 Witchcraft-explained childhood tragedies in Tlaxcala, and their medical sequelaeHoracio Fabrega and Hugo Nutini Social Science & Medicine, 1993, vol. 36, issue 6, 793-805 Abstract: This paper describes results of a study in Tlaxcala, Mexico, involving the sudden death of infants and children that culturally are explained as resulting from the attack of blood-sucking witches. The attacks of the supernaturals are relatively common occurrences and an elaborate ideology has evolved to explain them. Such an ideology serves to explain what constitutes a major trauma of loss and supernatural assault. Data on a total of 47 cases were collected prospectively. The illness experiences of the parents following these traumas were recorded and their nature and consequences analyzed. The results of the study provide a 'folk medical' epidemiology of sudden infant death, a well identified cultural-ecological stressor. Ideas from cultural, psychological and medical anthropology as well as general medicine and psychiatry are used in the interpretation of the results. Keywords: sudden; death; witchcraft; folk; illness; acute; grief (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:36:y:1993:i:6:p:793-805 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier |
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