Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Ethnomedicine

Mark Nichter

• An Ayurvedic Theory of CancerAn Epidemiological Description of a Folk Illness: A Study of Empacho in GuatemalaDiscourse, Daño and Healing in North Coastal PeruGuardian Angels and Dirty Spirits: The Moral Basis of Healing Power in Rural HaitiDeciding How to Decide: Posession-Mediumship in Jalari Divination"Unclean Deeds": Menstrual Taboos and Binding "Ties" in Rural JamaicaThe Harp That Plays by ItselfThe Production of Self and Body in Sherpa-Tibetan SocietyMalay Medicine, Malay PersonEthnomedicine: Diverse Trends, Common Linkages

"A stimulating, timely, and insightful collection of essays in which skillful use of diverse research strategies contribute ot a reappraisal and revitalization of the study of ethnomedicine. The fluid, contested nature of medical knowledge is meticulously documented, revealing a close articulation between individual suffering and the social and political order-this is medical anthropology at its best-a major contribution to the field." -- Margaret Lock of McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada"The reader of this volume will see how a decade of new work has remade ethnomedicine into one of the livlier and more promising domains of anthorpology. Niochter and his collaborators are to be congratulated for a salient contribution. Nichter's own encompassing redefinition of the relationship of ethnomedicine to medical anthropology and his critical comments that introduce each of the chapters on the various subdomains of ethnomedicine are bound to provode discussion and response over the years to come. A useful and challenging achievement." -- Arthur Kleinman, MD of Harvard Medical School