article
Discourse, power, and the diagnosis of weakness: encountering practitioners in Bangladesh
Medical anthropology quarterly, n.s. • 11 (3) • Published In 1997 • Pages: 352-374
By: Wilce, James MacLynn.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a detailed and sometimes theoretical article on the author's experiences as a 'patient' of nonbiomedical practitioners, and an examination of Bangladeshis' encounters with herbalists, exorcists, and diviners which reveal the interactive means by which the diagnostic concept of DURBALATA (weakness ) is constructed in the society. In the cases presented, facing power in the person of the practitioner means losing face.The author argues that '…discursive phenomena above and below the lexical level are responsible. The phenomena described -- (1) interruption or dismissal of the patient's words by practitioners and others present during the clinical encounter, (2) divinatory routines that assign the DURBALATA label to women, and (3) one patient's use of 'creaky' voice quality in a strictly popular sector' (domestic) encounter -- are nonreferential but socially significant semiotic processes that operate, for the most part, beneath the level of discursive awareness. These encounters and their outcomes have more to do with social reproduction than with any unambiguously effective therapeutic outcome' ( p.352).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Theoretical orientation in research and its results
- Observation in research
- Language
- Speech
- Grammar
- Phonology
- Conversation
- Theory of disease
- Shamans and psychotherapists
- Medical therapy
- Magicians and diviners
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Bengali
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2002
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- South Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 2000
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- ca. 1991-1992
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- ca. 1991-1992
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Matlab village, Bangladesh
- NotesAdditional notes
- James M. Wilce
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 370-374)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 84643999
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Bengalis