Ethnomedicine
The field of ethnomedicine is a subsect of medical anthropology dealing with the common theme of disease treatment in all societies. All cultures have a system of knowledge and related practices that are passed down several generations. These practices pertain to the biological, social and psychological aspects of every individual. It is a complex system of organizing various illnesses and injuries relating to the body and the spirit. Ethnomedical practices are linked to environmental, biological, and cultural factors, which affect the pattern of disease recognition and the behavior associated with certain illnesses. (Levinson 1996: 436) According the Encyclopedia of Anthropology (1996), Ethnomedicine is defined as:information specific to given culture that allows its members to diagnose and categorize illness and trauma, explain their onset or cause and seek appropriate therapies for restoration or maintenance of patient. (Levinson 1996: 436)
Western medicine is an exception to traditional ethnocultural practices because it is encompasses all culturals, while ethnomedicine refers particularly to practices which are culturally and geographically constrained. Systems of ethnomedicine emphasize that all things in life are interconnected, especially by a person's actions within society. (Levinson 1996: 437)
Inappropriate social behavior is often linked to the influence of spirits, dieties, witches, sorcerors, etc. who inflict disease or injury upon an individual as punishment.
Depending the the degree of knowledge, cultures differ in the reasoning of effective treatments for certain illnesses. Less developed cultures tend to refer to religious taboos as the cause for the degree of bad luck in a person's health and well-being. Causes of disease are often related to the presence of a foreign object in a person's body or the dispproval of a spirit who has witnessed the patient's past behavior. This provides a functional role for social behavior within a society. (Levinson 1996: 437)The knowledge accumulated by generations of indigenous sources provide a wide range of plant-based vocabulary and develop specific human-plant interactions. Specific plants with therapeutic benefits are categorized by smell, taste, texture, shape and so forth. (Levinson 1996: 438)
Written by Sitha Im 2009