Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Glossary and note on orthography
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Historical perspectives
- 3 Huli society
- 4 Ideas of health and illness
- 5 Morbidity, explanations and actions: quantitative perspectives
- 6 Illness attributed to proximate causes
- 7 Explanations relating to sexuality and growth
- 8 Illness grounded in social relations
- 9 Spirits and God
- 10 Patterns of response
- References
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology
7 - Explanations relating to sexuality and growth
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Glossary and note on orthography
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Historical perspectives
- 3 Huli society
- 4 Ideas of health and illness
- 5 Morbidity, explanations and actions: quantitative perspectives
- 6 Illness attributed to proximate causes
- 7 Explanations relating to sexuality and growth
- 8 Illness grounded in social relations
- 9 Spirits and God
- 10 Patterns of response
- References
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology
Summary
Fertility and the control of sexuality are central concerns in Huli religion. Their view of these issues guides much everyday behaviour, and intermittently becomes manifest in their interpretations of illness and responses to it. Here I will consider such cases of illness, but first it is necessary to introduce elements of their cosmology, the lore concerning proper conduct and the theoretical penalties for disregarding this lore.
In terms of my division of Huli illness descriptions according to the level of explanation that they represent, the diagnoses considered here range from the sort that I considered in chapter 6 (answering the question, how did this illness occur?) to those of the sort that I will turn to later which encompass the question, why? But the coherence of this aspect of Huli thought would make any attempt to divide these illnesses upon such grounds cumbersome and contrived.
I begin by presenting abbreviated versions of the three myths which illuminate much Huli behaviour and thought in this aspect of their lives. I then trace the individual's ideal developmental and sexual career from conception onwards, and discuss the hazards and means of avoiding them. Finally I analyse the cases of illness attributed to this sort of cause that I saw.
Mythological precedents
Tiame
Tiame would go to the forest and hunt possums (tia). She gathered many possums and cooked them with her own heat. She crouched over the mound of possums and cooked them.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Huli Response to Illness , pp. 97 - 123Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1986