CURING AMONG THE SAN BLAS KUNA OF PANAMA
Issue Date
1983Keywords
Cuna Indians -- Medicine.Indians of Central America -- Medicine -- Panama.
Cuna Indians -- Rites and ceremonies.
Indians of Central America -- Panama -- Rites and ceremonies.
Cuna Indians -- Religion and mythology.
Indians of Central America -- Panama -- Religion and mythology.
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The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
The thesis is an ethnographic account of the belief system surrounding disease and curing among the Kuna Indians of San Blas, Panama. It is an attempt to describe this system in its own terms, and to interpret its meaning by attending to the various symbolic, ritual, and social contexts in which it finds expression. Above all, the ethnography strives to understand Kuna theories of disease causation and cure. Theoretical assumptions and methodological suggestions have been borrowed from the anthropological sub-fields of ethnoscience, symbolic anthropology, and sociolinguistics. The ethnography is loosely organized around the natural progression taken by the Kuna when they discover that someone has fallen ill, diagnose his illness, and then set about devising strategies for restoring him to health. Earlier chapters scrutinize the component parts of this belief system, and these are brought together in a synthetic manner in the penultimate chapter. The ultimate theoretical objective is to demonstrate that cultural symbols can only be properly understood when viewed within the natural context in which they are used. The final chapter deals with cultural and social change in San Blas, with special emphasis on the island of Ustuppu, over the past 70 years.Type
textDissertation-Reproduction (electronic)
Degree Name
Ph.D.Degree Level
doctoralDegree Program
AnthropologyGraduate College
Degree Grantor
University of ArizonaCollections
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