Raphael Mousa is from Bremen, northern Germany. After high-school graduation he traveled to India for the first time, what convinced him to study South Asian Culture. Therefore he moved to Heidelberg where he completed his B.A. in Anthropology and Psychology with a focus on Medical Anthropology. In summer 2012 he conducted a two-month fieldwork for his bachelor thesis in eastern Nepal, where he observed several healing rituals (Cinta) and talked to traditional healers or shamans (Dhami/Jhankri). His thesis was a description of these traditions and a critical analysis of the approach of comparing shamanic rituals with western psychotherapy. Raphael hopes to continue his research about shamanism in Nepal for his M.A. degree and afterwards. Besides ritual healing he is interested in issues of cultural psychiatry and mental health. The MAHASSA program seems to be the perfect choice for Raphael to study and combine these different but interrelated topics.
