dead, and other topics.
Table of Contents
Preface iCHAPTERS
PART I: Primitive Societies and Cultural Frameworks
1. Why Study Primitive Cultures? 01
2. Cultural Relativism 22
3. Apollinian and Dionysian Cultures 29
PART II: Primitive Beliefs, Practices and Rituals
4. Mana 37
5. Animism 49
6. Totemism 76
7. Hunting and Cultivation Rituals 83
8. Shamanism: The “Wounded Healer” 95
9. Envy and the Evil Eye 114
PART III: Consciousness and Magical Powers
10. Altered States of Consciousness 127
11. Trance and Possession States 133
12. Magic, Sorcery and Witchcraft 150
PART IV: Conflict and Death
13. Death by Suggestion: Voodoo Death, Taboo Death, and Bone-Pointing 167
14. The Placebo Effect 172
15. Dealing with Conflicts, Aggressive Impulses, Enemies and War 175
16. Treatment of the Dead 192
PART V: Status and Wealth
17. Potlatches 201
18. Status, Prestige, Recognition--the Need for Social Approval 207
PART VI: Cultural Phenomena and Folk Medicine
19. Culture-Bound Syndromes 212
20. Mass Hysteria, Mass Possession 230
21. Folk Medicine 236
PART VII: Women and Children in Primitive Societies
22. The Treatment and the Role of Women in Primitive Cultures 246
23. Child Rearing and the Treatment of Children in Primitive Cultures 255
PART VIII: When Modern Culture Meets Primitive Culture, and a Case Study
24. Cargo Cults 260
25. Nomadic Peoples: A Case Study of the Batek People of Malaysia 266
References 274
Appendix 290
Index 310
