The Quest for Therapy: Medical Pluralism in Lower Zaire (Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care) - Softcover

Janzen, John M.; Arkinstall, William; Leslie, Charles

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9780520046337: The Quest for Therapy: Medical Pluralism in Lower Zaire (Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0520046331 ISBN 13: 9780520046337
Publisher: University of California Press, 1982

Synopsis

In this book, Dr. John M. Janzen describes patterns of healing among the BaKongo of Lower Zaire in Africa, who, like many peoples elsewhere, utilize cosmopolitan medicine alongside traditional healing practices. What criteria, he asks, determine the choice of the alternative therapies? And what is their institutional interrelationship?

In seeking answers, he analyzes case histories and cultural contexts to explore what social transactions, decisionmaking, illness and therapy classifications, and resource allocations are used in the choice of therapy by the ill, their kinfolk, friends, asociates, and specialized practitioners.

From the Preface:

This book presents an "on the ground" ethnographic account of how medical clients of one region of Lower Zaire diagnose illness, select therapies, and evaluate treatments, a process we call "therapy management." The book is intended to clarify a phenomenon of which central African clients have long been cognizant, namely, that medical systems are used in combination. Our study is aimed primarily at readers interested in the practical issues of medical decision-making in an African country, the cultural content of symptoms, and the dynamics of medical pluralism, that is, the existence in a single society of differently designed and conceived medical systems.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

John M. Janzen is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas. His books include Lemba 1650-1930 (1982) and Ngoma: Discourses of Healing in Central and Southern Africa (California, 1992).

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
University of California Press
Publication date
1982
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0520046331
ISBN 13 
9780520046337
Binding
Paperback
Edition number
1
Number of pages
266
Rating
  • 4.58 out of 5 stars
    19 ratings by Goodreads

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780520032958: The Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire (Volume 1) (Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0520032950 ISBN 13:  9780520032958
Publisher: University of California Press, 1978
Hardcover