Robert Bartholomew is an American born medical sociologist, writer, journalist, human rights advocate and certified high school social studies instructor currently teaching history at Botany Downs Secondary College in South Auckland, New Zealand.  He is credited with coining the term 'exotic deviance' in the field of social psychiatry to describe the inappropriate placement medical labels by Eurocentric scientists, onto unfamiliar behaviors and conduct codes in NonWestern countries.

He holds a doctorate in sociology from James Cook University in Queensland Australia, a Masters in American sociology from the State University of New York at Albany, a Masters in Australian sociology from The Flinders University of South Australia, a BA degree in Communications from The State University of New York at Plattsburgh, and a Certificate in Radio Broadcasting from the State University of New York - Adirondack campus.  He has written on an array of topics ranging from human social and cultural diversity, to mass psychogenic illness (aka “mass hysteria”), social delusions, moral panics, fads, collective behavior, the history of tabloid journalism, history of the paranormal, popular myths and folklore.

He has published over a dozen books and over sixty articles in peer-reviewed journals. 

Publications

A Comprehensive list of Academic Publications:

Bartholomew, Robert E., Wessely, Simon, and Rubin, J. (in press, 2012). “Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Social Network:  Is it Changing the Pattern of Outbreaks?” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Epidemiology of Mass Psychogenic Illness; Rapid Social and Technological Change

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Muniratnam, M. Chandra (2011). “How Should Mental Health Professionals Respond to Outbreaks of Mass Psychogenic Illness?”  Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy 25(4): 235-239.  Mass Psychogenic Illness; Prevention and Treatment

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Regal, Brian (2009). “From Wildman to Monster: The Historical Evolution of Bigfoot in New York State.”  VOICES:  The Journal of New York Folklore 35: 13-15.  New York and New England Folklore

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Wessely, Simon (2007). “Canada’s ‘Toxic Bus:’ the New Challenge for Law Enforcement in the Post-911 World—Mass Psychogenic Illness.” The Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 49(5):657-671. Canada and Bio-terrorism—Prevention and Government Policy; Hysteria­—Social Aspects

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Radford, Benjamin (2007). "Mass Hysteria at Starpoint High." The Skeptical Inquirer 30(1):55-58 (January/February). Mass Psychogenic Illness and School Policy; Hysteria­—Social Aspects

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2006). “Mystery Illness at Melbourne Airport.”  Airports 2(2):28-31.  Epidemiology of Mass Psychogenic Illness; Prevention

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2006). “Mass Psychogenic Illness:  A Global Primer.” Crisis Response Journal 2(2):28-29. Emergency Personnel and Psychogenic Illness; Prevention and Containment

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2005). "'Mystery Illness' at Melbourne Airport: Toxic Poisoning or Mass Hysteria?" Medical Journal of Australia 183 (11-12):564-566 (December) Post-911 Bio-Terrorism Fears—Psychological Impact

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Billings, Dorothy (2005). “The President Johnson Cult.” Fortean Times 199:42-46 (December).  Dorothy Billings is an anthropologist at Witchita State University, Kansas.  Social Construction of ‘Cargo Cults’

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Zungia, Diego, (2005). "Tsunami Rumors Cause Ongoing Waves of Fear." The Skeptical Inquirer 29(4):5 (June) (Diego Zungia is a journalist in Santiago, Chile) Psychological Aspects of Natural Disasters; Collective Behavior

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Victor, Jeffrey (2004). “A Social Psychological Theory of Collective Anxiety Attacks.” The Sociological Quarterly 45 (2):229-248 (Dr. Jeffrey S. Victor is Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York, Jamestown Campus) Collective Behavior; Moral Panic versus Mass Psychogenic Illness; Case Study

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Goode, Erich (2003). "Mass Delusions and Hysterias..."  In Williams, Joseph and Colomb, Gregory. The Craft of Argument with Readings.  New York:  Longman (Erich Goode is Professor of Criminology at The University of Maryland). Collective Behavior; Millennial Myths

Bartholomew, Robert E. and Wessely, Simon. (2002). "Protean Nature of Mass Sociogenic Illness: From Possessed Nuns to Chemical and Biological Terrorism Fears." The British Journal of Psychiatry 180:300-306 (April) (Dr. Simon Wessely, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College School of Medicine and Institute of Psychiatry, London) Multilingual Literature Review; Mass Sociogenic Illness, Historical Aspects; Epidemiology; Future Trends; Psychological Aspects of Bio-Terrorism

