Abstract
This article explores the social interpretation of labeling Latino health beliefs associated with botánicas and unlicensed clinics as “folk” and “traditional” as opposed to “complementary” and “alternative.” Using a critical medical anthropological approach to trace the development of these labels, this article analyzes the hegemonic impact of biomedicine on Latino epistemologies, and traces the difficult application of static interpretations of Latino cultural practices in public health. One qualitative account of a modern experience of susto is provided to indicate the complexity of “folk” illness experience. Ultimately, this article asks, “What does it mean to define Latino/a beliefs and practices as “folk,” “traditional,” “complementary,” or “alternative”?
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Notes
Her autopsy determined dehydration as the cause of death.
In the larger study from which this article is drawn, I worked with a community of Santería practitioners. Santería is commonly defined as a Yoruba-based syncretic religion that emerged from Cuba as a result of the colonial slave trade (Brandon, 1997[1993]). Practitioners explained that the religion is authentically referred to as La Regla Lucumi and La Regla Ocha. For scholarly debates regarding interpreting religions such as Santería as syncretic, see Diaz-Stevens (1994), Shaw and Stewart (1994), and Van der Veer (1994).
As it is beyond the scope of this article, I will not elaborate on the details of these distinct spiritual practices. I mention them here in relation to their applied importance to health-related behavior.
The UCI Family Health Center is a free and low-cost community clinic. Located in Santa Ana, it primarily caters to residents in the area of which 76% of the population is identified as Hispanic as per the 2000 Census.
Hans Baer et al. (1997) define hegemonic within a biomedical context as the “process by which capitalist assumptions, concepts, and values come to permeate medical diagnosis and treatment.”
Removing the object of disease from the biological body.
Enhancing the current condition of the individual to counter the development of negative physical manifestations.
I am indebted to Leo Chávez for indicating that the very nature of these indexical markers biases the results obtained. For example, terms such as “spiritual healers” or “botánicas” were not categories used to distinguish complementary and alternative practices.
Merriam Webster Dictionary, http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/allopathic.
My translation.
As Santiago-Irizarry (2001) indicates, language proficiency regardless of class and socio-economic status does not uniquely translate into interpersonal skills often assumed in cultural competency health programs.
Santa Ana received Federal Empowerment Zone (FEZ) designation through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1999 for a four-square mile geographic area as a result of being identified as distressed (e.g. below average and decline in per capita income, earnings per worker below county average, number of persons on welfare higher than county average, per capita property tax base low, average number of years of school completed lower than county average, illiteracy rates high, school dropout rates high, teen pregnancy highest in the county, substantial population increase, increase in safety concerns, increase in health problems). The Effective Strategic Plan and Executive Summary identified Health as one of 10 areas of emphasis. The other areas include Education, Job Training and Placement, Business Development, Safety, Childcare, Transportation, Housing, Recreation and Youth, and Arts and Culture.
Pseudonym.
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Holliday, K. “Folk” or “Traditional” Versus “Complementary” and “Alternative” Medicine: Constructing Latino/a Health and Illness Through Biomedical Labeling. Lat Stud 6, 398–417 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/lst.2008.44
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/lst.2008.44