Traditional Medicine: Where Are the Lives, Suffering, Violence, and Mortality Rates of Indigenous Peoples?

Abstract

This article analyzes the exclusion and sidelining evident in local studies on traditional medicine and a whole series of processes related to health, illness, healthcare, and prevention in the lives of Indigenous peoples, many of which are part of their practices and customs. The main forms of exclusion examined herein are related to disease, especially maternal mortality, but alsoto domestic violence, childbirth, and the forced marriage of children and adolescents.The analysis sheds light on how native cultural processes are excludedfrom these studies on traditional medicine, creating a biased, distorted vision of the lives of Indigenous peoples today and hindering an understanding of their social, cultural, and economic rationale.