Social Facts Cultural Prescriptions and EthnoPsychiatry Medical Anthropology

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Social Facts, Cultural Prescriptions and Ethno-Psychiatry Medical Anthropology: The Ecology of Health and Disease

Social Facts, Cultural Prescriptions and Ethno-Psychiatry Medical Anthropology: The Ecology of Health and Disease

Outline of Presentation �Definition of Medical Ecology �Relation of Medical Ecology in the study

Outline of Presentation �Definition of Medical Ecology �Relation of Medical Ecology in the study of culture of healing �Cases of Medical Ecology �The “Mindful Body” Body as a social construct Body and mind continuum LI Hernandez 2

Medical Ecology described – (Mc. Elroy and Townsend) � Medical anthropology studies human health

Medical Ecology described – (Mc. Elroy and Townsend) � Medical anthropology studies human health in a variety of environmental and cultural concerns from isolated tribal peoples to urban communities. A subfield called MEDICAL ECOLOGY views health and disease as reflections of relationships within a population LI Hernandez 3

Medical Ecology described – (Mc. Elroy and Townsend) � Medical Ecology considers health to

Medical Ecology described – (Mc. Elroy and Townsend) � Medical Ecology considers health to be a measure of how well a group of people has adapted to the environment � Medical Ecology looks at health and its implication to the modification of the environment. � Thus, medical ecology utilizes multidisciplinary approach to consider a wide range of human solutions to environmental problems and the health repercussions of those solutions. LI Hernandez 4

Medical Ecology Model Anthropology • Health Belief Systems • Cultural prescriptions Ecology • Environmental

Medical Ecology Model Anthropology • Health Belief Systems • Cultural prescriptions Ecology • Environmental factors affecting health • Holistic approach Medicine • Clinical investigation and interventions • Biomedical approach LI Hernandez 5

CASES IN MEDICAL ECOLOGY 1. Subanun Tribe, Zamboanga del Norte (Western Mindanao), Philippines 2.

CASES IN MEDICAL ECOLOGY 1. Subanun Tribe, Zamboanga del Norte (Western Mindanao), Philippines 2. Yonomano Tribe, Brazil 3. Inuit (Eskimos) in Alaska, Greenland Northwest Canadian Territories LI Hernandez 6

Disease Diagnosis of Subanuns ECOLOGICAL FACTORS Most of the population practice swidden farming in

Disease Diagnosis of Subanuns ECOLOGICAL FACTORS Most of the population practice swidden farming in the mountainous interiors Subanuns are full time farmers Subanuns are naturalists – they believe that their existence is close to nature LI Hernandez ANTHROPOLOGICAL FACTORS Communal relationships No much social hierarchy Special statuses are few in number No gender segregation – men and women do farming and rearing of children 7

Disease Diagnosis of Subanuns MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL FACTORS All Subanuns are herbalists (memulun) In the

Disease Diagnosis of Subanuns MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL FACTORS All Subanuns are herbalists (memulun) In the sphere of making decisions about disease, differences in individual skill and knowledge receive recognition but there is no formal status of diagnostician or even, by Subanun conception, of curer LI Hernandez There are 186 “disease names” There are religious specialists or mediums (belian) whose job is to maintain communications with the very important supernatural constituents of the Subanun universe. Mediums hold curing ceremonies and are channels for the divine healing 8

The Subanuns of Zamboanga LI Hernandez 9

The Subanuns of Zamboanga LI Hernandez 9

The Yanomamo Brazil, South America “Disease is greedy, it wants to eat people, it

The Yanomamo Brazil, South America “Disease is greedy, it wants to eat people, it is a glutton. It is too string for the shaman; there are not in this world, shamans strong enough to stand up to it. ” - Davi Kopenawa, a Yanomam. I LI Hernandez 10

The Yanomamo ECOLOGICAL FACTORS Yanomami villages are set up in small bands or tribes

The Yanomamo ECOLOGICAL FACTORS Yanomami villages are set up in small bands or tribes of 40 to 350 people. Yanomami daily life revolves around gardening, collecting wild foods, collecting firewood, making crafts, fetching water, and gossiping and visiting with each other. LI Hernandez 11

The Yanomamo ANTHROPOLOGICAL FACTORS The Yanomami are horticulturalists. Approximatley 80 -90% of the Yanomami

The Yanomamo ANTHROPOLOGICAL FACTORS The Yanomami are horticulturalists. Approximatley 80 -90% of the Yanomami diet is cultivated from gardens; the remaining percentage is from hunting Yanomami technology is basic, such as a pole and vine bridge. Their tools are devised from materials that can be made immediately available from their environment. LI Hernandez Each village has the necessary technology to sustain itself without outside influence. The introduction of these time-saving elements have an effect on each segment of their cultural fabric - from marriage, political alliance, to warfare. Yanomami social process is predominantly concerned with the formation of groups and the regulation of intergroup relations through alliance and warfare. 12

The Yanomamo � MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL FACTORS The Shaman are masters that enter the realm

