Dramaturgy of accult practitioners in the treatment of disease and dysfunction entities

Phillip W. Davis, Jacqueline Boles and Charlotte Tatro

Social Science & Medicine, 1984, vol. 19, issue 7, 691-698

Abstract: This paper provides a dramaturgical analysis of the beliefs and practices of rural and suburban fortune-tellers in the treatment of disease and dysfunction entities. Based upon in-depth interviews with 21 non-Gypsy fortune-tellers, the client records of a key informant and the second author's first-hand familiarity with select aspects of fortune-telling, the paper examines the role of the fortune-teller as a quasi-practitioner. Fortune-tellers were found to employ five dramaturgical devices which (1) reaffirm conventional treatment norms through an informal symbiotic relationship with physicians; (2) provide the 'client' with destigmatizing classifications; and (3) offer an occult etiology which requires spiritual expertise for treatment 'success'. Occult treatment for the conditions tends to mimic the dramaturgy of conventional practitioners through the use of occult rhetoric, labels, client typifications, props and treatment scripts. The management of venereal disease and sexual impotence is examined in detail to illustrate the occult approach to disease and dysfunction entities.

Date: 1984
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