Towards an Anthropology of Psychology

Mikkel Kenni Bruun is an Affiliated Lecturer at the University of Cambridge and Research Associate at King’s College London. He is the co-editor of Rhythm and Vigilance: Ethnographies of Surveillance and Time (Bristol University Press, 2025).

“This is an excellent book. It deals with a timely and important issue in a sensitive manner.” • Keir Martin, University of Oslo“This is a fascinating volume with an important agenda: to understand, ethnographically, the powerful hold that concepts and practices of ‘psychology’ have come to exert on our lives. Refreshing in its focus on non-biomedical psychologies and psychotherapies, and with case studies drawn from across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, it should be essential reading for all anthropologists of contemporary selfhood.” • Nicholas J. Long, London School of Economics and Political Science“This groundbreaking volume explores how psychological healthcare, expertise, and identity are changing around the world, setting new directions for understanding the relationship between psychology and culture in the twenty-first century. Drawing on in-depth fieldwork, the contributors examine how people use psychological ideas and practices to care for themselves and others. They show how psychological concepts spread and become meaningful across different cultures, while questioning the assumptions we often take for granted about mental health and well-being.” • Joanna Cook, University College London

• AcknowledgementsIllustrationsIntroduction: Thinking Ethnographically about PsychologyMikkel Kenni BruunChapter 1. Mixing Treatment Modalities: An Ethnography of Mental Healthcare Bricolage in CanadaDina BorkChapter 2. Treating Patients ‘Who Don’t Speak’: The Challenge of Treating Children with Eating Disorders in a Residential Facility in ItalyGiulia SciolliChapter 3. More Likely Psychological? Exploring Mental Troubles and Psychology in OuagadougouAnnigje van DijkChapter 4. When the Counsellors Give: Material Support and Therapeutic Agency in State-Based Psychological Counselling Services in Sri LankaNadia AugustyniakChapter 5. In (the) Practice: Pioneering Psychotherapy in UgandaJulia VorhölterChapter 6. Throwing Out the Psyche: Scientific Persuasions in British PsychotherapyMikkel Kenni BruunChapter 7. Encoding Wellness: On Cultures of Risk when Building Digital Mental Wellb-Being AppsJennifer CearnsAfterword: An Anthropology of Psychology in the Twenty-First CenturyKeir MartinIndex