Description
Book SynopsisDescribes patterns of healing among the BaKongo of Lower Zaire in Africa, who, like many people elsewhere, utilize cosmopolitan medicine alongside traditional healing practices. This book asks What criteria determine the choice of the alternative therapies? And what is their institutional interrelationship?
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Foreword, by Charles Leslie Preface PART ONE: THE AREA OF STUDY 1. The Human Setting of Healing in Lower Zaire 2. A History of Medical Pluralism in Lower Zaire PART TWO: STUDIES IN KONGO ILLNESS AND THERAPY An Introductory Note 3. Disease of God, Disease of Man 4. Strife in the Family As Cause of Child's Illness 5. A History of Madness 6. The Professional as Kinsman 7. Marriage and the Father's Blessing 8. The Clan as Patient PART THREE: THE LOGIC OF THERAPEUTIC SYSTEMS An Introductory Note 9. The Jural Status of Therapy in Kongo Society 10. Interpreting Symptoms 11. Contemporary Systems of Popular Medicine in Lower Zaire 12. Toward an Integrated Medicine Appendix A. Episodes of Case Studies Reported in Chapters 3-8 Appendix B. Herbarium of Medicinal Plants Bibliography of Works Cited Glossary-Index
