AnthroPod 57. Anthropology and/of Mental Health, Pt. 2
Jun 25, 2020
Guests Nick Sieber and Ebi Saldana explore the interplay of anthropology and mental health. Sieber, an anthropologist focusing on attention in cultural contexts, discusses the implications of ADHD in academia and the importance of adapting field methods to suit varying attentional styles. Saldana reflects on her fieldwork disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the emotional toll of lost projects and the need for academic resilience. Both guests highlight the complexities of conducting research amid personal and societal challenges.
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Two Competing Frames Of Attention
- Competing discourses frame attention as scarce economic currency and as the basis of human sovereignty.
- Sieber highlights tension between the attention economy and movements that defend attentional autonomy as essential to being human.
Medicalization Masks Social Roots
- Medicalizing attention (e.g., ADHD) individualizes a problem that also has social and situational roots.
- Sieber suggests treating attention as social and cultural, not solely an individual disorder.
Diagnosis Discovered Midway Through Teaching
- While teaching a seminar on attention, Nick Sieber received an adult ADHD diagnosis that reframed his experience.
- He used ethnographic literature in class to make sense of his own diagnosis and its moral implications.
