Highlight the role and importance of ethnomedicine in overcoming disease and pain. The vital role of traditional healers in a rural set up like the village priest, the herbalist and the spiritist has been stressed. Contains specific chapters on The History of Medicine; Medical Practitioners and Social Anthropology; The Dhimars: Socio-cultural Environment; and the Medical set up. Reviews ... will certainly provoke practitioners' thought, as to what and how he should act in future. Dr. A. Kathiresan, Review Projector (India), Vol. 8, No. 7-9. ... highlights the role and importance of ethnomedicine in overcoming disease and pain. ... useful for those associated with rural development in the sphere of health and planners, in determining and devising appropriate schemes for healthcare for the rural people. Dr. (Mrs) Madhu Nagla, Department of Sociology, MD University, Rohtak, Indian Book Chronicle, April 1993.

This book examines various aspects of ethnomedicine and tribal healing practices, including its importance for inclusion and integration from a health systems perspective. Tribal healing practices is an under-studied component in healthcare system, health policy and health systems research. The book consists of original research papers based on empirical studies done by anthropologists, sociologists, public health practitioners and research scientists in various parts of India. It discusses issues of non-codified folk healing, with a focus on the therapeutic ideas and practices of tribal communities, located in anthropological theory and methods. It has a balance of empirical papers, review and theoretical papers, not only explaining ‘what is inside the healing practices’ but also touching upon the question of ‘why’ and delving into ‘what should be’ looking into the possibility to apply it for a larger good i.e., health care for all. This book discusses several important issues related to legitimacy, evidence and efficacy, recognition, certification and integration, protection and preservation, bio-piracy and bioprospecting, benefit sharing and intellectual property rights, sustainable use of medicinal herbs and conservation of nature and natural resources, biodiversity and possibilities of mainstreaming tribal healing. It is of interest to students and researchers from medical anthropology, medical sociology, cultural geography, liberal studies, tribal studies, ecology, sustainability and development and public health.

People throughout time and place, no matter their belief system, have sought to discover causes and cures for illness and disease. Among Westerners is a groundswell to augment biomedicine with holistic practices inherent in ethnomedicines of non-Western traditions. Yet missing are awareness and knowledge of the foundations and outgrowth of these alternative concepts. Erickson fills this gap by clearly explaining the basic organizing principles that underlie all medical systems, the full range of theories of disease causation, the geographical distribution of medical practices, and the historical trends that led to biomedical dominance. Her efficient, balanced approach highlights commonalities among the worlds vast and diverse medical systems, making ethnomedicine easier to internalize and to apply in clinical settings.

People have relied on medicinal products derived from natural sources for millennia, and animals have long been an important part of that repertoire; nearly all cultures, from ancient times to the present, have used animals as a source of medicine. Ingredients derived from wild animals are not only widely used in traditional remedies, but are also increasingly valued as raw materials in the preparation of modern medicines. Regrettably, the unsustainable use of plants and animals in traditional medicine is recognized as a threat to wildlife conservation, as a result of which discussions concerning the links between traditional medicine and biodiversity are becoming increasingly imperative, particularly in view of the fact that folk medicine is the primary source of health care for 80% of the world’s population. This book discusses the role of animals in traditional folk medicine and its meaning for wildlife conservation. We hope to further stimulate further discussions about the use of biodiversity and its implications for wildlife conservation strategies.

A Companion to Medical Anthropology examines the current issues, controversies, and state of the field in medical anthropology today. Provides an expert view of the major topics and themes to concern the discipline since its founding in the 1960s Written by leading international scholars in medical anthropology Covers environmental health, global health, biotechnology, syndemics, nutrition, substance abuse, infectious disease, and sexuality and reproductive health, and other topics

Camphor for asthma . . . Guajava for skin care . . . Eucalyptus for bronchitis . . . Dragon's Blood for wounds . . . Cat's Claw for arthritis. . . . The Latino folk pharmacopoeia is one of the largest and richest on earth. Drawing on a centuries-old culture of healing tradition, informed by a deep reverence for history, this marvelous resource gives a vivid, balanced look at Latino folk medicine as practiced across America. Inside you will meet the lay healers, curanderes, who prescribe for the sick, visit the botanicas that sell hundreds of medicinal plant products, and learn all about the folk remedy tradition, including how , GINGER can soothe an upset stomach , ANISE keeps colic under control , KALALLO BUSH treats the common cold , EMBAUBA works as an astringent on dry skin Each botanical profile lists the scientific and common name, where the plant is grown and its physical characteristics, traditional uses, availability and dosage, and contraindications and special precautions. It is important to note that herbs should only be taken with the consultation of your physician. Welcome to the world of the yerba buena ("good herb"), where scientists are finding new hope for chronic disease and ordinary folk are discovering new possibilities for better health and well-being!

Approx.344 pages

Medical practices and healing rituals existing within the tribal communities of Kerala, India.

Biomedicine is often thought to provide a scientific account of the human body and of illness. In this view, non-Western and folk medical systems are regarded as systems of 'belief' and subtly discounted. This is an impoverished perspective for understanding illness and healing across cultures, one that neglects many facets of Western medical practice and obscures its kinship with healing in other traditions. Drawing on his research in several American and Middle Eastern medical settings, in this 1993 book Professor Good develops a critical, anthropological account of medical knowledge and practice. He shows how physicians and healers enter and inhabit distinctive worlds of meaning and experience. He explores how stories or illness narratives are joined with bodily experience in shaping and responding to human suffering and argues that moral and aesthetic considerations are present in routine medical practice as in other forms of healing.

This paper presents the proceedings of the XIth symposium on folk religions held in Ottawa, September 27, 1980 under the title, “Folk Medicine and Folk Religion.”/ Ce dossier présente les actes du XIe colloque sur les religions populaires tenu à Ottawa, le 27 septembre 1980, sous le titre « Médecine populaire et religions traditionnelles. »