Medical Pluralism in the Andes (PDF)

Medical Pluralism in the Andes is the first major collection of anthropological approaches to health in the Andes for over twenty years. Written in tribute to Libbet Crandon Malamud's pioneering work on Andean medicine, this readable, extensively illustrated and instructive book reflects the diversity of approaches in medical anthropology that have evolved during the past two decades. The thirteen essays from leading experts cover subject areas including gender, ethnicity and health, folk illnesses and remedies, nutrition, alternative therapies and healers, and the influence of superstition on local medicine. Almost all previously unpublished, and reliant on extensive individual fieldwork, they offer a detailed and rounded explanation of the multiple issues affecting the health of local populations in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. Essays include:
*Kathryn S. Oths on musculoskeletal injury among Andean potato farmers
*Christine Greenway's 'Healing Soul Loss: The Negotiation of Identity in Peru'
*Ann Miles on the healing industry in Ecuador
*Margaret Graham on food, health and identity in the rural Andes
*Joseph Bastien's 'Sucking Blood or Snatching Fat', on Chaga's disease in Bolivia
*Ann Larme and Thomas Leatherman on women's health, work and reproduction in Southern Peru
*Bonnie Glass-Coffin on shamanism and belief in Peru
Libbet Crandon Malamud's profound influence on the subject is recalled in a reprint of her celebrated 'Changing Times, Changing Symptoms', on the modernization on traditional Bolivian Mestizo medicine, while Joan Koss-Chioino and Hans Baer contribute personal responses to her life and work. Capturing the intricacies of health practice within the fascinating context of Andean social history, cultural tradition, community and folklore, Medical Pluralism in the Andes is a remarkable and intimate chronicle of Andean culture and everyday life.