Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia

by Cavender, Anthony

• ISBN13: 9780807854938
• ISBN10: 080785493X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-12-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

In the first comprehensive exploration of the history and practice of folk medicine in the Appalachian region, Anthony Cavender melds folklore, medical anthropology, and Appalachian history and draws extensively on oral histories and archival sources from the nineteenth century to the present. He provides a complete tour of ailments and folk treatments organized by body systems, as well as information on medicinal plants, patent medicines, and magico-religious beliefs and practices. He investigates folk healers and their methods, profiling three living practitioners: an herbalist, a faith healer, and a Native American healer. The book also includes an appendix of botanicals and a glossary of folk medical terms.Demonstrating the ongoing interplay between mainstream scientific medicine and folk medicine, Cavender challenges the conventional view of southern Appalachia as an exceptional region isolated from outside contact. His thorough and accessible study reveals how Appalachian folk medicine encompasses such diverse and important influences as European and Native American culture and America's changing medical and health-care environment. In doing so, he offers a compelling representation of the cultural history of the region as seen through its health practices.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction. An Overview of Folk Medicine Research in Southern Appalachia	1	(10)
1 Health and Disease in Southern Appalachia	11	(20)
2 The Folk Medical Belief System	31	(24)
3 Folk Materia Medica	55	(24)
4 Folk Treatments	79	(68)
S Folk Healers	147	(28)
6 Contemporary Perspectives on Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia	175	(14)
Appendix A. Archival and Manuscript Sources	189	(8)
Appendix B. Frequently Mentioned Medicinal Plants in Sources	197	(6)
Glossary	203	(4)
Notes	207	(34)
Bibliography	241	(18)
Index	259