From the Bush: The Front Line of Health Care in a Caribbean VillageThis case study will be the first to deal with a topic in medical anthropology. It explores the world of folk medicine in the Caribbean (Dominica) - local beliefs and practices concerning how the body functions and malfunctions and the home remedies Dominicans use to cure common illnesses. The case study goes beyond discussing the exotic medical system of a developing country (which includes sorcery and folk-illnesses) to discuss how folk medicine flourishes in industrialized countries in a way that is little different than that practiced in Dominica. The theme is that cultural ideas about the body and uses of medicinal plants are deeply intertwined. Ideas about illness direct the consequent medical response. The book's topic is important because knowledge of local ethnomedical practice is essential for development of public health interventions in non-Western settings. This realist ethnography is aimed at any member of the generally educated population. |
Contents
Chapter | 1 |
The Physical Environment | 9 |
Commingling Creoles | 16 |
Copyright | |
13 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
aerial plant alliacea anthropologists aristolochic acids asthma bay leaf bay oil behavior belly biomedical biomedicine blood body boil bush doctor bush medicine bush tea buttons Bwa Mawegans Bwa Mawegans say Caribbean Caribs cause Chapter cold common condition cool cough culture cures diarrhea dirts disease doctor Dominicans drink English Creole ethnobotany ethnographic ethnomedicine ethnophysiology fever Flinn folk medicine forest freelist fright fruit gardens headache healthcare herb herbal Honychurch 1995 hot/cold humoral quality humoral system Hyptis pectinata inflammation interviews island Island-Caribs kalí key informants koukoulí leaf tea leaves lime locus of control loose bowel malestomak manioc Mawego menstruating mucus neutral nurse obeah obeahman one's pachurí patient Patwa pawpaw person personalistic illness pressure prickle heat Quinlan remedies rheumatism root tea Roseau salient sick skin soukwayan species sprains stress symptoms Topical rub treat with bush treatment trees twef upset stomach village witches woman worms