African American Folk Healing ISBN: 9780814759622 Platform/Publisher: De Gruyter / New York University Press Digital rights:Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited
Mitchem, who teaches religious studies at the University of South Carolina, explores folk healing as a "faith expression" in black communities. While she includes some of the remedies used by African-Americans (e.g., to lower your blood pressure, put Spanish moss in your drink), her research goes far beyond collecting cures. Indeed, Mitchem argues that for African-Americans healing practices are part of a larger system of meaning, one that is sometimes in conflict with institutionalized medicine. Black folk healing has persisted in part because a racist society has long denied adequate care to black people-folk healing, Mitchem persuasively argues, allows African-Americans agency "in defining their own bodies, exerting some control over life." But even when African-Americans can find equitable medical care, folk practices will persist because they are life-giving and because they holistically address physical, economic and spiritual needs. Mitchem could have offered a more robust analysis of the commodification of folk medicine-she notes that a Detroit "Hoodoo 101" class cost $75, but fails to adequately probe the meeting of folk medicine and the marketplace. That omission is a minor flaw in a fascinating study that makes a real contribution to discussions of health, wellness and faith in America. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Mitchem Stephanie :
Stephanie Mitchem is associate professor of religious studies and women's studies at the University of South Carolina. She is the author of Introducing Womanist Theology , as well as African American Women Tapping Power and Spiritual Wellness .
