Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cultural Interpretations of States of Malnutrition Among Children: A South Indian Case Study

  • Chapter
Anthropology and International Health

Part of the book series: Culture, Illness, and Healing ((CIHE,volume 15))

Abstract

In this chapter, I wish to consider how a set of children’s illnesses often associated with states of malnutrition are conceptualized by a South Indian population. My focus will be the meaning accorded to these illnesses and the manner in which this meaning influences health care practice and decision making. Highlighted will be rural mothers ideas about the classification, etiology, prevention, and appropriate treatment of seven children’s illnesses in South Kanara District, Karnataka State. Following the presentation of this data, I will briefly consider its applied significance and suggest that culturally responsive approaches to health education may be developed around emic illness categories. I will further argue that ayurvedic practitioners are a primary health care resource in rural South India capable of playing an important role in nutrition education. They are consulted about diet for health as well as during illness and convalescence, times of greatest nutrient need and the most dietary restrictions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Andrews, S. 1973 Feasibility of Involving Indigenous Medicine Practitioners for Family Planning Service Delivery in Kerala, India. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beals, A. 1976 Strategies of Resort to Curers in South India. In C. Leslie (ed.), Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, R., K. Brown, S. Becker et al. 1982 Longitudinal studies of infectious diseases and Physical Growth of Children in Rural Bangladesh: Patterns of Morbidity. American Journal of Epidemiology 115: 305–314.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bomgaars, M. R. 1976 Undernutrition: Cultural Diagnosis and Treatment of Runche. JAMA 236: 22: 2513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bose, A., R. P. Goyal, S. R. Grover, K. G. Jolly, D. Madan, V. P. C. Sharma, and C. Singh. 1978 An Assessment of the New Rural Health Scheme and Suggestions for Improvement. Demographic Research Centre Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, K., R. Black, A. Robertson et al. 1985 Effects of Season and Illness on the Dietary Intake of Weanlings during Longitudinal Studies in Rural Bangladesh. American Journal of Clincial Nutrition 41: 343–355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, L. 1986 Primary Health Care in Developing Countries: Overcoming Operational, Technical and Social Barriers. Lancet, Nov. 29, 1260–1265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Claus, P. 1973 Possession, Protection and Punishment as Attributes of Deities in a South Indian Village. Man in India 53(3): 231–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colson, A. C. 1971 The Prevention of Illness in a Malay Village: An Analysis of Concepts and Behavior. Medical Behavioral Science, No. 1. Winston-Salem, N. C: Overseas Research Center. D’Andrade, R. 1976 A Propositional Analysis of U.S. American Beliefs about Illness. In K. H. Basso and H. A. Selby, (eds). Meanings in Anthropology, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Djurfeld, G. and Lindberg, S.. 1975 Pills against Poverty. Indien studenlititteratur. Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies. Monograph Series No. 23. New York: Cuzon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Egnor, M. 1978 The Sacred Spell and Other Conceptions of Life in Tamil Culture. Department of Anthropology, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, G. M. and Anderson, B. G. 1978 Medical Anthropology. New York: John Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glick, M. 1967 Medicine as an Ethnographic Category: The Gimi of the New Guinea Highlands. Ethnology 6: 31–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gopaladas, T., et al. 1975 Project Poshak, Volume II. New Delhi: CARE India.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould, H. 1965 Modern Medicine and Folk Cognition in Rural India. Human Organization 24: 202–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, C. 1978 Medical Care: Ethnomedicine in Health and the Human Condition. M. Logan and E. Hunt (eds) pp. 150–158. North Scituate, Mass: Duxbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jantzen, J. 1978 The Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamath, K. R., R. Feldman, P. S. Rao et al. 1969 Infection and Disease in a Group of South Indian Families. American Journal of Epidemiology 89: 375–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kakar, D. N., S. K. Murthy, and R. L. Parker 1972 People’s Perceptions of Illness and Their Use of Medical Care Services in Punjab. The Indian Journal of Medical Education 11(4): 286–290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katon, W., and Kleinman, A. 1980 Doctor-Patient Negotiation and Other Social Science Strategies in Patient-Care. In L. Eisenberg and A. Kleinman (eds), The Relevance of Social Science for Medicine. Boston: Reidel Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khare,R.S. 1963 Folk Medicine in a North Indian Village. Human Organization 22(1): 36–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kincaid, L. 1979 The Convergence Model of Communication. Honolulu: East-West Center Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kroeger, A. 1983 Anthropological and Sociomedical Health Care Research in Developing Countries. Social Science and Medicine 17(3): 147–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leslie, C. 1980 Medical Pluralism in World Perspective. Social Science and Medicine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leslie, C. 1983 Social Research and Health Care Planning in South Asia. Project paper for the Social Science Research Council. New Delhi, January.

