Health care in Maya Guatemala : confronting medical pluralism in a developing country /

For years, Adams and Hawkins (both, anthropology, Brigham Young Univ.) have run a field school for ethnographic research on K'iche' (Quiche) Maya of the western highlands of Guatemala. This book presents ten essays by undergraduate students who spent a summer in the program studying aspects of health and health care in three Maya communities. Essays describe local beliefs concerning the basis of health and causes of disease, the role of traditional healers, and some of their curative techniques. One chapter documents the practice of midwifery in a Maya community. Other essays sketch the rather dismal quality of Western-style medicine available through local branches of the National Health Service. Remaining essays explore medical choice--how people decide to seek help from a traditional or modern health care provider--or provide assessments of the population's generally declining nutritional and mental health status. In their introduction and conclusion, Adams and Hawkins argue that indigenous medical practices are often effective and readily accessible and affordable. But traditional paths to health among the Maya are being undermined by exposure to Western medical criticism, even as modern medical practitioners neglect to adequately serve the rural and indigenous peoples of Guatemala. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. P. R. Sullivan independent scholar