Description
Book SynopsisIn this collection of essays, 13 contributors explore the intersection of feminist and medical anthropology in 11 case studies of women in traditional and emergent roles as healers in diverse parts of the world.
Table of ContentsPart 1 Women as informal healers: the forgotten healers: women as family healers in an Andean Indian community, Ruthbeth Finerman; it's all in a name: local-level female healers in Sri Lanka, Carolyn Nordstrom; the management of reproduction in an egalitarian society, Carole H. Browner. Part 2 Healing with female metaphors: mothering and the practice of ""Balm"" in Jamaica, William Wedenoja; the socioreligious role of the Christian science practitioner, Margery Fox; healing with mother metaphors: Serbian conjurers' word magic, Barbara Kerewsky-Halpern. Part 3 Women as ritual specialists: old ghosts and ungrateful children: a Korean shaman's story, Laurel Kendal; becoming a Puerto Rican espiritista: life history as a female healer, Merrill Singer Roberta Garcia; mystical black power: the calling to diviner-mediumship in Southern Africa, Edward C.Green. Part 4 Women healers in contemporary rural and urban Benin, Carolyn Sargent, sisterhood and professionalization: a case study of the American lay midwife, Margaret Reid.
