Conceptualisation of Health and Illness

Abstract

The present article attempts to understand the relationship between culture and health through an empirical investigation of health and illness conceptualisation among the members of Bondo tribe of Orissa in India. The investigation of socio-cultural definitions and meanings of health and illness was done using the social representations framework. The dynamic nature of health and illness conceptualisation was investigated among the three groups of Bondos: The upper, isolated group; middle, partially assimilated group; and lower assimilated group. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews, observations and focus group discussions. Qualitative content analysis of responses was done in order to extract the meaning of categories employed by the three groups of Bondos. The content of these categories reflected the content of the social representations of health and illness among the Bondos. The categories employed by the Bondos for sense-making of health and illness states revealed the meanings of health and illness, beliefs regarding causes of illness, healing practices and treatment pattern and the difference in meanings and definitions of health and illness among the three groups of Bondos.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Archer, W.G. (1947). The Santal treatment of witchcraft . Man in India, 27(2), 103–121 .

Augoustinos, M. , & Walker, I. (1995). Social cognition: An integrated introduction. London: Sage .

Bar-Tal, D. (2000). Shared beliefs in a society: Social psychological analysis. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage .

Chhotray, G.P. (2003). Health status of primitive tribes of Orissa . ICMR Bulletin, 33(10), 1–6 . Weblink: http://www.icmr.nic.in/BUOCT03.pdf (accessed on 03.07.07).

Das, B.K. (2001). Translator's Preface. In P. Ray , The primal land (pp. v–viii). New Delhi: Orient Longman .

Duveen, G. , & Llyod, B. (1990). Social representations and the development of knowledge. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press .

Elwin, V. (1950). Bondo highlander. Bombay: Oxford University Press .

Galli, I. , & Fasanelli, R. (1995). Health and illness: A contribution to the research in the field of social representations . Papers on Social Representations, 4(1), 1–13 .

Ghosh, A. (2002). The Imam and the Indian. New Delhi: Ravi Dayal .

10.

Hamilton, M.B. (1998). Sociology and the world's religions. New York: St. Martin's Press .

11.

Helman, C.G. (2001). Culture, health and illness. London: Arnold .

12.

Herzlich, C. (1973). Health and illness: A social psychological analysis. London: Academic Press .

13.

Jakobsen, F.F. (1998). Interpretations of sickness and misfortune among Beja pastoralists . Anthropology and Medicine, 5(2), 145–167 .

14.

Joffe, H. (2002). Social representations and health psychology . Social Science Information, 41(4), 559–580 .

15.

Kakar, D.N. (1977). Folk and modern medicine: A North Indian case study. Delhi: New Asian Publishers .

16.

Lambert, H. (1997). Illness, inauspiciousness and modes of healing in Rajasthan . Contributions to Indian Sociology, 31(2), 253–271 .

17.

Markova, I. (2003). Dialogicality and social representations: The dynamics of mind. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press .

18.

McElroy, A. , & Jezewski, M.A. (2001). Cultural variation in the experience of health and illness. In G.L. Albrecht , R. Fitzpatrick , & S.C. Scrimshaw (Eds), The handbook of social studies in health and medicine (pp. 191–209). London: Sage .

19.

Moscovici, S. (1973). Foreward. In C. Herzlich , Health and illness: A social psychological analysis (pp. ix–xiv). London: Academic Press .

20.

Moscovici, S. (1981). On social representations. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Social cognition: Perspectives on everyday understanding (pp. 181–209). London: Academic Press .

21.

Moscovici, S. (1984). The phenomenon of social representations. In R.M. Farr. , & S. Moscovici (Eds), Social representations (pp. 3–69). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press .

22.

Moscovici, S. (1988). Notes towards a description of social representations . European Journal of Social Psychology, 18, 211–250 .

23.

Nanda, B.N. (1994). Contours of continuity and change: The story of the Bonda highlanders. New Delhi: Sage .

24.

Radley, A. (2004). Making sense of illness: The social psychology of health and disease. London: Sage .

25.

Ray, P. (2001). The primal land. New Delhi: Orient Longman .

26.

Sahu, S.K. (1991). Health culture in transition: A case study of Oraon tribe in rural and industrial nexus. New Delhi: Khama Publishers .

27.

Sharma, A.K. (2003). Perspectives on health, illness and well-being: An agenda for future research . Paper presented at National Seminar on Social Dimensions of Health, Centre for Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, Allahabad University, Allahabad, 10–12 April.

28.

Sharma, A.K. , Dixit, S. , & Misra, M. (2006). Social representations of health and illness among women: Some issues. In A. Pandey (Ed.), Biostatistical aspects of health and population (pp. 197–203). New Delhi: Hindustan Publishing Corporation .

29.

Spector, R.E. (1996). Cultural diversity in health and illness. Stanford, CT: Appleton and Lange .

30.

Swarankar, R.C. (1994). Indian tribes: Health ecology and social structure. Jaipur: Printwell .

31.

Wagner, W. (1993). Can representations explain social behavior? A discussion of social representations as rational systems . Papers on Social Representations, 2, 236–249 .

32.

Weitz, R. (2001). The sociology of health, illness and health care: A critical approach. Belmonte, CA, USA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning .