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Ethnographic perspectives on global mental health

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 04:10 authored by Sumeet Jain, David OrrDavid Orr
The field of Global Mental Health (GMH) aims to influence mental health policy and practice worldwide, with a focus on human rights and access to care. There have been important achievements, but GMH has also been the focus of scholarly controversies arising from political, cultural and pragmatic critiques. These debates have become increasingly polarized, giving rise to a need for more dialogue and experience-near research to inform theorizing. Ethnography has much to offer in this respect. This paper frames and introduces five articles in the issue of Transcultural Psychiatry that illustrate the role of ethnographic methods in understanding the effects and implications of the field of global mental health on mental health policy and practice. The papers include ethnographies from South Africa, India and Tonga, that show the potential for ethnographic evidence to inform GMH projects. These studies provide nuanced conceptualizations of GMH’s varied manifestations across different settings, the diverse ways that GMH’s achievements can be evaluated, and the connections that can be drawn between locally observed experiences and wider historical, political and social phenomena. Ethnography can provide a basis for constructive dialogue between those engaged in developing and implementing GMH interventions and those critical of some of its approaches.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Transcultural Psychiatry

ISSN

1363-4615

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Issue

6

Volume

53

Page range

685-695

Department affiliated with

  • Social Work and Social Care Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-11-23

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-02-24

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-11-23

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