The Idea of Health: History, Medical Pluralism, and the Management of the Body in Emilia‐Romagna, Italy

Abstract

Basic beliefs about health in north central Italy derive from an approach to the personal management of the body that is not just reactive but also proactive. This article examines a complex field of health factors in relation to historical processes and a system of medical pluralism. Rapid demographic and social changes over the past century have brought an accommodation of ancient medical beliefs to more recent germ-oriented principles. An enduring belief in the permeability of the body leads to an emphasis on moderation in personal conduct to prevent debilitation, whether by atmospheric insults, microbial infection, or modern-day miasmas such as pollution or additives in food. The idea of health itself is analyzed to show how biomedicine varies across societies and how historical processes have shaped contemporary cultural patterns and led to generational continuities and differences in beliefs and behaviors. This information may also improve interactions between patients and health care providers.

Self-Care Among Chronically Ill African Americans: Culture, Health Disparities, and Health Insurance Status

“…Those approaches not only form the precursor to the incorporation of biomedically derived self-care approaches, they offer a complementary philosophy that both enhances the incorporation of these approaches and interacts with them, as others have also found. 62 Studying self-care thus necessitates examining the cultural basis of self-care in a given racial/ethnic group, how biomedically derived constructs are applied, and how the 2 types of self-care approaches are integrated. However, lack of access to health care clearly interferes with this integration and tailoring process.…”

The Morality of Disordered Eating and Recovery in Southern Italy

“…Also important to our analysis is an understanding of selfhood in southern Italian society. Historically, some have argued that concepts of self were “embedded in a sociocentric conception of personhood,” whereby malevolent influences such as sorcery or jealousy destabilized well‐being (Whitaker ). In Calabria, beliefs that supernatural forces enter, possess, and dominate the body such as malocchio (the evil eye; Appel ), the spider bite of the tarantismo (De Martino [1961]) or il male di San Donato (epilepsy) have been long suspected as the cause of ill health (Carroll ).…”

Living it on the skin: Italian states, working illness

“…Indeed, “living on the skin,” I suggest, also reflects a medical conceptualization of the body that draws from a tradition of humoral medicine in which the skin is viewed as highly permeable (Whitaker 2003). According to Elizabeth Whitaker (2003), humoral medical beliefs related to the effects of temperature on the body and a desire for internal balance are behind a variety of Italian medical practices that involve drying and covering the skin to stave off atmospheric influences that weaken the body. For example, it is common for Italians to be wary of feeling suddenly cold (prendere freddo) or experiencing a shock of cold air (colpo d’aria) because of the belief that the air will block digestion, resulting in various intestinal and digestive ailments.…”

“…For example, it is common for Italians to be wary of feeling suddenly cold (prendere freddo) or experiencing a shock of cold air (colpo d’aria) because of the belief that the air will block digestion, resulting in various intestinal and digestive ailments. Moreover, one can find Italians putting on sweaters in the summer so that the skin, damp from sweat and susceptible to gusts of air, remains protected (Whitaker 2003). Given how Italians draw from both biomedical and humoral medical frameworks, it is not surprising that “living on the skin” represents a deeply embodied experience.…”