Tales from Medical Anthropology

    Reading about the practices of historical - and modern - shamans brought me back to my times in Medical Anthropology. Though this course may not seem to have any relevance to that one, a great portion of our studies was devoted to shamanistic healing as a pertained to present-day cultures and how they interact with biomedical professionals. We heard many times that their practices, customs, and rituals went back for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, but this claim was only made tangible for me when reading of it’s historical truth in our textbook.

    The book notes that shamans were often believed to have been chosen by the spiritual realm for their line of work as shown by curious physical traits, ailments, or mental suffering. Seemingly opposite from the commonly held western ideal that able-bodied people are able to be more successful and influential - a mistake on our cultures part if you ask me - this belief is widely regarded in many shamanistic cultures to be unquestionable when readily apparent. Such was the case for Lia Lee, a young girl of Hmong origin - an Asian people hailing from the mountain regions of Laos - grew up in California with epilepsy beginning at the age of two. Though her biomedical physicians sought to treat her with physical interventions and medication, her family and other members of her community saw her seizures as a strong and phenomenal connection to the spiritual world; the dichotomy of belief in addition to the refusal to budge on either side caused Lia’s treatment to be strife with conflict and misunderstanding, ultimately disastrous for the child who remained in a vegetative state for almost 30 years. We read a book detailing her family‘s history as well as the course of her affliction titled The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down which thoroughly reviewed the Hmong’s shamanistic practices and spiritual beliefs, some of which were detailed in our textbook and still more that were utterly fascinating. They discussed the hallucinogens and rhythmic drum beating that represented horses’ hooves that led to the transcendence of a shaman Spirit from the physical realm into the spiritual and the interaction of roaming spirits on earth that caused certain illnesses. From the healing rituals around the decapitated head of a cow to the protection over our household that a buried placenta provided, the Hmong spirituality was truly intriguing to learn about.

    Our journey through shamanism didn’t end here, and we continue to learn of other beliefs throughout Central and South America. One tribe held that there were two types of “shamans” who were either good or evil. The evil spiritual practitioners could target particular people in the community and curse or afflict them through a maligned look or spell. This would then take the form of a spirit dart that then causes bodily harm to the victim. Such an explanation was utilized for various illnesses, injuries, or other particular maladies. At this point, the victim or their family would seek the help of the well-known shaman - of the good kind - in the community, and it was her/his job to locate the evil spirit dart and remove it. The technique for doing so required sucking on the victim at the precise place where the dart was stuck, for example, at the victim’s neck if they had a sore throat. The consequences for an unsuccessful removal characterized by the continuation of the affliction were severe; the shaman could then be accused of evil intent himself and subsequently lynched by the community.

    A final practice that I found so interesting involved the use of psychedelic flora such as ayahuasca. One anthropologist who performed fieldwork with the South American tribe participated in such an event and then detailed his visions and experience in a journal article. He saw large dragon chasing him in fluorescent colors and loopy patterns - similar to those on page 283 - and it could only be stopped by his lifting of the journey leader’s staff to challenge it. Whether it be pessimism or ethnocentrism on my part, I personally found his account to be easily explained: you were on a drug trip, dude. One of my roommates is currently taking Medical Anthropology, and we actually discussed this very article; to us as Westerners preparing to officially join the medical field, this connection to the spiritual realm seemed a little far out. Though an interesting perspective on the world and its connection between the physical/natural and the spiritual, I’m not sure how much of it I can swallow. I guess don’t knock it till you try it.