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Radford, Benjamin (2002)."Rash of Mysterious Rashes May be Linked to Mass Hysteria--News and Comment." The Skeptical Inquirer (May).  Psychological Aspects of the United States Bio-Terrorism Scare

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Whalen, Steven (2002). "The Great New England Airship Hoax of 1909."  The New England Quarterly466-476 (September) (Dr. Steve Whalen is an associate professor of history at Castleton State College in Castleton, Vermont). New England Popular Culture; History of Aerial Flight; Social Delusion and Hoax; Case Study

Ladendorf, Robert, and Bartholomew, Robert E. (2002). "The Mad Gasser of Mattoon: How the Press Created an Imaginary Chemical Weapons Attack." The Skeptical Inquirer 26(4):50-53, 58 (July-August) Robert Ladendorf, public affairs division, Illinois Department of Transportation). Collective Behavior; Social Psychology; Chemical Weapons Scare; German Xenophobia; Mass Media Influence

Simon Wessely, Kenneth Hyams, Robert E. Bartholomew (2001). "Psychological Implications of Bio-Terrorism." Editorial. The British Medical Journal 323:878-879 (October). (Dr. Simon Wessely is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College School of Medicine and Institute of Psychiatry, London; Dr. Kenneth Hyams, Director Epidemiology Department, Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, Maryland). Mass Psychogenic Illness; Bio-Terrorism—Psychological Impact

Radford, Benjamin, and Bartholomew, Robert E. (2001). "Pokémon Contagion: Photosensitive Epilepsy or Mass Psychogenic Illness?" The Southern Medical Journal 94(2):197-204 (February) (Benjamin Radford is an editor living in Amherst, New York) Mass Psychogenic Illness, Mass Media Aspects; Case Study

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2001). "Monkey Man Delusion Sweeps India." The Skeptic Magazine 9(1):13. Collective Behavior; Social Psychology; Urban Legend; Indian Popular Culture

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2000). "Dancing Through Time." Correspondence. Canadian Medical Association Journal 163(9):1132. St. Vitus' Dance; Contemporary Dance Raves; Ritualistic Drug Use; Transhistorical Comparison

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Sirois, Francois (2000). "Occupational MassPsychogenic Illness: A Transcultural Perspective." Transcultural Psychiatry 37(4):495-524 (December). (Francois Sirois is an MD in the Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Laval, Quebec, Canada). Psychology and Sociology of Work; Gender Studies; Conversion Disorder; Transcultural and Transhistorical Aspects

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2000) "Re: Epidemic Hysteria: A Review of the Published Literature." Correspondence. The American Journal of Epidemiology 151(2):206-207 (January 15). Conversion Disorder; Social Delusions; Critique of Leslie Boss

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2000). "Rethinking the Dance Mania." The Skeptical Inquirer 24(4):42-47 (July-August). Gender Issues; Medicalization of Females; Deconstruction; St. Vitus' Dance

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Goode, Erich (2000). "Mass Delusions and Hysterias:  Highlights from the Past Millennium."  The Skeptical Inquirer 24(3):20-28 (May-June). (Erich Goode is Professor of Criminology at The  University of Maryland). Collective Behavior; Historical Aspects

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2000). "Millennium's Mass Delusions...Reply to Critics."  The Skeptical Inquirer 24(5):65 (September-October).

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2000). "From Airships to Flying Saucers: Oregon's Place in the Evolution of UFO Lore." Oregon Historical Quarterly 101(2):192-213 (Summer) Social Construction of the "Flying Saucer;" Media Analysis; Kenneth Arnold Sighting; 1947; Cold War History

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Jamaludin, Ahmad (2000). "Contemporary Malaysian Encounters with Fairies and Aliens." Australian Folklore 15:178-198 (August) (Ahmad Jamaludin is a veterinarian in Kuantan, Malaysia) Southeast Asian Folklore

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Jamaludin, Ahmad, and Ryan, J.S. (2000). "Perspectives on the Recently Reported Malaysian Extraterrestrial Encounters."  Australian Folklore 15:199 (August) (J.S. Ryan, School of English, Communication and Theater, University of New England, Australia) Southeast Asian Folklore

Bartholomew, Robert E.00). "Borderlands: Deviance, Psychiatry and Cultural Relativism." The Skeptic 8(3):36-40. Cultural Relativity; Ethical Relativism; Human Ethnographic Diversity

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1999). "The Conspicuous Absence of a Single Case of Latah-Related Death or Serious Injury."  Transcultural Psychiatry 36(3):369-376. Social Construction of Mental Disorders; Medicalization of Deviance; Malaysian-Indonesian Cultural Idioms; Ethnographic Analysis; Culture-Bound 'Syndromes'

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1999). Rejoinder to Invited replies by Drs. Ronald Simons, Michael G. Kenny and Robert L. Winzeler on "The Conspicuous    Absence of a Single Case of Latah-Related Death or Serious Injury." Transcultural Psychiatry 36(3):393-397. Social Construction of Mental Disorders; Medicalization of Deviance

Bartholomew, Robert E. and Wessely, Simon (1999). "Epidemic Hysteria in Virginia: The Case of the Phantom Gasser of 1933-34." The Southern Medical Journal 92(8):762-769 (Dr. Simon Wessely is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College School of Medicine and Institute of Psychiatry, London) Contamination Scares, Mass Psychogenic Illness, Historical Aspects; Case Study 

Bartholomew, Robert E., Dawes, Glenn, and Dickeson, Bryan (in press 1999). "Expanding the Boundary of Moral Panics: The Great New Zealand Zeppelin Scare of 1909."  New Zealand Sociology. (Dr. Glenn Dawes is in the Sociology Department, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia, and Mr. Bryan Dickeson is a computer analyst residing in Surrey Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) Moral Panics, War Scare Aspects; New Zealand History

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Goode, Erich (December 1999). "Phantom Assailants and the Madness of Crowds: The Mad Gasser of Botetourt County."  The Skeptic 7(4)50-55. (Dr. Erich Goode is Professor of Sociology at The StateUniversity of New York at Stony Brook). Critique of Rationalistic Bias and Collective Behavior Stereotypes; Case Study

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1999). [in German] "Die Deutsche 'Invasion' in New Hampshire 1917: Ein Fall von Kriegshysterie" (The German 'Invasion' of New Hampshire in 1917: A Study in War Scare Hysteria) Skeptiker: Zeitschrift fur Wissenschaft und Kritisches Denken 12(4):169-170. War Psychology; World War I; New Hampshire History

Bartholomew, Robert E., Dawes, Glenn, Liljegren, Anders, and Svahn, Clas. (1999). "The Swedish Ghost Rocket Delusion of 1946:  Anatomy of a Moral Panic."  Fortean Studies 6:64-74.  (Dr. Glenn Dawes is in the Department of Sociology at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia; Anders Liljegren is a Swedish computer analyst; Clas Svahn is a senior journalist with Sweden's largest daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter). Moral Panic; Russian Xenophobia; Historical Aspects; Case Study

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Likely, Michael (1998). "Subsidising Australian Pseudoscience: Is Iridology Complementary Medicine or Witch-Doctoring?" The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 22(1):163-164. (Michael Likely, M.D., Senior Psychiatric Registrar, Townsville General Hospital, Queensland, Australia) Australian Legislative Reform; Malaysian Ethnography; Post-Partum Psychosis

Bartholomew, Robert E., and O'Dea, Julian (1998). "Religious Devoutness Construed as Pathology: The Myth of "Religious Mania."  The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 8(1):1-16. (Dr. Julian O'Dea is a Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Australian National University) [96 references] Social Construction of Mental Disorders; Medicalization of Deviance

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1998). "The Medicalization of Exotic Deviance:  A Sociological Perspective on Epidemic Koro. Transcultural Psychiatry 35(1):5-38 (March). Deconstruction of "Genital Retraction Syndrome"; Social Construction of Mental Disorders; Medicalization of Deviance; Historical and Ethnographic Analysis

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1998). "Technology and Mass Delusion:  Remembering Edison's 'Electric Star' Hysteria."  Technology: Journal of the Franklin Institute 335A(1):65-67. Collective Delusions; Social Impact of Science & Technology; Mythology of Thomas Edison

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1998). "Dancing with Myths: The Misogynist Construction of Dancing Mania."  Feminism & Psychology 8(2):173-183 (May). Gender Issues; Medicalization of Females; Deconstruction

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1998). "Before Roswell: The Meaning Behind the Crashed UFO Myth." The Skeptical Inquirer 22(3):29-30, 59 (May-June) Popular Culture, Urban Legends

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1998). "The Martian Panic Sixty Years On: What Have We Learned?" The Skeptical Inquirer 22(6):40-43 (November-December) Mass Delusion, Historical Aspects; Case Study; Social Delusion, Sociocultural Context; War Scare

