On penis theft, creepy clowns, anxiety, and how culture tells us what is real

“Beliefs are contagious. The stories we tell take on their own logic and become real, in a way. As travelers in another culture part of your role is to try and understand what narrative ecosystem you’re a part of.”  – Frank Bures

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Frank discuss “culture shock,” and the origins of Frank’s book (2:00); narrative ecosystems, “penis theft,” and culture as a lens to view to the world (10:00); the form cultural panics and idiosyncrasies take in the West (23:00); and how to treat conditions that are both cultural and biological (30:00).

Frank Bures is a writer and the author of The Geography of Madness, which Newsweek called one of the best travel books of the decade. His writing has appeared in such publications as Harper’s, Lapham’s Quarterly, and the Best American Travel Writing. For more about Frank, check out www.frankbures.com.

Notable Links:

• Penis theft (culture-bound syndrome)
• Culture shock (cross-cultural anxiety)
• Korean fan-death (culture-bound syndrome)
• Traditional Chinese medicine (cultural pseudoscience)
• Anorexia nervosa (eating disorder)
• Bigorexia (body dysmorphic disorder)
• 1967 Singapore genital panic, by Frank Bures (article)
• Satanic Panic (moral panic in the 1980s and 1990s)
• 2016 “creepy clown” scare (viral panic)
• Chemtrails (conspiracy theory)
• Premenstrual syndrome (emotional disorder)

This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey.

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.