Folk medicine is created through groups of individuals and spreads due to the diffusion of different ethnic groups. Even though folk medicine is isolated to a region, folk medicine is important in creating the knowledge and treatments of illnesses from past generations. Appalachian folk medicine is unique because of the influence of Native American, African American, and Euro-American cultures. Due to isolation of the region, the elements of Appalachian folk medicine is comprised of outside influences, categories within fork medicine, variations of caregivers, and natural remedies.
Folk medicine is an important aspect of the Appalachian region. According to Mathews, folk medicine is known in involving diseases or illnesses “which are the products of indigenous cultural development and are not explicitly derived from the conceptual framework of modern medicine” (Mathews 1). Folk or traditional medicine is found in all societies, throughout in history, and predates innovation of modern medicine. Folk medicine also explains roles for “indigenous practitioners”(1) who treat and restore health for the individual and community. Folk medicine beliefs and practices serve for the treatment and prevention of aliments and are resistant to change even when the cultural tradition may have gone extinct.
To understand folk medicine, we must first understand how folk medicine came about in the Appalachian region. According to Mathews, the Appalachian area, especially Virginia and North Carolina, was one of the first areas of America to be colonized by Great Britain(Euro-Americans). With a thriving population of Native American and African-American culture, folk medicine was able to flourish in the region due to sharing of remedies, herbs, and...
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...es of Skunk Oil, Sassafras Tea, and Other Old-time Remedies. Chester: Globe Pequot, 1990. Web.
Mathews, Holly F. "Introduction: A Regional Approach and Multidisciplinary Persepctive." Herbal and Magical Medicine: Traditional Healing Today. Ed. James Kirkland, Holly F. Mathews, C. W. Sullivan, III, and Karen Baldwin. Durham: Duke UP, 1992. 1-13. Print.
Rehder, John B. "Folk Remedies and Belief Systems." Appalachian Folkways. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2004. 224-43. Print.
Watson, Wilbur H. "Folk Medicine and Older Blacks in Southern United States." Black Folk Medicine: The Therapeutic Significance of Faith and Trust. New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.A.: Transaction, 1984. 53-66. Print.
Williams, Michael Ann. "Folklife." Ed. Richard A. Straw and H. Tyler Blethen. High Mountains Rising: Appalachia in Time and Place. Chicago: University of Illinois, 2004. 135-146. Print.
“Burning Bright: The Language and Storytelling of Appalachia and the Poetry and Prose of Ron Rash.” Shepard University. 2011. The.
In the world of Appalachia, stereotypes are abundant. There are stories told of mountaineers as lazy, bewildered, backward, and yet happy and complacent people. Mountain women are seen as diligent, strong, hard willed, and overall sturdy and weathered, bearing the burden of their male counterparts. These ideas of mountain life did not come out of thin air; they are the direct product of sensational nineteenth century media including print journalism and illustrative art that has continuously mislead and wrongfully represented the people of Appalachia. These stories, written and told by outsiders, served very little purpose to Appalachian natives other than means of humiliation and degradation. They served mostly to convince readers of the need for so-called civilized people and companies to take over the land and industry of the region, in particular the need for mineral rights, railroads, and logging as the mountain folk were wasting those valuable resources necessary for the common good.
This book addresses one of the common characteristics, and challenges, of health care today: the need to achieve a working knowledge of as many cultures as possible in health care. The Hmong population of Merced, California addresses the collision between Western medicine and holistic healing traditions of the Hmong immigrants, which plays out a common dilemma in western medical centers: the need to integrate modern western medicinal remedies with aspects of cultural that are good for the well-being of the patient, and the belief of the patient’s ability to recuperate. What we see is a clash, or lack of integration in the example of the story thereof. Lia, a Hmong child with a rare form of epilepsy, must enter the western hospital instead of the Laotian forest. In the forest she would seek out herbs to remedy the problems that beset her, but in the west she is forced to enter the western medical hospital without access to those remedies, which provided not only physical but spiritual comfort to those members of the Hmong culture. The herbs that are supposed to fix her spirit in the forest are not available in the western hospital. The Merced County hospital system clashes with Hmong animist traditions.
In Cherokee medicine, it is believed that councils of animals created diseases in order to avenge the loss of their families and living spaces. The plants, being sympathetic to humans, decided to each furnish a cure for these diseases. It is believed that the spirit of the plant will tell a sick person which one to use to cure his illness.
