Medicine and Morality in Haiti: The Contest for Healing Power (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology) [Hardcover]

Paul Brodwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0521570298 | ISBN-13: 978-0521570299

Medicine and morality in rural Haiti are shaped both by different local religious traditions and by biomedical and folk medicine practices. People who become ill may seek treatment from Western doctors, but also from herbalists and religious leaders. This study examines the decisions guiding such choices, and considers moral issues arising in a society where suffering is associated with guilt but where different, sometimes conflicting, ethical systems coexist. It also reveals how in the crisis of illness people rework religious identities and are forced to address fundamental social and political problems.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book enlarges our interpretive framework for understanding the symbolic dimensions of therapeutic choice. It provides an important perspective on religion and healing in Haiti in a powerful way few other works have achieved." Medical Anthropology Quarterly

Book Description

People who become ill in rural Haiti may seek treatment from western doctors, herbalists or religious leaders. Examining the decisions guiding such choices, this study considers moral issues arising in a society where suffering is associated with guilt and conflicting ethical systems coexist.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (September 13, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521570298
• ISBN-13: 978-0521570299
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,672,901 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for teaching, June 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Medicine and Morality in Haiti: The Contest for Healing Power (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology) (Paperback)

This is a superb teaching book that gives students a way to learn about medicine and culture and at the same time learn about Haiti's complex history. I've used it in both upper and lower-level undergraduate courses and the students have loved it. The students especially like the case studies. The book contains rich vignettes of individuals who had to negotiate different health care systems; the crux of the book is that people's experiences of their illnesses (anywhere, not just in Haiti), and the strategies they adopt to help themselves, have to be understood in the context of larger cultural and historical systems. There are not that many books to compete with this one. As an anthropology teacher, I find this book much less problematic than Emily Martin's book, Woman in the Body, which is so commonly used to teach medical anthropology. Comparable books to this one: Teresa O'Nell's Disciplined Hearts (depression in North American Indians) and John Janzen's Quest for Therapy (on lower Zaire), Burdick's Looking for God in Brazil. Great for medicine; great for Caribbean.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent account of the confusing Haitian medical system, March 30, 2001

By 

Dr. J (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Medicine and Morality in Haiti: The Contest for Healing Power (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology) (Paperback)

Having lived in rural Haiti and worked in medical clinics with an indigenous staff, this book was an invaluable resource. The conflict between Western biomedicine and folk healing practices (including the much-maligned voodoo and herbalists) was well-explained and went a long way towards elucidating the phenomena I was observing in my own clinic. An absolutely essential resource to anyone interested in public health, Third-World medical practice, Haitian life or anthropology in general, I give this book my heartiest recommendation.