Prisoners of War as Library Users

One does not usually associate libraries and study classes with amenities provided for internees in Prisoner of War camps in the First World War. It was surprising then for me, as Librarian/Archivist of the Canadian War Museum, to find evidence in our Library/Archives of well-organized libraries in the First World War internment camps in Germany. My introduction to POW library users in this war came about as I was undertaking a preliminary inventory of the rich resources of the Canadian War Museum (CWM) Archives. In the CWM Archives are two files related to libraries in POW camps in Germany. One file (Accession 19800077) holds letters from 2nd Lieutenant Archibald Campbell, a Canadian, sent to his parents from his POW camp in Germany. The other file (Accession 19710056) contains information on officially sanctioned libraries in German POW camps. These discoveries provoked the initial interest and prompted me to see as an experiment what else could be found to flesh out this theme amongst the resources contained in the CWM’s archives and library. The results were sufficiently interesting, not only for demonstrating the potential of our archives/library but in elucidating this hitherto neglected theme in First World War history, as to merit being brought to the attention of the readership of this journal

O conceito de cura e a eficácia performativa em rituais xamânicos

Este trabalho explora os conceitos de cura e eficácia, argumentando que é necessário ir além da visão biomédica e da antropologia simbólica clássica. Na biomedicina, a cura é comprovada por meio de sinais fisiológicos observados após a ingestão de uma substância. A visão simbólica afirma que os rituais de cura são eficazes porque respondem a importantes questões cosmológicas e ontológicas, provocando a transformação da perspectiva do paciente mediante as representações compartilhadas que instigam mudanças nos níveis psicofisiológicos. Com base em pesquisa sobre as práticas xamânicas entre os indígenas siona da Amazônia colombiana e suas narrativas de experiências de aflição e cura, demonstra-se que a experiência para a restauração do bem-estar envolve mais do que a ingestão de substâncias e/ou símbolos compartilhados. A abordagem performática busca compreender a cura em contextos nos quais o corpo é engajado em sua totalidade, independente de significados simbólicos compartilhados ou efeitos físicos das substâncias.To understand the concepts of healing and efficacy, it is necessary to go beyond the vision of biomedicine as well as that of classical symbolic anthropology. For biomedicine, a cure is demonstrated by observable physiological signs found after the ingestion of a substance. The symbolic approach argues that healing rituals are efficacious because they respond to important cosmological and ontological questions, provoking a transformation of perspective in the patient by means of shared representations that instigate psychological and physiological changes. Based on research on shamanic practices among the Siona of the Colombian Amazons and their narratives about experiences of affliction and healing, I show that the restauration of well-being involves more than in ingestion of psychotropic substances and shared symbols. The performative approach seeks to comprehend healing in contexts in which the body is engaged in its totality, independent of shared symbolic meanings or the physical effects of substances

Articulación entre servicios de salud y “medicina indígena”: reflexiones antropológicas sobre política y realidad en Brasil

Este artículo contribuye al diálogo entre las ciencias sociales y la medicina social en América Latina a través de la exploración del pluralismo terapéutico en las políticas y servicios de salud indígena en Brasil. Revisa las investigaciones recientes en antropología, así como los conceptos y debates actuales, para examinar críticamente las políticas de salud indígena en Brasil y su concepto de “atención diferenciada”, que propone la articulación entre las prácticas oficiales de salud y las terapias indígenas. Varias contradicciones y tensiones están presentes entre la organización estructural del subsistema de salud indígena en el nivel nacional y las prácticas cotidianas de los equipos de salud en el nivel local. Guiados por la ideología hegemónica de la biomedicina, los profesionales de salud no reconocen las dinámicas y la agencia expresada en las practicas indígenas de salud.This paper contributes to the dialogue between the social sciences and social medicine in Latin America by exploring therapeutic pluralism in indigenous health policies and services in Brazil. It reviews recent anthropological research, concepts and current debates to critically examine Brazilian indigenous health policy and its concept of “differentiated care,” which proposes articulation between official health practices and indigenous therapies. A number of contradictions and tensions are present in the structural organizational of the indigenous health subsystem at the national level and in the daily practices of health teams at the local level. Guided by the hegemonic ideology of biomedicine, health professionals fail to recognize the dynamics and agency expressed in indigenous health practices

