Concepts: Ethnic, tribe, culture, environment, morbidity, health and hygiene

The project “Indigenous Ethno-Medicinal practices among the Kandha and the Santal of Odisha” is a study of multi-dimensional in nature and is of wider interest. India houses around 630 scheduled tribes spread over all the states in the country. Odisha as a part of it, houses only 62 scheduled tribes recognized by the union government. The topic requires a deep understanding of native mind-set to describe their Ethno-Medicinal practices.For any social science research some operational definitions on concepts are reequired in order to make the readers to have a clear understanding.

Ethnic:

Ethnic refers to unique genetic and acquired markers of a group. It includes biological and cultural meaning to indentify a group as a distinct group from among the societies in the contemporary world. It is defined as relating to a population subgroup (within a larger or dominant national or cultural group) with a common national or cultural tradition. The synonyms are racial, race related, ethnological and genetic inherited. The ethnic people use plant extract, decoction and powder obtained from different plant parts like roots, stem, leaves, flower, and fruits to cure such ailments / diseases. The traditional ethno-botanical knowledge plays an important role in primary healthcare needs of tribal people. People preferred to consult the healers to diagnose their problem, despite of knowing some medicinal plants themselves.

Page 5 Tribe:

It is one of the largest endogamous groups - a unit of sociopolitical organization consisting of a number of clans or other groups who share a common ancestry and culture. Among them there exist a social division based on traditional norms consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or kin ties and dialect.A tribe may have a socially recognized leader whose position is hereditary and who acts as insignia of the group. It can also be stated as any aggregate of people united by ties of descent from a common ancestor, customs and tradition etc.

Culture:

Culture is the man made part of his environment .It is some totality of way of life .It is supra individual in nature. It is a product of group transactions for centuries that made man a human. Historically an indigenous community is a culture bearing group and a retainer of its self created knowledge system. The healer in a tribal community is not only an inventory of knowledge including medicinal knowledge stystem.Since healere is the product of his culture, his knowledge is an integral part of the community.

As we quote the definition ‘Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts, the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values;

culture system may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, and on the other as conditioning elements of further action’ (Kroeber and Kluckhohn 1952 : 161). For anthropologists culture is the integrated system of learned behaviour patterns which are characteristic of the members of a society and which are not the result of biological inheritance. Culture is not genetically predetermined; it is non-instinctive. It is the result of social invention and is transmitted, managed and maintained solely through communication and learning.

Environment:

It is the sum total of all surroundings of a living organism, including natural forces and other living things which provide conditions for development and growth as well as of danger and damage.

Page 6 Morbidity/Illness:

The concept of illness among the tribe is defined as a short term phenomenon and a body conditions that require rest and food supplement greater than the usual intake and disease as a short and long term phenomenon which either impairs a part of the human body as the whole

body to perform its usual chores and requires the administration of medicines and fortification of mind or soul with the unseen forces the spirits, god and goddess etc. The demarcation line between ill health and disease is being very thin. The definition of 'Morbidity Rate' refers to ‘the frequency with which a disease appears in a population. In western references the morbidity rates are used in actuarial professions, such as health insurance, life insurance and long-term care insurance, to determine the correct premiums to charge to customers’.

Ethno-medicine:

Ethno-medicine is the healing component of traditional knowledge system and became essential for the community. Ethno-medicine refers to beliefs and practices relating to diseases which are the products of indigenous cultural development and are not explicatory derived from the conceptual framework of modern medicine. It’s a sub-field of medical anthropology and deals with traditional medicine, not only those have written sources but especially those, whose knowledge and practices have been originally transferred over centuries.

Ethno-medicine focuses on the nature and illness as it is conceived by the natives, their own method and criteria for classifying disease, the cure and cause, types of therapists and healers who seek to alleviate illness and their skills and social roles, preventive measures, the relationship between medicine and religion, cultural aspects of medicine.

In 1968 the term ethno-medicine was applied by Hughes (1968) which refers to “those beliefs and practices are not relating to disease which are the product of indigenous cultural development derived from the conceptual framework of modern medicine”. It embodies the

The World Health Organization has estimated that 80% of population of the developing countries relies on herbal medicines for treatment. In India about 10,000 plant species are used medicinally and 7500 species of plants used by ethnic communities.

Page 7 natives’ perception of health, disease, illness or sickness, their methods and criteria for classifying disease.

