 Pluralistic etiological systems in their social context: A Brazilian case study: In memory of James S. ColemanNdolamb Ngokwey Social Science & Medicine, 1988, vol. 26, issue 8, 793-802 Abstract: The main thesis of this paper is that multifactorial explanations of illness in medically pluralistic settings arise in distinctive interactional contexts. The first part is an overview of the anthropological literature on illness etiologies, specifically on the functions and nature of these etiological notions. The second part is a description of local notions of illness causation in Feira de Santana (Brazil) using an analytical model based upon a holistic view of culture which includes four closely interrelated domains: natural, socio-economic, psychological and religious. This multifactorial nature of the etiological system is examined in light of: (a) the various sources that constitute the popular stock of etiological knowledge; (b) the different aspects of causality that can function as hierarchical levels in causal chains; (c) the process of the social production of etiological knowledge. The third part, an analysis of one informant's account of his illness, serves to illustrate the point developed in the first 2 parts. Keywords: illness; etiologies; medical; pluralism; social; interactions; urban; Brazil (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:26:y:1988:i:8:p:793-802 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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