Assistant Professor Maddalena Canna (she/hers) is a sociocultural anthropologist specializing in global mental health, transcultural psychiatry, and the social studies of medicine. Her work explores the interplay between embodiment and consciousness, also called the “mind-body connection” across cultures. She has been conducting research in Afro-Indigenous societies (Nicaragua and Central America), in the US/Canada, and at a global scale.
Current projects:
- An ethnographic study of trance and possession among the Afro-Indigenous Miskitu of Nicaragua and Honduras
- A pragmatic inquiry on the DSM medicalization of non-ordinary states of consciousness and the global movements for their depathologization
- A longitudinal mixed-method project on the lived experience of people with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) in the US and in Canada
- A meta-disciplinary assessment of the epistemic and societal frictions between social and medical sciences
Languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish
Selected Publications:
Canna, Maddalena. "Visceral Visions: Rethinking Embodiment and Desire in Global Mental Health." Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 47.1 (2023): 132-51.
Canna, Maddalena, and Rebecca Seligman. "Dealing with the Unknown. Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) and the Conversion of Cultural Meaning." Social Science & Medicine (1982) 246 (2020): 112725. Web.