    Google Scholar 

  • McAuliffe, J. et al. 1985 Prospective Studies of the Illness Burden in a Rural Community of Northeast Brazil. PAHO Bulletin 19: 2, 139–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martorell, R., J. P. Habicht, C. Yarbrough et al. 1975 Acute Morbidity and Physical Growth in Rural Guatemalan Children. American Journal of Disabled Child 129: 1296–1301

    Google Scholar 

  • Martorell, R., C. Yarbrough, S. Yarbrough et al. 1980 The Impact of Ordinary Illness on the Dietary Intakes of Malnourished Children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 33: 345–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, C. 1979 Health and Culture in a South Indian Village. New Delhi: Sterling Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nations, M. 1986 Epidemiological Research on Infectious Disease: Quantitative Rigor or Rigormortis? Insights from Ethnomedicine. In C. R. Janes et al. (ed.) Anthropology and Epidemiology pp. 97–123. Leiden: Reidel Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. 1977 The Joga and Maya of the Tuluva Buta. Eastern Anthropologist 30(2): 139–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. 1978 Patterns of Curative Resort and Their Significance for Health Planning in South Asia. Medical Anthropologist 2(2): 30–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. 1979 The Language of Illness in South Kanara. Anthropos 74: 181–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. 1980 The Layperson’s Perception of Medicine as Perspective into the Utilization of Multiple Therapy Systems in the Indian Context. Social Science and Medicine 14b: 225–233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. 1981 Negotiation of the Illness Experience: The Influence of Ayurvedic Therapy on the Psychosocial Dimensions of Illness. Culture Medicine and Psychiatry 5: 1–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. 1983 Toward a People Near Promotive Health Within Primary Health Care. Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Public Health in Asia and the Pacific Basin. University of Hawaii, School of Public Health.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. 1984 Project Community Diagnosis: Participatory Research as a First Step toward Community Involvement in Primary Health Care. Social Science and Medicine 19(3): 237–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. 1986 Modes of Food Classification and the Diet-Health Contingency: A South Indian Case Study. In R. Khare and K. Ishvaran (eds), Aspects of Food Systems in South Asia. North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. 1989 False Expectations and Commanding Metaphors: Immunization Programs in South Asia. In J. Coreil and D. Mull (eds) Anthropology and Primary Care. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. and Nichter M. 1981 An Anthropological Approach to Nutrition Education. Newton, Mass: International Nutrition Communication Service, Education Development Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. 1983 The Use of Analogy in the Communication of Promotive Health. Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Public Health in Asia and the Pacific Basin. University of Hawaii, School of Public Health.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M., Rizvi N. 1985 A Negotiation Approach to Nutrition Education. In R. Israel (ed.), Communication Answers to Nutrition Problems in Developing Countries. Newton, Mass: International Nutrition Communication Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Opler, M. 1962 Cultural Definitions of Illness in Village India. Human Organization 21: 32–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, R. L., Alexander, A. C. Shah, S. M., and Neuman A. K. 1979 Self-Care in Rural Areas of India and Nepal. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 3(1): 3–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul, B. 1963 Anthropological Perspectives on Medicine and Public Health. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science: 34–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pereira, S. and Begum, A. 1987 The Influence of Illness on the Food Intake of Young Children. International Journal of Epidemiology 16: 3, 445–450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfifferling, J. 1975 Some Issues in the Consideration of Non-Western and Western Folk Practices as Epidemiological Data. Social Science and Medicine 9: 655–658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polgar, S. 1972 Health Actios in Cross-Cultural Perspective. In Handbook of Medical Sociology, H. E. Freeman, S. Levine, and L. G. Reader (eds.). 2nd edition. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyle, D. 1981 From Project to Program: The Study of the Scaling Up/Implementation Process of a Community Level, Integrated Health, Nutrition, Population Intervention in Maharastra India. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. Massachusetts Insitute of Technology, Department of Political Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao, P. S., K. G. Koshi, V. Benjamin et al. 1970 A Longitudinal Study of Morbidity in Rural Areas of South India. Indian Journal of Medical Research 58: 7, 927–937.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter, M. 1971 Specific Morbidity Rates in a Rural Area of South India. Indian Journal of Medical Research 59: 6, 965–973.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodhe, J. 1978 Preparing for the Next Round: Convalescent Care after Acute Infection. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 31: 2258–2268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, E. and Kincaid, L. 1982 Communication in Networks and Convergence. Inter Media 10(1): 14–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Srivastva, R. N. 1978 Evaluating Communicability in Village Settings. New Delhi: UNICEF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trawick, M. 1987 The Ayurvedic Physician as Scientist. Social Science and Medicine 24: 12, 1031–1050.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, V. 1975 Revelation and Divination in Ndembu Ritual. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, M. 1980 Charaka Samhita on the Doctrine of Karma. In W. D. O’Flaherty (ed.), Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, A. 1981 When Rational Men Fall Sick: An Inquiry into Some Assumptions Made by Medical Anthropologists. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 5: 317–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, J. 1981 Non-Use of Physicians: Methodological Approaches, Policy Implications and the Utility of Decision Models. Social Science and Medicine 15b: 499–507.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman, F. 1978 From Classic Texts to Learned Practice: Methodological Remarks on the Study of Indian Medicine. Social Science and Medicine 12b (2): 97–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman, F. 1980 Rtu-Satmya, the Seasonal Cycle and the Principle of Appropriateness. Social Science and Medicine 14b: 99–106.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Mark Nichter

Authors
  1. Mark Nichter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1989 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Nichter, M. (1989). Cultural Interpretations of States of Malnutrition Among Children: A South Indian Case Study. In: Anthropology and International Health. Culture, Illness, and Healing, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2231-0_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2231-0_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-0158-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2231-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation