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Informationen zum Autor Robert L. Winzeler is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Nevada, Reno. He received his AM and PhD from the University of Chicago and has done extensive long-term fieldwork in both insular and mainland Southeast Asia. His numerous books include The Peoples of Southeast Asia Today (2011) and Anthropology and Religion, Second Edition (2012). Klappentext Latah, the Malayan hyperstartle pattern, has fascinated Western observers since the late nineteenth century and is widely regarded as a 'culture-bound syndrome'. Dr Winzeler critically reviews the literature on the subject, and presents new ethnographic information based on his own fieldwork in Malaya and Borneo. He considers the biological and psychological hypotheses that have been proposed to account for latah, and explains the ways in which local people understand it. Arguing that latah has specific social functions, he concludes that it is not appropriate to regard it as an 'illness' or 'syndrome'. Zusammenfassung Latah! the Malayan hyperstartle pattern! has fascinated Western observers since the late nineteenth century! and is widely considered a 'culture-bound syndrome'. This study critically reviews the literature! and presents new ethnographic information! concluding that latah serves specific social functions! and should not be treated as an 'illness' or 'syndrome'. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction; Part I. The Problem of Latah: 1. The study of latah; 2. Latah, history and gender; 3. 'Latah' elsewhere; Part II. Latah, Society and Culture: 4. Latah in Kelantan: an overview; 5. Latah and Malay culture; 6. Symbolic meanings and social uses; Part III. Borneo Comparisons and Perspective: 7. Latah in Borneo; 8. Latah and the Iban; Part IV. Conclusions: 9. Explaining latah: paradigm and paradox, syndrome and ritual, nature and culture.
