Malekula ethnomedecine

by

George SIMEON*

The data presented in this paper** illustrate what I consider to be the main etiologic model underlying the concept of illness in Malekula Island, New Hebrides. I refer to toxicity which implies that the removal of the empirical or non-empirical toxic agent present within the patient's body will ensure recovery. The opposite of toxicity, the deficiency model, implies that the replacement of an agent missing from the body will restore health. With regard to Foster's (1976) delineation of personalistic and naturalistic etiologies, both toxicity and deficiency may be subsumed under the personalistic system of illness- behavior. However, the ethnomedicine of a society cannot be represented by exclusive reference to any one model since models are intended primarily as heuristic tools which add to the incremental knowledge that in turn leads to general theory. Perhaps the most significant difference in the use of the terms " model " and "theory", is between the concepts they denote in that a model is more closely related to methodology, while a theory usually has a universalistic claim and is more closely related to philosophical concerns. Indeed, a model also has a theoretical basis, but above all a model must be flexible enough to function in a field work situation and thus be both general enough to cover a wide variety of cases without being trivial yet particular enough to fit a specific case.

Toxicity is the main model in Malekula, and Deacon (1934 .: 690-692) presents several examples. No instances of illness which may be subsumed under deficiency occur and examples of this model are not evident in either Layard (1942) or Deacon (1934).

Deacon discusses (1934 : 689) four main causes of disease for the Seniang district : 1) maleficent magic which is implemented by an enemy against a victim, 2) maleficent magic which reacts against its initiator through some carelessness on his

part, 3) coming into contact with anything appertaining to or touched by a ghost, 4) breaking an important tabu. According to native beliefs, the first two causes are considered the most common. Indeed, the aged excepted, nearly all sicknesses and deaths from sicknesses are attributed to non-physical causes.

Layard writes (1942 : 628) that on the islands of Vao and Atchin medicine and magic are both referred to as man. Offenses to ghosts cause most sickness on these islands, and cures can be effected by appealing to the ancestral and other ghosts. If this fails then potions made from plants, blood letting, or massage can be applied (ibid. : 629-632). If massage is utilized, then the magician is often able to extract the evil influence which is in the shape of some material object such as a stone or snake (ibid. : 632).

The toxicity and deficiency models incorporate Clements' (1932) five classes of disease causation : sorcery, breach of tabu, disease-objet intrusion, spirit-intrusion, and soul loss which, in turn, are expanded from his three categories, viz. : natural causes, human agency, and supernatural agency. Although Clements specifically refers to disease-object and spirit intrusion, sorcery and tabu breach may also be considered under toxicity if they cause illness through intrusion. However, as Foster (1976 : 778) states : "it was failure to recognize levels of causality that limited the value of Clements' pioneering study of disease etiology...". Actually disease-object intrusion, spirit-intrusion, and soul loss are not really causes at all and should, therefore, not be considered within a class of etiologic concepts.

Despite the fact that Rogers (1944) reduced Clements' classes to two — proximate disease causes and remote disease causes — he was primarily interested in culture history and disease distribution as a culture trait rather than in native medicine per se. Also, if we examine his