The spiritual causes of disease, in the discourse of modern folk healers

Anthropologists interested in the therapeutic practices of individuals who claim to have some special and secret knowledges, always record in the discourse of their interlocutors some surprising interpretations of disease, well different than the biomedical ones. During my fieldwork in the French part of Belgium, I’ve met some healers that combined a big variety of healing practices as diverse as catholic prayer treatments, homeopathy, mesmerism, exorcism, aromatherapy, etc. The data I’ve collected close to about forty syncretic healers, enable me to identify four “models of disease”.

There are, first, some ailments conceived like autonomous beings as if they exist independently of the body’sufferer, like “things” in itself, things that are said growing, moving, hanging on... There are, secondly, diseases that are interpreted like the consequence of the prolonged exposure to “negative vibrations” which disturb the body’s equilibrium. There are, thirdly, some health problems that are caused by a spirit, a dead man’soul, who became a spiritual entity, who sucks up energy from living beings, like a vampire. There are, finally, some symptoms that are identified like the sign of a spell, caused by the evil thinking of a sorcerer.

These etiological models are interesting for the medical anthropology’approach of disease because it reveals some conceptions of the world, some beliefs, which doesn’t concern the human body, but a kind of discourse on clumsiness, anguishes and fears of a society towards the technological progress, a religious vision of the man’s place in the cosmos, and the state of social relationships of the cursed patient.

Speaker

Dr. Olivier SCHMITZ, University of Louvain, Belgium

Organisers

Department of Social Sciences, French Institute of Pondicherry

Venue

Jawaharlal Nehru Conference Hall, French Institute of Pondicherry, 11, St. Louis Street, Pondicherry-605 001

Time

16h30