The Appalachian mountaineers have been discovered and forgotten many times. Their primitive agriculture disrupted by foragers and incessant guerrilla warfare, thousands of them straggled out of the mountains in search of food and shelter. Their plight was brought to the attention of President Lincoln, who promised that after the war a way would be found to aid the poor mountain people whom the world had bypassed and forgotten for so long. The war ended, President Lincoln was assassinated, and so therefore Appalachia was forgotten. Appalachian people are considered a separate culture, made up of many unique backgrounds - Native Americans, Irish, English and Scotch, and then a third immigration of Germans and Poles - all blended together across the region. The mountains also figure into the uniqueness of Appalachia. The mountains kept Appalachia isolated from the rest of the country and from other people's involvement in their lives that they developed a distinctive culture. (arministry.org)
Native American literature from the Southeastern United States is deeply rooted in the oral traditions of the various tribes that have historically called that region home. While the tribes most integrally associated with the Southeastern U.S. in the American popular mind--the FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole)--were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) from their ancestral territories in the American South, descendents of those tribes have created compelling literary works that have kept alive their tribal identities and histories by incorporating traditional themes and narrative elements. While reflecting profound awareness of the value of the Native American past, these literary works have also revealed knowing perspectives on the meaning of the modern world in the lives of contemporary Native Americans.
Native Americans have a long history of using native plants, berries, herbs, and trees for a wide variety of medicinal purposes. Native Americans have been using these methods for thousands of years.
Throughout ancient history, many indigenous tribes and cultures have shown a common trait of being hunter/gatherer societies, relying solely on what nature had to offer. The geographical location influenced all aspects of tribal life including, spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices. Despite vast differences in the geographical location, reports show various similarities relating to the spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices of indigenous tribal cultures.
Illness was treated in many ways but the main goal was to achieve a sense of balance and harmony.(p82). Applications of herbs and roots, spiritual intervention, and community wide ritual and ceremonies were all therapeutic practices.(p71). “It was the healer who held the keys to the supernatural and natural worlds and who interpreted signs, diagnosed disease and provided medicines from the grassland, woodland, and parkland pharmacopoeia.”(p18). The healers knowledge of herbs and roots and ways to administer and diagnose had been passed down from generation to generation.(p85). Healers stood as an advantage for the Aboriginal people. “Trust and a personal relationships would naturally build between the patient and the healer.”(p77). This must have ...
In fact, Native American medicine men belief is firmly grounded in age-old traditions, legends and teachings. Healing and medical powers have existed since the very beginning of time according to Native American stories. Consequently they have handed down the tribe's antediluvian legends, which i...
The philosophy and practice is composed of many different systems of traditional medicine, which are all influenced by prevailing conditions, environment, and geographic area within, where it first evolved into WHO (2005). Although it is a common
Cultural competence is a skill essential to acquire for healthcare providers, especially nurses. Cooperating effectively and understanding individuals with different backgrounds and traditions enhances the quality of health care provided by hospitals and other medical facilities. One of the many cultures that nurses and other health care providers encounter is the American Indian or Native American culture. There are hundreds of different American Indian Tribes, but their beliefs and values only differ slightly. The culture itself embodies nature. To American Indians, “The Earth is considered to be a living organism- the body of a higher individual, with a will and desire to be well. The Earth is periodically healthy and less healthy, just as human beings are” (Spector, 2009, p. 208). This is why their way of healing and symbolic items are holistic and from nature.
The majority of the population gets sick or gets some medical condition and will head straight to the doctor for a prescription; prescriptions that will have a long list of side effects that sometimes seem worse than the original problem. They will buy pricey visits with specialists, when after visiting ten doctors the problem just keeps coming back, if it even ever went away at all. There has to be a simpler way. Something that doesn't come with a large price tag and doesn't have side effects; it fixes the illness and doesn't just mask the symptoms. Alternative medicine is becoming more and more popular because it attempts to find the underlying cause of the patient’s condition rather than focusing solely on symptomatic treatment. With many conditions there are simple, natural, and effective cures that could be considered next time as an alternative to traditional medicine or used with traditional medicine to reach optimal health.
Certain religious groups reject westernized medicine, like the Amish. Yet, for the most part most religions allow their medicinal practices to work in tandem with westernized medicine. For example, First Nations people tend to have a very holistic view when it comes to their surroundings and medicine. Aboriginal traditional approaches to health and wellness include the use of sacred herbs like sage or tobacco and traditional healers/medicine (pg. 5, Singh, 2009). However, they will not reject help from professionally trained doctors and medical staff. Much like other religions, First Nations put a strong emphasis on family/community. Consensus or decision-making is fairly common for them. A practitioner or medical staff member must remember to respect ceremonial objects such as tobacco or traditional blankets, include immediate family members when making a treatment decision, and to accommodate spiritual practices. Normally, organ donation is accepted UNLESS the organ is being removed from someone who is not deceased. First Nations’ believe that their bo...
When you are sick you take medicine, but there are many remedies for the same problems. The use of herbal remedies traces back to the Chinese in the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as well by a compiled book in China written back more than 2,000 years ago (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011). Modern medicine has roots that are more recent in the development and production of synthesize drugs (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011). The old generations took herbal remedies to improve their health, but now as time and people, progressed modern medicine comes on top. Herbal and modern medicines have good and bad points, but one has qualities that are more effective.