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Book Cover
E-book
Author Hinojosa, Servando Z., 1968- author.

Title Maya bonesetters : manual healers in a changing Guatemala / Servando Z. Hinojosa ; illustrations by Servando G. Hinojosa
Edition First edition
Published Austin, TX : University of Texas Press, 2020
©2020

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 241 pages) : illustrations
Contents Bonesetting over time -- Empirical forms of Maya bonesetting -- Sacred forms of Maya bonesetting -- Challenges and changes in the injury landscape
Summary Scholarship on Maya healing traditions has focused primarily on the roles of midwives, shamans, herbalists, and diviners. Bonesetters, on the other hand, have been largely excluded from conversations about traditional health practitioners and community health resources. Maya Bonesetters is the first book-length study of bonesetting in Guatemala and situates the manual healing tradition within the current cultural context--one in which a changing medical landscape potentially threatens bonesetters' work yet presents an opportunity to strengthen its relevance. Drawing on extensive field research in highland Guatemala, Servando Z. Hinojosa introduces readers to a seldom documented, though nonetheless widespread, variety of healer. This book examines the work of Kaqchikel and Tz'utujiil Maya bonesetters, analyzes how they diagnose and treat injuries, and contrasts the empirical and sacred approaches of various healers. Hinojosa shows how bonesetters are carefully adapting certain biomedical technologies to meet local expectations for care and concludes that, despite pressures and criticisms from the biomedical community, bonesetting remains culturally meaningful and vital to Maya people, even if its future remains uncertain
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Bonesetters -- Guatemala
Maya healers -- Guatemala
Manipulation (Therapeutics) -- Guatemala
Mayas -- Medicine -- Guatemala
Traditional medicine -- Guatemala
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
Bonesetters
Manipulation (Therapeutics)
Maya healers
Mayas -- Medicine
Traditional medicine
Guatemala
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781477320303
147732030X