Swimming from Island to Island: Healing Practice in Tonga
Abstract
The health care system of the Pacific island nation of Tonga serves as an example of enduring medical pluralism which incorporates traditional and Western medical practice and accommodates contemporary political and social change. Biomedicine is represented by the hospital and the community health centers; traditional medicine is practiced in homes by healers. Both types of therapies are popularly utilized for different ailments or for the same problem at different points in the illness. Contemporary healing is described and is also analyzed as an expression of social change occurring in Tonga as a result of a political movement toward democracy.
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As McGrath (1999) affirms, using the metaphor of healers as islands and people travelling from island to island in search of healing, that process has changed little in form since the beginning of the century.
“As McGrath (1999) affirms, using the metaphor of healers as islands and people travelling from island to island in search of healing, that process has changed little in form since the beginning of the century.”
From ‘Traditional’ Healers, Speaking and Motivation in Vava'u, Tonga: Explaining Syncretism and Addressing Health Policy (2010) · cites this paper as McGrath 1999
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Gibson, K., Haslam, N., & Kaplan, I. (2019) · Transcultural Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/1363461519847057 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Poltorak, M. (2010) · Oceania · doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.2010.tb00069.x · Cited by 10 · see citing works
- Authors
- McGrath, B. B.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- McGrath, Barbara Burns
- Venue
- Medical Anthropology Quarterly
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1999-12
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 483-505
- ISSN
- 0745-5194 (ISSN-L)
- 1548-1387
- OpenAlex
- W2006098873
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2022: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Medical Anthropology Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5f31nr006525-03)
- National Institute of Nursing Research (NR06525)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › African Studies and Ethnography
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration, Identity, and Health
- Keywords
- medical pluralism, traditional medicine, healers, biomedicine, Tonga, health care system, social change, democratization, community health centers, illness and healing
- MeSH terms
- Cultural Characteristics, Delivery of Health Care, Humans, Medicine, Traditional, Sick Role, Social Behavior, Tonga
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