Our Illnesses

In the northern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, the Teenek Indians believe that a certain illness afflicts only members of their own indigenous group. This assertion raises the question of the relation between emic ideas on affliction and ethnic identity. Examining the Teenek nosology and par...

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Main Author: Anath Ariel de Vidas
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative 2014-07-01
Series:Ateliers d'Anthropologie
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/9624
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author Anath Ariel de Vidas
author_facet Anath Ariel de Vidas
author_sort Anath Ariel de Vidas
collection DOAJ
description In the northern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, the Teenek Indians believe that a certain illness afflicts only members of their own indigenous group. This assertion raises the question of the relation between emic ideas on affliction and ethnic identity. Examining the Teenek nosology and particularly the divination methods that the Teenek use to locate the origin of their particular misfortune, allows us not only to understand their etiology but also to analyze its symbolic structure. Through the myth of origin, this structure relates the concepts of disease prevalent in this group to their regional conflictual multiethnic context. Thus, Teenek pathology reveals not just a theory of causation but also expresses intra- and interethnic social tensions and gives insights into the question of an ethnotheoretical model of ethnicity.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2117-3869
language fra
publishDate 2014-07-01
publisher Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative
record_format Article
series Ateliers d'Anthropologie
spelling doaj-art-d493b7476cce42a3b695d4bad911df902025-01-30T13:42:26ZfraLaboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie ComparativeAteliers d'Anthropologie2117-38692014-07-014010.4000/ateliers.9624Our IllnessesAnath Ariel de VidasIn the northern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, the Teenek Indians believe that a certain illness afflicts only members of their own indigenous group. This assertion raises the question of the relation between emic ideas on affliction and ethnic identity. Examining the Teenek nosology and particularly the divination methods that the Teenek use to locate the origin of their particular misfortune, allows us not only to understand their etiology but also to analyze its symbolic structure. Through the myth of origin, this structure relates the concepts of disease prevalent in this group to their regional conflictual multiethnic context. Thus, Teenek pathology reveals not just a theory of causation but also expresses intra- and interethnic social tensions and gives insights into the question of an ethnotheoretical model of ethnicity.https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/9624MexicocosmologydivinationethnicityetiologyMesoamerica
spellingShingle Anath Ariel de Vidas
Our Illnesses
Ateliers d'Anthropologie
Mexico
cosmology
divination
ethnicity
etiology
Mesoamerica
title Our Illnesses
title_full Our Illnesses
title_fullStr Our Illnesses
title_full_unstemmed Our Illnesses
title_short Our Illnesses
title_sort our illnesses
topic Mexico
cosmology
divination
ethnicity
etiology
Mesoamerica
url https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/9624
work_keys_str_mv AT anatharieldevidas ourillnesses