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Show HEALTH, MEDICINE, AND CURING PRACTICES AMONG THE INDIANS OF THE AMERICAS 1941 la Fuente, Julio de. "Creencias Indigenas," America Indigena, Vol. 1 No. 1 (October, 1941), Mexico, D.F., pp. 43-46. English Summary: Medical personnel working in Indian regions have failed to investigate the reasons for the Indians' refusal to accept medical services. The answer to this attitude on the part of the natives lies partly in their beliefs about the origin, transmission and cure of diseases. To understand these cultural attitudes one must have had long experience in dealing with the Indian people, and be well-drilled in their curative beliefs and practices. The author illustrates the Indian medicinal practices by describing the beliefs surrounding onchocercosis, malaria and "pinto" among the Indians of northern Oaxaca. The concepts of the Indians about disease are often centered about supernatural powers as causal, and magic and religion as curative. These beliefs are deeply rooted in the culture, and, like the practices, are a part of it; very few attempts and these inadequate, have been made to translate other more scientific concepts about the origin and transmission of disease to the Indians. Consequently, the Indians have little information which would cause them to cooperate with medical officers, and ensure more success to public health campaigns. Concerning onchocercosis, the resistance of the Indians to having the cysts removed by operation is explained both by their belief that the disease is sent as punishment for some sin, and by the consequent curative measures undertaken either by the individual or the native shaman-curer. The Indian fears the new surgical methods and the strange doctor, whereas his culture pattern, tradition, and actual circumstances cause him to continue to accept the old beliefs and practices and the shaman-curer. It is not possible to remove the beliefs singly; all the factors interrelated in the culture must be taken into account, directing action not at isolated elements, but at the base of every one of them and at their sum total. 1942 Uribe Piedrahita, Cesar. "Esquema para un Estudio de la Patologia indigena en Colombia," America Indigena, XX No. 1 (January, 1942) |
