The Ethnomedical Approach in Medical Anthropology
The Ethnomedical Approach used by anthropologists is incredibly important when working to understand different medical systems and practices within a given culture and across different cultures. This approach looks at different ethnomedical systems, such as biomedicine, chiropractic, herbology, etc., and the sectors of healthcare within them. Anthropologists using the ethnomedical approach explore the popular, folk and professional sectors of a given ethnomedical system, and often times critically compare and analyze the sectors. Comparing and analyzing how different systems interact is also an important way the enthnomedical approach is used.
The ethnomedical approach is in exceedingly useful in understanding medical practices surrounding epilepsy. The concept of “culture” is important in the ethnomedical approach and in turn important in understanding epilepsy (as well as other illnesses) and it’s (their) treatments. Culture (as defined in ANP 204: Introduction to Medical Anthropology) “is a learned patterns of thought and behavior shared by a social group.” The culture a person operates within on a daily basis helps determine how they will contextualize a given illness or disease and the treatments they will seek and receive. Epilepsy provides a great example of an illness that is contextualized differently by different cultures. The two examples I will be looking at from the enthnomedical approach and emphasizing the popular, folk and professional sectors seen in each are from that of the Hmong culture, specifically ideas presented from Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down and medical marijuana use for pediatric epilepsy seen in the TEDx Talk video. In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down the Lee’s, a Hmong family, view their daughters epilepsy as the work of a dab or a malicious spirit. In the ethnomedical approach the sectors of healthcare a person might seek out can be identified as the popular, folk and professional sector. In the case of the Lee’s you see them seeking the popular sector when they talk to members of their community about their daughter’s condition. This leads to the use of a shaman and other traditional healing practices, such as herbs and other rituals. These things would be considered a part of the folk sector of healthcare. The professional sector is talked about a great deal in Fadiman’s book and Lia, the Lee’s daughter, is treated multiple times at the Merced Community Medical Center where biomedicine is the main healthcare system. In the TEDx Talks video (which can be viewed at the bottom of this page) “The surprising story of medical marijuana and pediatric epilepsy: Josh Stanley at TEDxBoulder” the use of a non-psychotropic strain of marijuana in treating pediatric epilepsy is discussed along with how it has greatly affected the life of a young girl named Charlotte. Within this 19 minute TED talk the three sectors can be identified; though not as clearly as in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. The popular sector is clearly seen in Charlotte’s family’s use of a communication network with other families with children with pediatric epilepsy. The search of a treatment that helped her condition led Charlotte and her family to Colorado where there are less “hoops” to jump though for the use of medical marijuana. The identification of the folk sector and the professional sector is a bit unclear, but draws some interesting cultural viewpoints and understandings. This TED talk does a good job highlighting how Charlotte has been on many pharmaceutical drugs (prescribed by medical doctor (the professional sector) ) and how they have not worked for controlling her seizures. The use of a non-psychotropic strain of marijuana has however helped treat Charlotte’s seizures. This type of treatment may be considered a part of the folk sector, but it is hard to categorize as such because of the cultural stigma surrounding the use of medical marijuana. The folk sector is considered to be in-between the popular and professional sectors and share the cultural values of society, something that is questionable considering the stigma surrounding cannabis use. With this being said the ethnomedical approach would be quite useful in further understanding this stigma and how families using medical cannabis to treat their child’s pediatric epilepsy feel about how society views its use for such purposes. In the example regarding the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Nancy Sheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock’s idea of The Three Bodies can be applied. The idea of the individual body is important in the Hmong beliefs surrounding the soul. As mentioned before the Lee’s view their daughters epilepsy as the work of a dab or a malicious spirit that wishes to attach itself to Lia’s soul. This provides a system of beliefs that relates illnesses and diseases to spirits and the soul. The idea of the social body again can be related to the Hmongs system of beliefs and how they view the body and soul. The body politic can best be seen in the oral histories of the Lee family before they came to the U.S. and the history of the Hmong people Fadiman discusses in detail in the book. It is clear that the ethnomedical approach used by anthropologists can be used in a number of ways to not only understand different medical systems and practices within a given culture, but that it can provide incredible insight into how people view and use different healing systems. |
Citations:
Fadiman, Anne, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Later Printing edition (April 24,2012).
Karim, Taz. “Week 3: Lecture 3.1 Ethnomedical Systems,” ANP 204: Introduction to Medical Anthropology. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/schedule/week-3-lecture-1/
Karim, Taz. “Week3: Lecture 3.2 Culture, Illness, and the Body,” ANP 204: Introduction to Medical Anthropology. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/schedule/week-3-lecture-2/
“The surprising story of medical marijuana and epilepsy: Josh Stanley at TEDxBoulder,” YouTube Video, 18:56, posted by “TEDx Talks,” October 14, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciQ4ErmhO7g
Picture Citation:
“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down,” Amazon.com, accessed August 13, 2014. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Zqzf90STL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
Banner Citation:
“Health topics: Epilepsy,” WHO, accessed August 5, 2014. http://www.who.int/topics/epilepsy/en/
Fadiman, Anne, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Later Printing edition (April 24,2012).
Karim, Taz. “Week 3: Lecture 3.1 Ethnomedical Systems,” ANP 204: Introduction to Medical Anthropology. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/schedule/week-3-lecture-1/
Karim, Taz. “Week3: Lecture 3.2 Culture, Illness, and the Body,” ANP 204: Introduction to Medical Anthropology. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/schedule/week-3-lecture-2/
“The surprising story of medical marijuana and epilepsy: Josh Stanley at TEDxBoulder,” YouTube Video, 18:56, posted by “TEDx Talks,” October 14, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciQ4ErmhO7g
Picture Citation:
“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down,” Amazon.com, accessed August 13, 2014. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Zqzf90STL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
Banner Citation:
“Health topics: Epilepsy,” WHO, accessed August 5, 2014. http://www.who.int/topics/epilepsy/en/