A Survey of Four Illnesses and Their Relationship to Intracultural Variation in a Mexican-American Community

Abstract

their ethnomedical properties (Rubel 1960, 1964; Samora 1961; Madsen 1964; O'Nell 1975; Trotter and Chavira 1975, 1981); their epidemiological, public health, and community health characteristics (Rubel 1964; Trotter 1982; ColladoArdon, Rubel, and O'Nell 1983; Rubel and O'Nell 1978; Rubel, O'Nell, and Collado-Ardon 1984); their relationships with poisonous treatments (PAHO/ WHO 1981; Trotter et al. 1983; Trotter 1985a); and their correspondence with specific medically recognizable conditions (Rubel, O'Nell, and Collado-Ardon 1984; Trotter 1985b; Trotter, Ortiz de Montellano, and Logan 1989). Other articles explore their meaning in terms of broader anthropological issues in Mexican-American communities (see Foster 1953; Weaver 1973; Rosaldo 1985; Rubel 1966). A significant element missing from the above explorations is a community-based survey of the frequency of treatment of these ailments, and their correlational relationships with key cultural variables, such as gender; ethnic self-identification; levels of Spanishand English-language usage and preference; English and Spanish writing skills; Anglo and MexicanAmerican peer group associations; pride in informant's own ethnicity; place of birth of informant, informant's parents, and grandparents; place where informant was raised; food preferences; and entert inment preferences-conditions that help define intracultural variation and cultural orientation in Mexican-American communities.