Antropologia, saúde e doença: uma introdução ao conceito de cultura aplicado às ciências da saúde

Este artículo presenta una reflexión acerca de como las nociones y comportamientos asociados a los procesos de salud y enfermedad están integrados a la cultura de los grupos sociales en los que estos procesos ocurren. Se argumenta que los sistemas médicos de atención a la salud, así como las respuestas dadas a la enfermedad son sistemas culturales que están en consonancia con los grupos y las realidades sociales que los producen. Comprender esta relación es crucial para la formación de profesionales en el área de la salud.This article presents a reflection as to how notions and behavior related to the processes of health and illness are an integral part of the culture of the social group in which they occur. It is argued that medical and health care systems are cultural systems consonant with the groups and social realities that produce them. Such a comprehension is fundamental for the health care professional training.O objetivo deste artigo foi apresentar uma reflexão de como as noções e comportamentos ligados aos processos de saúde e de doença integram a cultura de grupos sociais onde os mesmos ocorrem. Argumenta-se que os sistemas médicos de atenção à saúde, assim como as respostas dadas às doenças, são sistemas culturais, consonantes com os grupos e realidades sociais que os produzem. A compreensão dessa relação se mostra fundamental para a formação do profissional da saúde

Community Health Workers in Central-Southern Amazonia: An Ethnographic Account of the Munduruku People of Kwatá Laranjal Indigenous Land

This article analyzes the role of Munduruku indigenous community health workers (CHW) with the expansion of biomedical services as part of state presence and territorial control in Brazil. Centuries of interethnic contacts among the Munduruku have resulted in a plurality of health practices. Since 1999, Primary services have increased significantly, when the Indigenous Health System (SASI) was created. CHWs were incorporated as part of the health teams serving the indigenous lands. Munduruku CHWs have not only assumed an important role in the delivery of biomedical services, but also are key in the articulation between different traditions of care. Although there is a clash between the hegemony of biomedicine and the Mundurucu cosmographical perspective that links health to territory, the CHWs are protagonists and important actors in the negotiations and appropriations that occur in the contact zone of medical pluralism. They have emerged as local leaders, collaborating with village caciques in health service issues and dialoguing with and supporting families in therapeutic itineraries that include various medical traditions. In addition, they have become political actors in the new participatory spaces created for indigenous representation, such as local and district health councils that are part of the Indigenous Health System

The performance of diversity: shamanism as a performative mode

Entendendo o xamanismo como um modo performático, este texto explora o seu papel entre os índios Siona da Colômbia como expressão de especificidade cultural perante a violência colonial e pós-colonial. A história oral reconta como o papel xamânico transformou-se no papel do poderoso cacique curaca, em resposta adaptativa às atividades missionárias. Após a quase extinção dos xamãs praticantes no século XX, suas performances surgiram nas duas últimas décadas como uma estratégia-chave na fomentação das especificidades étnicas e nas lutas contemporâneas pelos direitos indígenas. Tanto a constituição colombiana de 1991 quanto as redes urbanas neoxamânicas associam o xamanismo à preservação ecológica, à medicina tradicional, à identidade étnica e ao bem-estar da comunidade. Em Putumayo, região caracterizada como “zona de guerra”, as performances xamânicas são uma estratégia fundamental no campo complexo das negociações entre comunidades indígenas, organizações governamentais e não governamentais, indústrias extrativas e diversos grupos armados.Tradução: Elisa NazarianThis paper explores the role of shamanism as a performance mode among the Siona Indians of Colombia as an expression of cultural distinctiveness in the face of Colonial and post-Colonial violence. Oral history recounts how the shamanic role transformed to that of the powerful cacique curaca as an adaptive response to missionary activities. After near extinction of practicing shamans in the 20th Century, their performances emerged in the last two decades as a key strategy in promoting ethnic distinctiveness in contemporary struggles for Indigenous rights. Both the Constitution of 1991 and urban neo-shamanic networks associate shamanism with ecological preservation, traditional medicine, ethnic identity and community well-being. In the Putumayo, a region characterized as a “war zone”, shamanic performances are a central strategy in the complex field of negotiations between Indigenous communities, governmental and non-governmental organizations, extractive industries and diverse armed groups