Mesoamerican Ethnomedicine: Ecstatic Chiron and the Use of Traditional Medicines from Ancient to Modern Times
Open Access
- Author:
- Colgan, Joanna Cecelia
- Area of Honors:
- Anthropology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- David Lee Webster, Thesis Supervisor
Timothy Michael Ryan, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Maya
Aztec
entheogen
shaman
shamanism
holistic health
healing
medicine
curanderismo
ethnomedicine
anthropology
wellness
biomedicine - Abstract:
- This thesis, entitled Mesoamerican Ethnomedicine: Ecstatic Chiron and the Use of Traditional Medicines from Ancient to Modern Times, is a history and analysis of the traditional Mayan and Aztec culture of medicine, from the ancient days to modern times. It first outlines the beginnings and cross-cultural principles of shamanism in general, describing its overarching themes and characteristics, including a shaman’s rite of passage and essential Self-transformation and the importance of entheogens used in divining the cause of illness and in healing. It then delves into the rich and very old tradition of the ethnomedicine of the Maya and Aztecs of Mesoamerica, the main ideas of which are described through a brief depiction of their worldviews as related to medicine and healing. This wealth of information was gathered from a variety of historical, archaeological, and oral sources and helps to explain Mesoamerican healing, including divining the cause of illness and the use of entheogens and other plants and practices used in healing. After describing the ethnomedical tradition of the Maya and Aztecs, the modern continuation of these ancient Mesoamerican shamanistic and medicinal practices is outlined, illustrating the importance of the modern healer, or curandero, for the maintenance of health. This thesis concludes with the importance and need of an integration of these ancient practices with modern biomedicine and the value of a combined, global system of medicine—a vast, human heritage of medical knowledge that should be created for the benefit and the healing of all of mankind.