Accusations of genital theft: A case from northern Ghana

Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry

Volumn 29, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 33-52

  Mather, Charles ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY   (Canada)

Author keywords

Culture bound syndrome; Genital retraction syndrome; Koro; Kusasi; West Africa

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; ATTITUDE; CASE REPORT; GHANA; HUMAN; MALE; MALE GENITAL SYSTEM; PANIC; PARAPSYCHOLOGY; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; THEFT;

ADULT; ATTITUDE; GENITALIA, MALE; GHANA; HUMANS; MALE; PANIC DISORDER; PARAPSYCHOLOGY; THEFT;

EID: 23844457918     PISSN: 0165005X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11013-005-4622-9     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. Awedoba, A.K. 1989a Notes on Matrimonial Goods Among the Atoende Kusasi, Part 1. Research Review 5(1): 37-53.
2. 1989b Matrimonial Goods Among the Atoende Kusasi Contingent Prestations, Part 2. Research Review 5(2): 1-17.
3. 1990 Matrimonial Goods Among the Atoende Kusasi: Matrimonial Prestations and Exploitation, Part 3. Research Review 6(1): 49-56.
4. BBC News 2001 Ethnic Clashes in Northern Ghana. Electronic document, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1690746.stm, accessed February 10, 2003.
5. Bartholomew R.E. 1994 The Social Psychology of 'Epidemic' Koro. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 40(1): 46-60.
6. 2000 Exotic Deviance. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado Press.
7. Bernstein, R.L., and A.C. Gaw 1990 Koro: Proposed Classification for DSM-IV. American Journal of Psychiatry 147: 1670-1674.
8. Caballero J.M., A. Avila, X. Cardona, F. Sastre, P. Maho, and J. Bello 2000 Genital Pain Without Urogenital Pathology: The Koro-Like Syndrome. Journal of Urology 163(1): 243.
9. Cheng, S.T. 1996 A Critical Review of Chinese Koro. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 20(1): 67-82.
10. Chowdhury, A.N. 1996 The Definition and Classification of Koro. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 20(1): 41-65.
11. Chowdhury, A.N., and N.K. Bera 1994 Koro Following Cannabis Smoking: Two Case Reports. Addiction 89(8): 1017-1020.
12. CNN 1997 7 Killed in Ghana Over 'Penis-Snatching' Episodes. Electronic document, http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9701/18/briefs/ghana.penis.html, accessed January 24 2003.
13. Dan-Ali, M. 2001 "Missing" Penis Sparks Mob Lynching. Electronic document, http://news.bbc.co.uk/l/hi/world/africa/127425.stm, accessed May 7, 2002.
14. Dantendorfer, K., M. Amering, D. Prayer, D. Maierhofer, P. Schnider, and H. Katschnig 1996 Treatment of Koro and Panic Attacks After Stroke. Anxiety. 2(1): 53-55.
15. Dow, T.W., and D.A. Silver 1973 Drug-Induced Koro Syndrome. Journal of Florida Medical Association 60: 32.
16. Edwards, J.G. 1985 The Koro Pattern of Depersonalization in an American Schizophrenic Patient. In The Culture Bound Syndromes. R.C. Simons and C.C. Hughes, eds., pp. 165-168. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
17. Edwards, J.W. 1984 Indigenous Koro, a Genital Retraction Syndrome of Insular Southeast Asia: A Critical Review. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 8: 1-24.
18. Estcourt, C.S., and B.T. Goh 1998 Koro Presenting to Genitourinary Medicine Services. International Journal of STD and AIDS 9(3): 175-176.
19. Fortes, M. 1945 The Dynamics of Clanship Among the Tallensi. London: Oxford University Press.
20. 1949 The Web of Kinship Among the Tallensi. London: Oxford University Press.
21. Geller, A. 1997 Witch Doctors Torched After Men See Penises Shrink. New York Post, March 8: 12.
22. Goody, J. 1962 Death, Property and the Ancestors. A Study of the Mortuary Customs of the Lodagaa of West Africa. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
23. Gwee, A.L. 1968 Koro - Its Origin and Nature as a Disease Entity. Singapore Medical Journal 9: 3-6.
24. Hallowell, A.I. 1941 The Social Function of Anxiety in a Primitive Society. American Sociological Review VII: 869-881.
25. Hilton, T.E. 1962 Notes on the History of Kusasi. Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana 6: 79-96.
26. Ifabumuyi, O.I., and G.G.C. Rwegellera 1985 Koro in a Nigerian Male Patient. In The Culture Bound Syndromes. R.C. Simons and C.C. Hughes, eds., pp. 361-363. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
27. Ilechukwu, S.T.C. 1992 Magical Penis Loss in Nigeria: Report of a Recent Epidemic of a Koro-Like Syndrome. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review 29: 91-108.
28. Jackson, M. 1998 Minima Ethnographica: Intersubjectivity and the Anthropological Project. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
29. Kamara, F. 2002 Blindman Escapes Mob Justice for Alleged Penis Snatching. The Daily Observer (Banjul), April 30.
30. Kim J., M. Kim, N. Lee, and Y. Park 2000 A Case of Urethrocutaneous Fistula with the Koro Syndrome. Journal of Urology 164(1): 123.
31. Kroger, F. 1982 Ancestor Worship Among the Bulsa of Northern Ghana: Religious, Social and Economic Aspects. Munich: Klaus Renner Verlag.
32. Lapierre, Y.D. 1972 Koro in a French Canadian. Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal 17: 333.
33. Legally-Cole, M. 2002 Gambia: Reports of "Penis Snatching" on the Increase. Electronic document, http://www.expotimes.net/backissuesept1/ sept013.htm, accessed February 11, 2003.
34. Mather, C. 1999 An Ethnoarchaeology of Kusasi Shrines, Upper East Region, Ghana. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary.
35. 2000 Kusasi Ancestor Shrines as Historical and Social Maps. Proceedings of The Entangled Past: The 1997 Chacmool Conference. University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada, pp. 136-143.
36. 2003 Shrines and the Domestication of Landscape. Journal of Anthropological Research 59(1): 23-45.
37. Naden, T. 1988 The Gur Languages. In The Languages of Ghana. M.E. Kropp Dakubu, ed., pp. 12-49. Occasional Publications no.2, International African Institute. London: Kegan Paul.
38. 1996 Ancestor Non-Worship in Mampruli. Lexikos 6: 71-103.
39. Phelan, D., and R.J. Daly 1996 Koro-Like Syndrome Associated with Brief Reactive Psychosis in an Irish Male. Irish Medical Journal 89(2): 75-76.
40. Rattray, R.S. 1932 Tribes of the Ashanti Hinterland: Vols. I and II. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
41. Rosca-Rebaudengo, P., R. Durst, and S. Minuchin-Itzigsohn 1996 Transculturation, Psychosis and Koro Symptoms. Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences 33(1): 54-62.
42. Syme, J.G.G. 1932 The Kusasis. A Short History. Mimeo.
43. Tseng, W.S., K.M. Mo, L.S. Li, G.Q. Chen, L.W. Ou, and H.B. Zheng 1992 Koro Epidemics in Guangdong, China. A Questionnaire Survey. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 180(2): 117-123.
44. Wen, J.K. 1998 Folk Belief, Illness Behavior and Mental Health in Taiwan. Chang-Keng i Hsueh Tsa Chih 21(1): 1-12.
45. Yap, P.M. 1977 Koro - A Culture-Bound Depersonalization Syndrome. In Culture, Disease, and Healing. D. Landy, ed., pp. 340-349. New York: Macmillan.