Journal of Geography  & Natural Disasters
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The ethnological approach to health items: A contribution to archaeological research on African health thought Bangka District, Indonesia

Abe N Doumy Noel

The ethnological approach to health items is defined as an inno- vative field of investigation in the disciplinary field of health so- cio-anthropology. This is a site of intense research on all material objects related health problems. The objective of the research is to understand how cultural communities in their history think and interpret various diseases according to their own perceptions and representations from these objects. In this case, the research is applied to the Ivorian ground of West Africa as an experiment. This research field is fundamentally distinct from the field of pharmacopoeia and mystical practices connected to talisman. Ac- cording ethnocultural areas in Côte d’Ivoire, these health items are varied. Over time, some of these objects have undergone meta- morphosis. Others have disappeared under the law of evolution like the loss of animal and plant biodiversity. However, the results indicate four groups of objects. These are the objects in healing power and/ or preventive; the symbolic objects of worship; condi- tionings models of drug products; and technological instruments of preservation, processing or preparation in African medicine. We discover in this classification, cross-functional objects but also specific character to objects. The other observation is that the dis- eases targeted by these objects are either the same or different passing from one culture to another. The interest and the stake of this research consist in showing another track of collaboration between the two disciplines which are ethnology and archeology. The game challenges include the history of cross-cultural percep- tions of health and disease and sustainable development in the field of intangible cultural heritage.