Holly Walters

Lecturer in Anthropology

Cultural anthropologist whose ethnographic work focuses on pilgrimage and politics in the Nepal Himalayas, as well as material culture, divine personhood, and ritual practice in South Asia. Drawing on theoretical frameworks in psychological/medical and linguistic anthropology, her current research addresses the roles of sacred landscapes and digital religious revival in the relationships between Hindus, Buddhists, and Bonpos who venerate sacred fossils, called Shaligrams.

Education

  • B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • M.A., Brandeis University
  • Ph.D., Brandeis University

Current and upcoming courses

  • This course explores anthropological, religious, and psychiatric perspectives on mental health and mental illness, with careful attention to varied constructions of "madness", treatment, and healing across human cultures. We begin with comparative questions: are there universal standards of positive mental and emotional functioning? Are there overall commonalities in approaches to psychic and emotional disturbances? What is the role of spirituality? After considering the history of ‘madness’ in the West, we consider early anthropological and religious models of "madness" elsewhere. We next turn to ritualized therapeutic interventions in small-scale indigenous societies and consider a range of case studies from around the world. We conclude with a unit on culture and mental health in the United States and the ‘globalization” of American models of the psyche (ANTH 236 and REL 236 are cross-listed courses.)