Maddalena Canna

Assistant Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology
PhD: School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) - Paris, France
    research interests:
    • global health, anthropology of consciousness, embodiment, gender and sexuality, medical anthropology, diversity in the DSM, Afro-Latin studies, transcultural psychiatry, ethnographic theory, theory of interdisciplinarity, graphic and non-verbal methods for the social sciences
      View All People

      contact info:

      mailing address:

      • Washington University
      • CB 1114
      • One Brookings Drive
      • St. Louis, MO 63130-4899
      image of book cover

      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.