Abstract
A case of presumed psychosis in a 16-year-old Taiwanese girl is examined to show the role of performance in creating meaning in a plural medical system. The case illustrates that there is no necessary correspondence between diagnoses, authorities, and therapies; that consensus, if achieved at all, is tenuous and context-dependent; that meaning is created by performance, rather than the other way around; and that understanding of how therapies work depends on their efficacy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amarasingham (Rhodes), Lorna 1980 Movement Among Healers in Sri Lanka: A Case Study of A Sinhalese Patient. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 4:71–92.
Cohen, Myron L. 1988 Souls and Salvation: Conflicting Themes in Chinese Popular Religion. In James L. Watson and Evelyn S. Rawski (eds.). Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press.
Csordas, Thomas 1988 Elements of Charismatic Persuasion and Healing. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 2(2):121–142.
Ferguson, Daniel M. 1988 A Study of Cantonese Opera: Musical Source Materials, Historical Development, Contemporary Social Organization, and Adaptive Strategies. Ph.D. Dissertation in Ethnomusicology, University of Washington.
Finkler, Kaya 1980 Non-Medical Treatments and their Outcomes. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 4(3):271–310.
Finkler, Kaya 1981 Non-Medical Treatments and their Outcomes, Part Two: Focus on Adherents of Spiritualism. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 5(1):65–103.
Geertz, Clifford 1966 Religion as a Cultural System. In Michael Banton (ed.). Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion. London: Tavistock.
Gould Martin, Katherine 1975 Medical Systems in a Taiwan Village: Ong-is-kong, the Plague God as Modern Physician. In Arthur M. Kleinman et al. (eds.). Medicine in Chinese Cultures. Washington D.C.: Fogarty International Center.
1976 Women Asking Women. Ph.D. Dissertation in Anthropology, Rutgers University.
Harrell, Stevan 1979 The Concept of Soul in Chinese Folk Religion. Journal of Asian Studies 38:519–528.
Harrell, Stevan 1982 Ploughshare Village: Culture and Context in Taiwan. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press.
Harrell, Stevan 1986 Men, Women, and Ghosts in Taiwanese Folk Religion. In Caroline W. Bynum et al. (eds.). Gender and Religion. Boston: Beacon.
Harrell, Stevan 1987 The Concept of Fate in Chinese Folk Ideology. Modern China 13:90–109.
Janzen, John M. 1978 The Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Jordan, David 1972 Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Kleinman, Arthur 1980 Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Li Yih-Yuan 1976 Chinese Geomancy and Ancestor Worship: A Further Discussion. In William H. Newell (ed.). Ancestors. The Hague: Mouton.
(Martin) Ahern, Emily 1973 The Cult of the Dead in a Chinese Village. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
(Martin) Ahern, Emily 1975 Sacred and Secular Medicine in a Taiwan Village. In Arthur Kleinman et al. (eds.). Medicine in Chinese Cultures. Washington, D.C.: Fogarty International Center.
McCreery, John L. 1979 Potential and Effective Meaning in Therapeutic Ritual. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 3(1):53–72.
Schieffelin, Edward L. 1985 Performance and the Cultural Construction of Reality. American Ethnologist 12:707–724.
Tambiah, S.J. 1977 The Cosmological and Performative Significance of a Thai Cult of Healing Through Meditation. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 1(1):97–132.
Weller, Robert P. 1986 Unities and Diversities in Chinese Religion. London: Macmillan; Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harrell, S. Pluralism, performance and meaning in Taiwanese healing: A case study. Cult Med Psych 15, 45–68 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00050827
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00050827