 Bartholomew, Robert E. (1998). "Michigan and the Great Mass Hysteria Episode of 1897." Michigan Historical Review 24(1):133-141 (1998). Technological Change; Social Delusions; American Popular Culture

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1998). "Phantom German Air Raids on Canada:  War Hysteria in Quebec and Ontario during World War I."  Canadian Military History 7(4):29-36 (Autumn 1998) Collective Delusions, War Psychology

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1998). "War Scare Hysteria in the Delaware Region in 1916." Delaware History 28(1):71-76 (Spring/Summer 1998) Social Delusion, Sociocultural Context; War Scare

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1997). "The Medicalization of the Exotic: Latah as a Colonialism-Bound 'Syndrome.'" Deviant Behavior 18:47-75. Social Construction of Mental Disorders; Medicalization of Deviance; Malay Ethnography

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1997). "Mass Hysteria."  Correspondence.  The British Journal of Psychiatry 170:387-388. Cross-Cultural Psychiatric Disorders

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1997). "Collective Delusions: A Skeptic's Guide."  The Skeptical Inquirer 31(3):29-33. Popular Culture; Folklore; Collective Behavior

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1997). "Epidemic Hysteria:  A Dialogue with Francois Sirois." Medical Principles and Practice 6:38-44. Group Conversion Hysteria

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Cole, Phillip (1997). "The Paranormal and Nursing: An Uneasy Alliance."  Nursing Science Quarterly 10(4):158-159.  (Dr. Philip Cole is in the Department of History and Politics, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia). Pseudoscience and Medicine

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Cole, Philip (1997). "The Myth of Aboriginal Cannibalism: Using Urban Legends to Explore Australian Social Issues."  Teaching History: Journal of the History Teachers' Association New South Wales 31(3):25-27. (Dr. Philip Cole, formerly from the Department of History and Politics at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia). Urban Legends, Australia, Aborigine Stereotyping

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Cole, Philip (1997). "Using History to Confront Pseudoscience: Capitalizing on the New Age Upswing." Teaching History: Journal of the History Teachers' Association New South Wales 31(4):42-43 (Dr. Philip Cole is formerly from the Department of History and Politics, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia). Pseudoscience, Australia, Teaching Strategy

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1997). "A British Columbia-Manitoba Balloon Mystery of 1896-97." British Columbia Historical News 30(4)27-29 Semiotics, Perceptual Psychology; Canadian Popular Culture

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Sirois, Francois (1996). "Epidemic Hysteria in Schools: An International and Historical Overview." Educational Studies 22(3):285-311   [199 references, 2 tables] Co-authored by (Professor Francois Sirois, MD., Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Laval, Quebec, Canada). Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Conversion Reactions; Sociology of Education; Prevention & Containment; Historical Aspects

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Gregory, Jane (1996). "'A Strange Epidemic:'  Note on the First Detailed Documented Case of Epidemic Koro." Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review 33:365-366. (Jane Gregory, French Instructor, Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, Australia. Culture-Bound Syndromes; Southern China; Translation and Comment on a Historical Case Study

Bartholomew, Robert E. "The Idiom of Latah: Reply to Dr. Simons." The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 183:184-185 (1995).Medicalization of Deviance; Culture-Bound 'Syndromes;' Deception by Anthropological Informants

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1995). "Culture-Bound Syndromes as Fakery." The Skeptical Inquirer 19(6):36-41 (1995). Deception by Anthropological Informants; Social Construction of Mental Disorders; Medicalization of Deviance

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1994). "When the Consequences of Beliefs are Defined as Psychiatric Entities." The Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 15(1):62-64. Feminist Studies; Medicalization of Deviance; Mass Psychology

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1994). "Disease, Disorder or Deception? Latah as Habit in a Malay Extended Family." The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 182(6):231-238. Culture-Bound 'Syndromes'; Malay Idioms; Ethnographic Fieldwork; Medicalization of Deviance; Malingering and Fraud

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1994). "Tarantism, Dancing Mania and Demonopathy: The Anthro-Political Aspects of Mass Psychogenic Illness." Psychological Medicine 24:281-306.  Feminist Studies; Medical History; St. Vitus Dance; Medicalization of Deviance; Social Construction of Mental Disorder

