Bonesetting over time -- Empirical forms of Maya bonesetting -- Sacred forms of Maya bonesetting -- Challenges and changes in the injury landscape -- Conclusion: defined images, hazy roles: scanning for change -- Appendix. Traditional medicine and bonesetting: integration and lessons.
Summary:
"The book discusses traditional Maya bonesetting, situating it in a global context, examining its approaches (both empirical and spiritual), and considering some of the pragmatic choices such bonesetters make with respect to biomedicine"-- Provided by publisher. "Scholarship on Maya healing traditions has focused primarily on the roles of midwives, shamans, herbalists, and diviners. Bonesetters, on the other hand, have been largely excluded from conversations about traditional health practitioners and community health resources. Maya Bonesetters is the first book-length study of bonesetting in Guatemala and situates the manual healing tradition within the current cultural context--one in which a changing medical landscape potentially threatens bonesetters' work yet presents an opportunity to strengthen its relevance. Drawing on extensive field research in highland Guatemala, Servando Z. Hinojosa introduces readers to a seldom documented, though nonetheless widespread, variety of healer. This book examines the work of Kaqchikel and Tz'utujiil Maya bonesetters, analyzes how they diagnose and treat injuries, and contrasts the empirical and sacred approaches of various healers. Hinojosa shows how bonesetters are carefully adapting certain biomedical technologies to meet local expectations for care and concludes that, despite pressures and criticisms from the biomedical community, bonesetting remains culturally meaningful and vital to Maya people, even if its future remains uncertain." -- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.