TITLE:
World System Analysis of Biomedical Hegemony
AUTHORS:
Anwaar Mohyuddin, Mamonah Ambreen, Juhi Naveed, Danish Ahmad
KEYWORDS:
Health, Illness, Believe System, Core, Periphery, Pharmaceutical Industry, Exploitation
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Anthropology,
Vol.4 No.2,
May
21,
2014
ABSTRACT: This paper
deals with research findings regarding traditional and modern biomedical healthcare
systems prevailing in the Village Zandra, District Ziarat in the province of Balochistan.
An effort has been made to find out the medical system working in the village which
included both beliefs and perceptions related to health and illness and also the
activities which natives have adopted or developed to maintain and restore their
health. Initially the natives were using traditional and spiritual healing systems,
but now, as their economic condition and literacy rate are improving, they are more
inclined towards the modern methods of treatment. During the last 3 decades, few
changes have been witnessed. Shift from subsistence to market economy has increased
the use of allopathic medicines due to the fact that the natives have started opting
for secondary sources of income. Besides, researcher endeavored to explore the shift
from traditional to modern healthcare and the disparity between natives’ health
related beliefs and practices. The impact of these changes has been analyzed in
light of world system theory at micro level. The data presented in this paper have
been collected by using qualitative anthropological research techniques.