Nobody’s Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness
Abstract
Mental health experts and advocates tell us that “stigma” is the major barrier to mental health care throughout the world. But where did stigma come from? And how can we begin to eradicate it?
Dr. Grinker, a cultural anthropologist, specializing in psychological anthropology will discuss his new book, Nobody’s Normal. Drawing on research in sub-Saharan Africa, the U.S., and South Korea, as well as his own history as the son, grandson, and great-grandson of psychiatrists, Dr. Grinker writes that we are on the cusp of ending the marginalization of people with mental illnesses and developmental disorders. Dr. Grinker, a professor at GWU since 1992, has conducted research on a variety of subjects: ethnic relationships between farmers and foragers in the Ituri forest, Democratic Republic of Congo; North and South Korean relations, with special emphasis on North Korean defectors’ adaptation to South Korea life; and the epidemiology of autism. He is also the editor of the Anthropological Quarterly, a peer reviewed journal published by the GWU Institute for Ethnographic Research.