Temporary Madness as Theatre: Wild‐man Behaviour in New Guinea1

Clarke, William C.

doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1973.tb01210.x

Cited by 21 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Thus the audience witness men demonstrating their morality through successive animal sacrifices rather than simply claiming it as was the case before the event began. Clarke's (1973) analogy of wild man behaviour as theatre is appealing, though I cannot endorse his (1973:212) argument that this behaviour is 'make believe'. Certainly the licence given to rawa men allows for substantial innovation, but the Anganen take the active phase very seriously indeed.…”

Section: Phase 111 Resolutionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Dangerous Visions: the Cassowary as Good to Think and Good to Remember among the Anganen

Nihill

2002

Oceania

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The cassowary, although no longer a popular animal for possession or gift exchange in contemporary Anganen, is good to think in the Levi-Straussian sense and good to remember. Its excessive violence may stand for the violence of which men are capable. This is the case for inter-group warfare. It also refers to intra-community hostilities, not sharing cassowary meat being a frequent cause for clan fission and an agonistic exchange called rawa where those conceptualised as brothers engage in the competitive slaughter of, ideally, cassowaries. The article primarily concerns rawa and its extraordinary character. It is typified by paradox and danger despite the displacement of anger from direct attacks on humans to the slaughter of animals. Rawa protagonists throw blood and uncleaned entrails at each other while shouting the vilest of insults in the hope the opponent will eventually not respond and lose the contest. However, while escalation of a dispute to the level of rawa is evidence of failed mediation, this competitive exchange establishes the condition for eventual intervention and, via a communal feast of the slaughtered animals, the resumption of strong community relations, including those between the former protagonists. The final ethnographic section focuses on the fact that warfare and rawa were prohibited by the Australian Administration. Anganen men feel they were disenfranchised by the Administration, in part because they were denied access to the culturally lauded male pursuits of being warriors and rawa men. As such, that cassowaries are thought to have been much more popular in the past is central to my claim they are good to remember. 258Oceania 72, 2002

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Section: Phase 111 Resolutionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Dangerous Visions: the Cassowary as Good to Think and Good to Remember among the Anganen

Nihill

2002

Oceania

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“…Pseudo-amok has also been attributed to the consumption of supposedly hallucinogenic mushrooms in accordance with native tradition (Reay 1960(Reay , 1965, but this was soon refuted by the eminent mycologists Heim and Wasson (Reay 1977). Pseudoamok in New Guinea also serves the functions of individual catharsis and collective entertainment (Clarke 1973); the participation of costumed female "amok-runners" in such displays (Aufenanger 1973) offers an almost parodic cantrast to the overwhelmingly male type of authentic, murderaus amok behavior seen in New Guinea and elsewhere in the world.…”

Section: Culture-typical Emphasis: Propensity To Dissociation and Malmentioning

confidence: 94%

Culture-Specific Mental Disorders

Jilek¹,

Jilek-Aall²

2001

Contemporary Psychiatry

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“…Some of the most bizarre examples of believed-in imaginings prompting seemingly disturbed behaviors have been recorded in non-Western countries. In Papua New Guinea, "transient madness" among certain tribes appears to be a calculated, theatrical demonstration intended for social and material benefit (Clarke 1973). Exaggerated response to startle in Malayo-Indonesia-the so-called culture-specific mental disorder of lutuh-has recently been redefined as a deliberate, culturally conditioned role affecting mostly depressed, socially isolated elderly women of Malay descent who are convinced that they have weak mental constitutions or sernungut.…”

Section: With Somatic Reactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Social-Psychological Theory of Collective Anxiety Attacks: The “Mad Gasser” Reexamined

Bartholomew

Victor

2004

The Sociological Quarterly

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This article presents a social-psychological theory to explain collective behavior involving unusual somatic reactions. The authors term this social phenomenon a "collective anxiety attack," to distinguish it from the psychiatric label of "mass psychogenic illness." First, the article contrasts fundamental assumptions of a psychiatric-medical interpretation with a social-psychological interpretation. Next, the article illustrates the difference using a reinterpretation of and new data about the classic case of the "mad gasser of Mattoon." Then, the authors present a social-psychological theory which suggests that collective anxiety is induced by a shared belief in a threat rumor. Once a belief in an imminent threat spreads widely enough to create a consensual definition of the situation, the belief intensifies fear and distorts individual perception. Belief in the threat rumor creates psychological stress and expectancy effects that shape an individual's somatic reactions, so that expectations of feeling sick result in symptoms of sickness. In conclusion, the article suggests a program for research and ways of managing collective anxiety attacks.Or in the night, imagining some fear, How easy is a bush suppos'd a bear! William Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," act 5, scene 1, lines [21][22] This study presents a new social-psychological theory of collective behavior involving unusual somatic reactions. The theory emphasizes the role of normal sociocultural and social-psychological processes, rather than psychopathology. The authors apply this new theory to the much-cited episode of the "mad gasser" of Mattoon (vide Johnson 1945), which involved strange somatic reactions to imaginary gas attacks. In conclusion, the authors offer applications of the theory for research and management of outbreaks of widespread imaginary illnesses.

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Temporary Madness as Theatre: Wild‐man Behaviour in New Guinea1

Cited by 21 publications

References 18 publications

Dangerous Visions: the Cassowary as Good to Think and Good to Remember among the Anganen

Dangerous Visions: the Cassowary as Good to Think and Good to Remember among the Anganen

Culture-Specific Mental Disorders

A Social-Psychological Theory of Collective Anxiety Attacks: The “Mad Gasser” Reexamined

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