Medical pluralism on a Guatemalan plantation

Abstract

This paper examines the alternative medical resources and treatments utilized by a population on a Guatemalan coffee and sugar plantation. This is part of a larger multidisciplinary project concerning the assessment of the health and nutritional status of this population. The study revealed a pluralistic complex of multiple and simultaneous usage including home remedies, curanderos, herbalists, midwives, spiritists, shamans, injectionists, pharmacists, private physicians, public and private clinics, and hospitals. These resources include and combine aspects from Mayan Indian, folk Ladino, spiritism and cosmopolitan medical traditions. The pluralistic dimensions of health care are analyzed in terms of the heterogeneous medical behavior of both the health seeker and the practitioners or specialists, emphasizing how components from the various traditions are incorporated or utilized. Case studies are used to illustrate some of the health care strategies used by the population.