Latah in South-East Asia: The History and Ethnography of a Culture-bound Syndrome

by Robert L. Winzeler

• ISBN13: 9780521031370
• ISBN10: 0521031370
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-09-15
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Latah, the Malayan hyperstartle pattern, has fascinated Western observers since the late nineteenth century and is widely regarded as a "culture-bound syndrome." Robert 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 a "syndrome."

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Problem of Latah

The study of latah

Latah, history and gender

'Latah' elsewhere

Latah, Society and Culture

Latah in Kelantan: an overview

Latah and Malay culture

Symbolic meanings and social uses

Borneo Comparisons and Perspective

Latah in Borneo

Latah and the Iban

Conclusions

Explaining latah: paradigm and paradox, syndrome and ritual, nature and culture

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