Geography of Madness | Frank Bures | Madness Radio

First Aired: 06-27-2016 -- 1 comment | Add comment

Are beliefs in witchcraft and “voodoo death” not real? Do magical explanations of disease mean people are primitive and less educated? Or are stories and beliefs at the heart of reality for all cultures – including yours?

Frank Bures, author of The Geography of Madness: Penis Thieves, Voodoo Death, and the Search for the Meaning of the World’s Strangest Syndromes, looks beyond travel literature’s colonial superiority and explores how meaning, perception, and belief shape what we think of as “real” in disease and health.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/04/the-diseases-you-only-get-if-you-believe-inthem/479367/

http://nym.ag/2k0tKQa

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One comment on “Geography of Madness | Frank Bures | Madness Radio

  1. I am subscribed to this blog apparently but not to the show notifications. So it looks like I find out about the shows after they air via the blog. Either way, this show must have been a fascinating one (I can’t seem to find where it is or a link to it). I was one of those kids who was praised by other kids and by my teachers for being “smart” and indeed I did give up quickly (still do) when I find I am not good at something instantly. I hated homework, found it an imposition in grade school. I totally agree with the idea that our notion of disease is culturally framed. I laugh thinking that those in Western cultures assume folks in other countries are “less educated” since folks in Western countries seem clueless that life exists beyond their backyards and past their TV sets.

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