Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Anthropology

  • A story of the oppressed

    Donia KhafagaCairo, Egypt Writers often use their novels as a social commentary to criticize a certain cultural context and advocate for change. Today women are still trying to attain equality and freedom. In many Arab countries, men are endowed with freedom and opportunities while women remain silenced and marginalized. One of the most notable authors…

  • The evolution of attitude towards sexual health in the Netherlands

    Olga LoeberNijmegen, Netherlands Introduction The Netherlands is thought of as a progressive society compared to other countries, but this is actually a recent development. In 1885, the Neo Malthusian League (NMB) published a brochure titled: “Means to prevent large families.” Founded in 1881, NMB stated that there would be: “no improvement of the race without…

  • The thousand-year-old rainforest shamanistic tradition of healing touch

    Søren VentegodtCopenhagen, Denmark An interview with the last Aboriginal healer from the Kuku Nungl (Kuku Yalanji) tribe on the sacred art of healing touch in Far North Queensland, Australia. The indigenous people of Australia, the Aboriginals, have an ancient tradition of healing that uses only talk, touch, and other active principles. In contrast to the…

  • Nutritional disruption in the Marshall Islands

    Carley Trentman Kansas, United States   When one mentions World War II, vivid images come to mind. The controversial decision to use the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki marked the end of the war in 1945. Subsequent testing of  hydrogen bombs occurred in the 1950s on the Marshall Islands, where “Ivy Mike” and “Castle…

  • Dead people healing alcoholism

    Maria BarnaSibiu, Romania In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there were many villages in the Moldavia region of Romania where doctors hardly ever came. When people became ill they found hope in prayers or in the secret knowledge of initiated women. Thus the treatment of alcoholism was based on empirical and magical medicine.…

  • Life at the table

    Isabel Azevedo Porto, Portugal   Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1412 – 1416 Herman, Paul, and Johan Limbourg Musée Condé, France In the days when human time was organized differently and every hour had its meaning, meals were community events, mostly family events, where people met to socialize as well as dine. Someone…

  • Mind the translation gap

    Debi RobersonUnited Kingdom The author is grateful for funding from the ESRC (grant R000238310) and from the Royal Society (grant IE121122)which made this research and the report possible. Between 1996 and 1998, I made three research trips to the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea to do field studies for my PhD. On my first…

  • Pediatric pishogues

    C. Anthony RyanBridget MaherCork, Ireland Although superstitions abound in all societies, Irish tradition has an especially long and rich tradition of folk beliefs and superstitions. Thus, when a newborn infant was recently diagnosed with Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber syndrome,1 a triad of port-wine stain, varicose veins, and hypertrophy, his mother burst out crying saying: “My mother says that…

  • Cannibalism: Just what the doctor ordered

    Carole A. Travis Henikoff It may come as a surprise to many that their ancestors practiced cannibalism, especially when some scholars deny cannibalism ever happened. Yet the truth is, we all have cannibals in our closet. Throughout history human beings have consumed human flesh for various reasons. As humans migrated around the globe, they ate…

  • Rice and reason

    Wendy J. Gu Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA   Nian gao may be deep fried for New Year’s Day Rice, noodles, breads, buns, and pancakes all appear in traditional Chinese cuisine, but white rice is the ultimate staple. It can be found at all meals, from breakfast to dinner to dessert, in various guises and preparations, but it…