Louis Golomb

The interplay of traditional therapies in south Thailand

Discernible among the diversity of folk-medical practitioners of Songkhla, Thailand, are three prominent therapeutic traditions: those of the herbalists, folk psychotherapists, and supernaturalists. Most curers describe themselves as specialists in one or another of these modes, but at the same time, many also recognize multiple levels of causation and multi-modal treatment alternatives for any specific affliction. Accordingly, they liberally apply their own therapeutic orientation to afflictions ordinarily diagnosed as calling for treatment in modes other than their own. To treat afflictions normally outside their own domain, they call on metaphorical principles to render their traditional techniques and paraphernalia applicable to a greater variety of illnesses. In this way they strive to attract a wider variety of clientele in the increasingly competitive environment created by the expansion of modern medical facilities. An analysis of this system contributes to our understanding of therapeutic pluralism in these times of rapid culture change.

Curing and sociocultural separatism in south Thailand

In much of Thailand animistic curing practices have lost ground to great tradition herbal medicine and modern scientific medicine as more people achieve literacy. Especially in urbanizing areas, Buddhist and Muslim Thais hold in the highest esteem traditional curers whose knowledge derives from patient experimentation and the study of ancient texts. However, among Malay-speaking Muslims in south Thailand, the most respected therapeutic knowledge is revelatory in nature. Southern Muslim curers are generally mystics or spirit-mediums whose direct channels of communication with the supernatural convey remedies for afflictions but also provide guidelines for maintaining sociocultural separatism.

Rivalry and diversity among Thai curer-magicians

In central and southern Thailand neighboring practitioners of the same folk-medical specialties were found to be remarkably inconsistent in their diagnostic interpretations of similar afflictions. There appears to be little or no direct communication between local competitors among Thailands traditional curers. Those in search of tutelage from an established practitioner must often travel long distances to find a willing tutor. What results from this pattern is a system of master-disciple networks through which curative knowledge and patient referrals flow across provincial boundaries. Rivalry among neighboring curer-magicians is so pervasive that diagnostic decisions sometimes depend in part on the relative status of previous healers on a case. The paper concludes with a discussion of the competition found among a specific group of curer-magicians, namely, Thai-Buddhist monk-practitioners. The latter rivalry may play an important role in social relations within and among Buddhist monasteries.

The curer as cultural intermediary in Southern Thailand

A glimpse at the life of an illustrious Buddhist monastic curer in Pattani, Thailand, reveals a significant multiethnic component of Southeast Asias traditional medical systems. The prominence of this curer and the prosperity of his monastery derive in large part from his command of alien occult knowledge, which he uses to combat outside supernatural aggression. The paper concludes with a discussion of how centers of outside magical power are conceptualized among various groups in Thailand.

Supernaturalist curers and sorcery accusations in Thailand

Thailands supernaturalist practitioners are both respected for their curative powers and feared as potential sorcerers. When sorcery is diagnosed, exorcists generally implicate other practitioners as the source of the supernatural aggression. Given the often grave nature of such accusations, how have supernaturalist curers been spared from persecution during times of adversity? This paper examines three different sets of restraints that have evolved in three different regions of Thailand to protect supernaturalist curers from excessive accusations that could lead to harassment. The unique local character of each set of restraints is shown to be shaped by such factors as the availability of modern medical facilities, local methods of conflict resolution, local spirit beliefs, and the presence or absence of ethnic outgroup practitioners.

New books of readings surveying the field of medical anthropology

Romanucci‐Ross, Lola, Daniel E. Moerman, and Laurence R. Tancredi, eds. The Anthropology of Medicine: From Culture to Method. second edition. New York: Bergin and Garvey, 1991. xv + 442 pp. including index.

Studying healing practices by geographical region

75.00 cloth,

An anthropology of curing in multiethnic Thailand

19.95 paper. Leslie, Charles, and Allan Young, eds. Paths to Asian Medical Knowledge. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. ix + 296 pp. including index.

Thai-Malay relations : traditional intra-regional relations from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries

40.00 cloth,

Cultural identity in northern peninsular Malaysia

15.00 paper.