Medicine and Morality in Haiti: The Contest for Healing Power (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology 3) (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology, Series Number 3)

Morality and medicine are inextricably intertwined in rural Haiti, and both are shaped by the different local religious traditions, Christian and Vodoun, as well as by biomedical and folk medical practices. When people fall ill, they seek treatment not only from Western doctors but also from herbalists, religious healers and midwives. Dr Brodwin examines the situational logic, the pragmatic decisions, that guide people in making choices when they are faced with illness. He also explains the moral issues that arise in a society where suffering is associated with guilt, but where different, sometimes conflicting, ethical systems coexist. Moreover, he shows how in the crisis of illness people rework religious identities and are forced to address fundamental social and political problems.

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.

1. The Dialectics Of Healing Power -- 2. Metropolitan Medicine And Strategies Of Rule -- 3. Biomedicine In Jeanty -- 4. Medicalization And Illness Experience: Two Case-studies -- 5. The Catholic Practice Of Healing -- 6. Houngan And The Limits Of Catholic Morality -- 7. Religious Healing And The Fragmentation Of Rural Life -- 8. Conclusion. Paul Brodwin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.