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Cultural Constructivism: Sickness Histories and the Understanding of Ethnomedicines beyond Critical Medical Anthropologies

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Anthropologies of Medicine

Abstract

The present paper has two goals. First it attempts to identify and outline some central assumptions of ‘cultural constructivism’ in order to unify and provide a common basis for a variety of interpretive approaches in medical anthropology. In line with this goal, an example of the cultural constructivist approach to sickness and biomedical knowledge is presented. This model of sickness, called a ‘Sickness History’, is offered to demonstrate the historical basis of the construction and meaning of contemporary sickness realities, realities found in both folk and professional Western medicines.

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Authors
  1. Atwood D. Gaines
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Ethnologie, Universität Hamburg, Rothenbaumchaussee 64a, D-2000, Hamburg 13, Germany

    Beatrix Pfleiderer Ph.D. (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Department of Anthropology, Départment d’ Anthropologie, Université de Montréal, Succursale A, C.P. 6128, H3C 3J7, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Gilles Bibeau Ph.D. (Professor of Anthropology and Chair) (Professor of Anthropology and Chair)

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© 1991 Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Braunschweig

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Gaines, A.D. (1991). Cultural Constructivism: Sickness Histories and the Understanding of Ethnomedicines beyond Critical Medical Anthropologies. In: Pfleiderer, B., Bibeau, G. (eds) Anthropologies of Medicine. Vieweg+Teubner Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-87859-5_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-87859-5_17

  • Publisher Name: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-528-07820-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-322-87859-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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