Folk Medicine

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the tendency for those who research folk medicine to define folk medicine within the framework of supernatural occurrences, instead of interpreting it within a medical context and attempting to prove its medical effectiveness. The paper then discusses the confusion surrounding the practice and efficacy of folk medicine and the political and medical debates this confusion has ignited. Also covered are the history and different cultural traditions of folk medicine and how some of these traditions are being incorporated into modern methods of medical treatment.

From the Paper:

"It is somewhat a surprise that those who study folk medicine have paid little attention to the narrative tradition of folk medicine and faith healing. Rather than interpreting folk medicine and faith healing within a medical context and attempting to prove its "medical effectiveness," researchers are encouraged to define folk medicine within the framework of pure dogma and supernatural occurrence. Stories of preternatural healing are told and re-told in stories that beckon the listener to contemplate the mysteries of folk healing and the study of true medical miracles. (Amazing) powers and healings are explained and located in the narrator's reality, thus making narratives constructions rather than reflections of reality."

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