The Yanomamo � MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL FACTORS The Shaman are masters that enter the realm between the human, spirit and animal worlds with the use of a powerful hallucinegic drug called ebene. In Yanomami culture, only men become Shamans and are called shabori or hekuri. Men separate into different groups and blow the brownish-green powder into each other’s nostrils using a hollow three-foot tube. This hallucinogenic drug is very important in telling of myths that surround religious beliefs. LI Hernandez 13

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LI Hernandez 14

The Yanomamo Religious beliefs that encompass the Yanomami culture are extremely complex. According to

The Yanomamo Religious beliefs that encompass the Yanomami culture are extremely complex. According to their belief, there are four levels of reality. The Yanomami believe things tend to fall downward to a lower layer. The duku ka misi, or top layer, is thought to be most pristine and tender. The Yanomami believe that many things originated in this layer. It is only considered as having a vague function in everyday life. The next layer down, called the hedu ka misi, is known as the sky layer. It has trees, gardens, villages, animals, plants, and most importantly, the souls of the deceased. Everything that exists on earth is said to have a counterpart on the third layer. The bottom surface of the layer is said to be what the Yanomami on earth actually see: the visible sky. Stars and planets are attached to the bottom surface and move across it on their individual trails. LI Hernandez 15

The Yanomamo � � The Yanomami attribute most deaths, besides those caused by another

The Yanomamo � � The Yanomami attribute most deaths, besides those caused by another human or animal, to hekura. Any village member who is ill is sent away with the children because the smoke can contaminate them. If many people die of an epidemic, the bodies are taken to the forest and hung in the trees to decompose. A few weeks later, the remaining flesh is scraped from the bones and the bones are burned and the ashes stored for drinking later. Many myths in the Yanomami culture describe how the animals and spirits are transformed into humans. When these original people died, they turned into spirits or "hekura. "In this context no badabo means "those who were in the beginning of time. " LI Hernandez 16

The Inuit or “Eskimos” ECOLOGICAL FACTORS Daily life for the Inuit included peril and

The Inuit or “Eskimos” ECOLOGICAL FACTORS Daily life for the Inuit included peril and hardship. With ferocious animals, hostile storms, deceptive ice, frigid waters, frequent hunting accidents, and endless bitter temperatures, the Inuit had much to endure and much to be weary of. The typical, historical Inuit would be lucky to live past 60. The Inuit were traditionally hunters and fishermen, living off the Arctic animal life. They hunted, and still hunt, whales, walruses, caribou, seals, polar bears, musk oxen, birds, and in lean years any other less commonly eaten animals such as foxes. The Arctic has very little edible vegetation resulting in a carnivorous diet, although some Inuit did supplement their diet with seaweed and other plants. LI Hernandez 17

The Inuit or “Eskimos” ANTHROPOLOGICAL FACTORS The division of labor in traditional society had

The Inuit or “Eskimos” ANTHROPOLOGICAL FACTORS The division of labor in traditional society had a strong gender component. The men were traditionally hunters and fishermen. The women took care of the children, cleaned huts, sewed and cooked. However, there are numerous examples of women who learned to hunt out of necessity and more recently as a personal choice. The marital customs among the Inuit were not strictly monogamous, many Inuit relationships were implicitly or explicitly sexually open, and polygamy, divorce and remarriage were fairly common. Marriages were often arranged, sometimes in infancy, and occasionally forced on the couple by the community. Marriage was expected for a man as soon as he could hunt for himself, and for women at puberty. Family structure was flexible—a household might consist of a man and his wife or wives and children; it might include his parents or his wife's parents as well as adopted children; or it might be a larger formation of several siblings with their parents, wives and children; or even more than one family sharing dwellings and resources. Every household had a head of household—an elder or a particularly respected man. LI Hernandez 18

The Inuit or “Eskimos” MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL FACTORS The Inuit traditionally practiced a form of

The Inuit or “Eskimos” MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL FACTORS The Inuit traditionally practiced a form of shamanism based basically on animist principles. They believed that all things had a form of spirit, just like humans, and that to some extent these spirits could be influenced by a pantheon of supernatural entities that could be appeased when one required some animal or inanimate thing to act in a certain way. The shaman (Inuktitut: angakuq, sometimes spelled angakok) of a community of Inuit was not the leader, but rather a sort of healer and psychotherapist, who tended wounds and offered advice, as well as invoking the spirits to assist people in their lives. His or her role was to see, interpret and exhort the subtle and unseen. Shamans were not trained, they were held to be born with the ability. LI Hernandez 19

The Inuit or “Eskimos” Inuit religion was closely tied to a system of rituals

The Inuit or “Eskimos” Inuit religion was closely tied to a system of rituals that were integrated into the daily life of the people. These rituals were not terribly complicated, but they were held to be absolutely necessary. According to a customary Inuit saying, "The great peril of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls. " By believing that all things—including animals—have souls like those of humans, any hunt that failed to show appropriate respect and customary supplication would only give the liberated spirits cause to avenge themselves. LI Hernandez 20

MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY THE MINDFUL BODY (Scheper-Hughes and Lock)

MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY THE MINDFUL BODY (Scheper-Hughes and Lock)