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1994). "The Social Psychology of 'Epidemic' Koro." The International Journal of Social Psychiatry 40(1):46-60. Culture-Bound 'Syndromes'; Deconstruction; Medicalization of Deviance; Critique of 'Genital Retraction Syndrome'

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1993). "Ethics? Whose Ethics?" The American Anthropological Association's Anthropology Newsletter 34(7):2, in response toa solicitation of views on the AAA's policy concerning the ethics of fieldwork. Cultural Relativism

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1993). "Redefining Epidemic Hysteria: An Example from Sweden." Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 88:178-182. Scandinavian Popular Culture; Social Delusions; Semiotics; Medicalization of Deviance

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1991). "The Symbolic Significance of Modern Myths." The Skeptical Inquirer 15(4):430-431. Semiotics; American Popular Culture; Religion

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1991). "Mutilation Mania--The Witch Craze Revisited:  An Essay Review of An Alien Harvest by Linda Howe." Anthropology of Consciousness 3(1-2):23-25 (March-June). Cattle Mutilation Myth Genesis

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1991). "The Quest for Transcendence: An Ethnography of UFOs in America." Anthropology of Consciousness 3(3-4):1-12. Semiotics; American Popular Culture; Medicalization of Deviance

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Bartholomew, Paul B. (1991). "Evaluating 'Bigfoot' Videos as an Anthropology Teaching Aid." Co-authored by Paul Bartholomew.  Anthropology of Consciousness 3(3-4):1-12 (March-June). Popular Western Culture; Contemporary Myth; Media Influence

Bartholomew, Robert E., Basterfield, Keith, and Howard, George S. (1991). "UFO Abductees and Contactees: Psychopathology or Fantasy-Proneness?" (George S. Howard, Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame; Keith  Basterfield, Australia. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 22(3):215-222. Personality Development; Fantasy; Dissociation

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1990). "Ethnocentricity and the Social Construction of 'Mass Hysteria.'" Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 14(4):455-494 (December). Deconstructionism; Gender Issues; Medicalization of Deviance

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1990). "The Airship Hysteria of 1896-97." The Skeptical Inquirer 14(2):171-181 (Winter). Collective Behavior; Social Psychology; American Popular Culture

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1989). "The South African Monoplane Hysteria: An Evaluation of the Usefulness of Smelser's Theory of Hysterical Beliefs." Sociological Inquiry 59(3):287-300 (August). Collective Behavior; Social Psychology; Popular Culture; Critique of Value-Added Theory

CHAPTERS AND BOOK ENTRIES:

Bartholomew, Robert E.; In: Deviance Across Cultures. Heiner, Robert New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 79-85.

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2005). "Preface." In Wells, H.G. (1898). The War of theWorlds.  New York:  Paraview Press (a division of Simon & Schuster) Birth ofScience Fiction; Social Impact of Literature; 1938 Radio scare; Collective Behavior

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Bullard, Thomas E. (2000). "A Real Nightmare, or a Flight of Fancy?"  Pp. 143-151.  In The Scareship Mystery: A Survey of Phantom Airship Scares 1909-1918. Dorma Books, Northamptonshire, England (Dr. Thomas E. Bullard is in the Department of Folklore, Indiana University at Bloomington) Collective Delusions, War Scare Psychology

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2000). "Signs of the Secular Times: The Adaptive and Transcendent Function of UFOs in America." In Alien Religions, edited by James Lewis, University of Wisconsin.  Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York (2000). Popular Culture; Social Delusions; Religious and Adaptive Aspects

Bartholomew, Robert E. (1997). "The Airship Hysteria of 1896-97," pp. 15-28.    In The UFO Invasion edited by Kendrick Frazier, Barry Karr, and Joseph Nickell.  Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York (1997). Nineteenth Century American Popular Culture; Social Delusions

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2001). "UFOs and Mass Hysteria." In Ronald D. Story (Editor). The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters: A Definitive A-Z Guide to All Things Alien. New American Library.

Bartholomew, Robert E.  (2001). "Canadian Ghost Balloons 1896-97." In Ronald D. Story (Editor). The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters: A Definitive A-Z Guide to All Things Alien.  New American Library.

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2001). "'Electric Star' Sightings 1880-1900." In Ronald D. Story (Editor). The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters: A Definitive A-Z Guide to All Things Alien.  New American Library.

Bartholomew, Robert E. (2001). "Biography of Robert C. Girard." In Ronald D. Story (Editor). The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters: A Definitive A-Z Guide to All Things Alien.  New American Library.