Social anthropology has proposed that social institutions and psychological reactions may at times be alternative ways of dealing with similar situations; and that at a high level of generality, they may be conceived of as variants of similar (psycho-social) phenomena. Response to sudden bereavement in Albanian Kosova may follow two routes: the customary law arguing stoicism but retribution, and the psychological idiom of `trauma' recently introduced by Western European aid agencies. Similarities and differences between what at first appear two quite distinct responses are outlined.
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