Social science & medicine. Part B, Medical anthropology最新文献

In addition to the official “cosmopolitan” system, a number of different health care systems flourish in Malaysia. This article provides an overview of the current situation of the dominant systems and discusses the multiplicity of use by the multi-ethnic Malaysian population. An examination of the reasons for the persistence of traditional health care systems may provide a perspective from which to evaluate cosmopolitan practices and may indicate that the cosmopolitan system is seen as an incomplete health system. The need and possibilities for collaboration between different health systems are examined in light of specific studies carried out in rural Malaysia.

After recalling the theoretical principles which underlie the traditional medical practices of the Guajiro Indians, the author gives a general picture of Western medicine as it is practised in the Guajiro environment, in Venezuela.

Having described the Indian approach, an inventory is drawn up and a brief analysis given of the factors which, according to the Indians' “state of acculturation”, draw them either towards or away from the hospitals, or else leave them with an ambivalent attitude.

At the end of this study it appears that the divergences and incompatibilities between Guajiro and Western medicine are not only formal and material, but also social and theoretical. The problem of the relationship between the two medicines does not, therefore, have a simple solution in the present Guajiro context, but nevertheless certain steps should be taken urgently. It is necessary, in particular, for the Western practitioner working among the Guajiro to acquire an “anthropological consciousness” and a thorough knowledge of the native medical theory, even if only to ensure that the treatment he prescribes is applied and continued …

Traditional East Asian Medicine is undergoing a popular revival in modern Japan and is analysed in this paper in order to demonstrate its structure and organization in historical times and continuities, discontinuities and revivalism of aspects of traditional theory and practice in contemporary times. The reasons for a popular revival and the process of re-legitimation are then discussed. Both historically and in contemporary times, the training and social organization within which traditional Japanese practitioners work encourages reductionism, factionalism, competition and innovation. A variety of theoretical models and medical practice is applied within this system, so that despite a shared classical heritage, it is in reality pluralistic.

The popular revival is being reinforced by the mass media, changes in legal sanctions and government-sponsored research. But official responses tend to encourage the promotion of control of traditional medicine by applying the standards of science to it and by incorporating it into the organization devised for the practice of cosmopolitan medicine. It is demonstrated that institutional legitimation can lead to the sacrifice of those special features of traditional medicine, including pluralism, which are deemed most valuable by patients.

Popular beliefs about female physiology held by most women in provincial Iran have far-reaching consequences for women's behavior and attitudes as they relate to fertility and contraception. These beliefs are grounded in the classical Galenic-Islamic medical theories concerning natural temperament, the reproductive system, blood and the heart. These theories provide models for understanding conception, pregnancy, contraception and the effects of the contraceptive pill upon women's bodies. Popular medicine also provides a vocabulary of disorders of womanhood—heart distress, weak nerves, lack of blood, and aches and pains. These disorders are commonly believed to be side effects that result from use of the contraceptive pill, and are reasons frequently given for discontinuing contraception or never entering a family planning program. The “health-related” complications encountered in sustained usage of contraceptive methods such as the birth control pill, the high degree of dissatisfaction with new contraceptive methods and with the clinicians who encourage their use, and the ambivalent feelings experienced by women who practice or consider practicing birth control are more clearly understood in light of these popular beliefs concerning female physiology.

Soma was an exhilarating drink made from a plant of the same name. It was the essence of the sacrifice which was the focus of early Vedic religion, yet nowhere in the Vedic literature is a clear description of the plant to be found. Various attempts have been made to identify Soma, the most recent by Wasson (1968), who argued that it was Amanita muscaria. Some of his arguments are disputed. The hymns of the Rig-Veda demonstrate that Soma was an hallucinatory stimulant, but all that we learn of the appearance of the plant is that it had stalks. On the other hand, details of the process of preparing the Soma drink are given in the Rig-Veda, and from the method of manufacture an attempt is made to narrow the limits of classification of the drug. This shows that Soma was probably a golden coloured, volatile oil expressed and washed out of the plant stalks with water. The oil was then separated from the water by filtration through a sheepskin, mixed with milk, then drunk by the priests and offered to the gods.

This paper describes the relationship between the form and frequency of religious activity within two fundamentalist churches and the emotional status of the participants. The data derive from a 13-month field study of all church activity within a Newfoundland coastal community where religiously-based healing rituals are a primary indigenous response to illness and general misfortune. Based on systematic observations of religious behaviors and responses to the Cornell Medical Index by all members of both churches, it was found in one church that the more frequently people engaged in religious activities of all types, the less likely they are to report symptoms of emotional distress. Significant variation was found between the churches and within the churches in terms of the psychological impact of types of religious activity. These variations are related to the sociocultural structure of healing efforts within the churches as well as to the patterned roles of male and female participants. The results are discussed in terms of current issues involving the cross-cultural evaluation of indigenous healing activity and future lines of research are outlined.