Walkin' over Medicine: Traditional Health Practices in African-American Life [Hardcover]

Loudell F. Snow (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813310741 | ISBN-13: 978-0813310749 | Publication Date: April 1993

Describes not just love magics and miracle cures but a medical system that seeks to promote the health of both individuals and society against the threats of poverty, drugs and AIDS facing African-American communities.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The U.S. healthcare system shortchanges our largest minority--African Americans--and Snow, an anthropologist who spent many years working with black patients, shows how that failure occurs. At one pediatrics clinic, for instance, patients confided in her rather than in the resident doctors, perhaps because the latter ignored cultural differences and scorned the patients' folk-beliefs. As Snow suggests, merely making modern health methods available may not be enough for those who cling to traditional cures and practices. She cites many examples of the failures of the system, such as the moving story of Jacie Burns, a South Carolinian who fled with her child from an abusive husband, found several temporary refuges, and then attempted to return home, only to be shot by him. This is a long book, but it should be required reading for any health practitioner who treats African American patients.
- Natalie Kupferberg, Montana State Univ. Lib., Bozeman
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 311 pages
• Publisher: Westview Pr (Short Disc) (April 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813310741
• ISBN-13: 978-0813310749
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,454,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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