In a similar view Fabrega (1975) opined that the scope and preview of ethno-medicine is vast and challenging as it deals not only with an illness- its genesis, mechanism, descriptive features, treatment and resolution but also with how members of different cultures think about disease and organise themselves towards medical treatment and social organisation of treatment.

According to World Health Organization (2002:7) Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being. There are different names or synonyms of Traditional medicine. They are like Alternative medicine, Complementary medicine, Natural medicine, Herbal medicine, un-conventional medicine, Indigenous medicine, Folk medicine, Ethno medicine, etc.

The tribals inherit rich traditional knowledge about the medicinal uses of flora investigated and apply this knowledge for making crude phytomedicines to cure infections, a number of ailments ranging from simple cold to other complicated diseases. Traditional knowledge forms the basis for origin of not only alternative medicine but also paved way to evolution of a gamut of new and novel modern medicines. As for example, Similipal Biosphere Reserve (SBR) in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa is the most luxuriant forest and rich in medicinal plant resources.

Health and hygiene:

Both are condition or practice conducive to the preservation of health and cleanliness. The science that deals with the promotion and preservation of health is termed as health package, also called hygieniche –the conditions and practices that serve to promote or preserve health, as those followed for personal hygiene. Hygiene is a set of practices performed for the preservation of health. While in modern medical sciences there is a set of standards of hygiene recommended for different situations, what is considered hygienic or not can vary between different cultures, genders and groups. Some regular hygienic practices may be considered good habits by a society while the neglect of hygiene can be considered disgusting, disrespectful or even threatening. Sanitation involves the hygienic disposal and

Page 8 treatment by the civic authority of potentially unhealthy human waste, such as sewerage and drainage.

India houses ST population to the extent of 8.2% of the total population of India. About a half of the autochthonous people of the world with about 635 tribal groups and subgroups including 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) live in India. The state of Odisha occupies a unique position in the tribal map of India having 62 scheduled Tribes including 13 PVTGs. According to 2011 Census the tribal population Odisha is 8,145,081, which constitutes 22.1% of the state’s ST population and 9.7% of the ST population of country. The tribal concentrated districts of Odisha are Malkangiri (57.4%), Mayurbhanja (56.6%), Raygada (55.8%), Sundargarh (50.19%) and Nabarangapur (55%). There is a paucity of comprehensive health research among the tribal population of India. Most of the studies are isolated and fragmentary in nature. There is an urgent need for initiating the area specific, tribe specific, action oriented health research in consonance with the felt needs of the tribal communities. The research should be mission oriented, having practical applications and directed towards improving the quality of life of tribal people. The health scenario of Tribe of Odisha presents a kaleidoscopic mosaic of various communicable and non communicable diseases in consonance with socio-economic developments in the state.

The wide spread poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, absence of safe drinking water and poor sanitary conditions, poor maternal and child health services, ineffective coverage of national health and nutritional services, etc. are the major contributing factors for dismal health in tribal communities of Odisha.

There is a heavy burden of communicable, non communicable and silent killer genetic diseases prevalent in tribal communities of the state. Many of the infectious and parasitic diseases can be prevented with timely intervention, health awareness and information, education and communication (IEC) based skilled activities. In spite of the tremendous advancement in the field of preventive and curative medicine, the health care delivery services in tribal communities especially in Odisha are still poor and need amelioration and strengthening with sustenance on the guidelines suggested to achieve the targeted goals of health for all in India. Unless locality specific, tribe specific and need-based health care delivery system is evolved, which is appropriate, acceptable, accessible and affordable, the goal of health for all would remain a Utopian dream.

Page 9 Health beliefs are the products of specific cultural, historical and political context and medical anthropology seeks to understand particular notions of ill health, curing, help seeking and sickness management withion these larger knowledge systems.

Approaches in medical anthropology:

Medical anthropology examines the interaction between culture and biology what is popularly called as biological approach. How people through culture construct illness and find meaning in it is the essence of interactive approach. The critical approach of medical anthropology investigates how social conditions especially politico-economic forces shape the experience of health and sickness. Thus, broadly there are three approaches.

Ethnologists and cultural / medical anthropologists agree that the understanding of sickness and attempts of healing are dependent on cultural understanding of people within a historical context, as well as social, political, economic ,ecological conditiond and also the envioronment they inhabit (Hah1995)./

1.2. Historical perspectives of traditional medicinal practices by the tribal communities