Book
Body and mind in Zulu medicine: an ethnography of health and disease in Nyuswa-Zulu thought and practice
Academic Press • London • Published In 1977 • Pages: xvi, 184
By: Ngubane, Harriet.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source, based on field work on the Nyuswa Reserve, is concerned with Zulu beliefs and practices about sickness and health. Among the topics covered are: Zulu ideas about natural and supernatural causes of illness; sorcery and witchcraft; Zulu cosmology; rituals and sacrifices to the ancestral spirits; spirit possession and divination; and medical treatment. The author's main interest is in applying symbolic analysis as practiced by British social anthropologists to her Zulu data. Hence, the data presented are limited and carefully selected and the Zulu medical system is presented as linked to and reflecting social cleavages within and between lineages and members of polygamous, extended family homesteads. In addition, the author discusses the anomalous position of women within a patrilineal society, color symbolism, and notions of pollution and purity. On the whole, the book seems less concerned with Zulu medical beliefs and practices than with British social anthropological beliefs and practices.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Reviews and critiques
- Theoretical orientation in research and its results
- Pharmaceuticals
- Gender status
- Mode of marriage
- Arranging a marriage
- Nuptials
- Lineages
- Clans
- Public welfare
- Theory of disease
- Sorcery
- Magical and mental therapy
- Medical therapy
- Eschatology
- Spirits and gods
- Prayers and sacrifices
- Revelation and divination
- Ethnophysics
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Zulu
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2005
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southern Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnographer
- Indigenous Person
- 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.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Eleanor C. Swanson ; Marlene Martin ; 1979
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1963-1964 (7mos.); 1971 (8 mos.); intermittently between 1964-1971
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1963-1971
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Nyuswa Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- NotesAdditional notes
- Harriet Ngubane
- Originally presented as the author's thesis
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-169) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 76016982
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Zulu (African people)