Medical Anthropology Study On The Kougong Therapy Of Dai

The medicine is not only a science from the perspective biology, but also a culture in the aspect of anthropology. The existence and evolution of Kougong treatment which is one of the core content of traditional Dai medicine is connected with various factors, such as the social and living environment, medical belief, life style of the Dai people. There are many methods in Kougong which refers to a treatment method that while healing, the healer whispers the curse and blows water or herbs used in treatment and the wounded part of patients, many diseases can be treated, such as bone fracture, skin disease, eye disease, schizophrenic and gynecopathy, etc. and is one of the rare Chinese folk traditional medical skills nowadays.The two parts of study of Kougong treatment include its practice and medical anthropology explanation. The paper took the Mandonglong village which is a thriving area of Kougong treatment in Xishuangbanna as a case, On the basis of field work, the author first tried to solve the questions such as "what is disease?" "where does the disease come from?" "how to eliminate disease?" in the context of the Dai culture, that is to analyze the Dai people’s understanding of the disease and their medical choice. Then, the practice of Kougong treatment in Xishuangbanna was described, including Kougong healers, diseases treated by Kougong, treating process and elements, the object and the effect of this treatment. By comprehensive use of medical anthropology theory and methods, the inclusiveness, the cultural and religious basis of the survival, the mechanism of effects of Kougong treatment were analyzed. From the perspective of medical anthropology, the author tried to examine and reunderstand the cultural significance of this treatment, and provided "Dai experience" for medical anthropology research, tried to verify, enrich and develop medical anthropology in practice.The dissertation consists of 3 parts:the introduction, the main body and the conclusion.The introduction presented the reasons for title, ideas and methods of the research, the object of the research and sources of materials, and some terminologies mentioned in the dissertation are also defined or interpreted in this part.The main body included six chapters:Chapter 1 Interpreting of the disease of Dai culture. Due to the theory and practice of the disease is a kind of cultural category in essence, so different causes and the cognition of the disease existed in different culture. In Dai culture, the specific cause, medical beliefs and the corresponding choice of medical treatment were shaped.Chapter 2 Introducing the Kougong healers in Mandonglong village. According to the number of patients and healer’s treating time, the healers were divided into two categories:full-time and part-time. Then healer’s preparation of medicine, diagnosis and treatment, related ritual and villagers’ selection standard were introduced and analyzed.Chapter 3 Diseases treated by Kougong. It could be divided into "common" and "uncommon" diseases. The "common" diseases were endemic diseases with high incidence, such as fracture, dental, skin diseases, rheumatism, etc. The "uncommon" diseases were not necessarily with local characteristics, such as gynecological disease, schizophrenia, hair loss, epilepsy, gastrointestinal disease, eye disease, etc.Chapter 4 The course of Kougong treatment. Narrating process and ingredients of the treatment, making analysis over meaning of each ingredient and their functions in treatment.Chapter 5 The therapeutic effect of Kougong treatment in modern society. In treatment, both the "succeeded" and "failed" cases are existed. For the "success", people tend to think about the function of "Kougong", and the reasons for "failure" are various.Chapter 6 Theoretical research of Kougong. The inclusiveness, cultural causes of its existance as well as the treatment mechanism and limitation were analyzed. The key lies in revealing the cultural foundation and the belief foundation of Kougong treatment.The conclusion presented the major opinions of the author.First, Kougong treatment is the important part of Dai Folk Traditional medicine. In the treatment, it is integrated into the Dai traditional medicine, in other words, Kougong runs through the folk traditional medicine methods.Second, The survival of Kougong treatment is based on Dai people’s belief and culture. The common cultural rules of both the healers and the patients are the premise of the treatment’s survival.Third, As a cultural disease, Kougong treatment is effective and accurate. In the process of modernization and globalization, it is possible to survive and be developed.Forth, As a physiological disease, the treatment has its limitations. Over reliance on Kougong would weaken the enthusiasm of the people in the fight against the diseases.