Healing in the Hospital: the Caring Sensorium and the Containment of Yanomami Bodies
Copyright
open access
Type
Article
Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America
Alternative Title
Authors
Affilliation
University of Cambridge. Department of Archaeology and Anthropology. Cambridge, U.K
Advisor
Co-Advisor
Committee Member
Organizer
Coordinator(s)
Institutional author
Director
item.page.production
Screenplay
Producer
Recorder
Abstract
Abstract
This paper addresses the question of care in a hospital environment. Focusing on Yanomami
people at a hospital in Venezuela, I show how Yanomami practices of re-making the body
and restoring health are challenged by the material practices and sensorial qualities of the
hospital. Being ill for the Yanomami is an uncontrolled bodily transformation, resulting from
improper interactions with other beings. I examine the relation between different
components of the Yanomami body, and focus especially on the reconstitution of the body
envelope or skin as a fundamental aspect of healing. This reconstitution is accomplished
through body techniques that notably involve the senses and which foreground the
importance of containment. I argue that the hospital operates as another containing layer
among a multiplicity of forms and practices of boundary-making in the healing of bodies.
But for the Yanomami, this hospital-container is inappropriate for healing, in the sense that
prescribed food is lacking, scents are disturbing, temperatures are either too cold or too hot,
relatives and shamans are too far away. I show the significance of recursive practices and the materiality of containment in the processual making of Amazonian bodies, and end with a
reflection on the articulation of different projects of healing in the hospital
Abstract in Spanish
Abstract in French
Description
Keywords in Portuguese
Atenção à Saúde, Yanomami, Região Amazônica, Cura
Keywords
Keywords in Spanish
Keywords in French
DeCS
Atenção à Saúde, Venzuela, Saúde de Populações Indígenas, Índios Sul-Americanos, Antropologia Médica, Alquimia
Event Date
Previous version
Related Document
Means of dissemination
Duration
Duration
Original color system
Target audience context
Audience occupation
Educational Description
Evaluation
Peer Reviewed
Publication Status
Sponsorship
Latest version
Version
Event Location
Event title
Event Type
Citation
MARTIN, Johanna G. Healing in the Hospital: the caring sensorium and the containment of Yanomami bodies. Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America, v. 13, n. 2, p. 120-136. Disponível em: https://www.academia.edu/19876411/Healing_in_the_hospital_the_containment_of_Yanomami_bodies_and_the_healing_sensorium?email_work_card=view-paper. Acesso em: 28 out. 2021