Call for Papers to the special issue of MAN IN INDIA (December: 2008)

Call for Papers to the special issue of MAN IN INDIA (December: 2008)

Focal theme: MEDICAL PRACTICES OF TRIBALS IN INDIA

The need for special attention for the study of health and illness in tribal communities has been very much recognized. Scholars have studied these phenomena from a variety of perspectives. However, one would see a greater attention to the ethno-medical practices, more from the perspective of indigenous knowledge system, and to the acceptance or rejection of health innovations by the tribal communities, in the recent past in India. The study of ethnomedical practices deserves lot more in depth examination from the perspective of cognitive anthropology. Similarly, the intra-cultural variations in the ethnomedical knowledge, the question of legitimacy for the medical care by the ethnomedical practitioners merit the interest of those engaged in research in the field of medical anthropology. Such an effort will help understanding issues of processes involved in shared knowledge relating to the medical matters and the social distribution of ‘medical knowledge’ in the communities.

The health seeking and illness behaviour of members of tribal communities has so far been studied in general terms and with no or little reference to the specific illness. The health seeking has been examined through the behavioural science perspective, about which some are critical as it fulfils the Cartesian understanding of the body. The cultural perspective for the study of health seeking behaviour adds new dimensions and enriches our perceptive. This perspective leads one to think in terms of “how disease is made social in the overlap of medical and lay beliefs about health and illness” (Frankenerg, 1977).

In the special issue of the MAN IN INDIA, it is desired to invite papers on the subjects that were identified in the above write up as deserving a particular highlighting.

The length of the article should be between 3000-8000 words, but should not be more than 10000 words. Authors should send their articles by email attachment, accompanied by a brief note about the authors.

All articles submitted to this Special Issue should be original and it should not be corresponded to any other Journals or edited volumes in India or abroad. A note on the declaration will be appreciated. The last date for submission of the final article is 15th June 2008.

Articles should be sent to the following emails:

sharmabhallamudi@gmail.com, bvsss@hotmail.com, bvsss@uohyd.ernet.in

With best wishes

Dr. BV Sharma,

Guest Editor