Material Information
- Title:
- RITUAL AND HEALING: EXPLORATIONS OF THE PLACEBO PHENOMENON AND PERUVIAN CURANDERISMO IN IQUITOS, PERU
- Physical Description:
- Book
- Language:
- English
- Creator:
- Jara, Victoria Elizabeth
- Publisher:
- New College of Florida
- Place of Publication:
- Sarasota, Fla.
- Publication Date:
- 2014
Thesis/Dissertation Information
- Degree:
- Bachelor's ( B.A.)
- Degree Grantor:
- New College of Florida
- Degree Divisions:
- Social Sciences
- Area of Concentration:
- Biological Psychology
Subjects
- Genre:
- Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
bibliography ( marcgt )
theses ( marcgt )
Notes
- Abstract:
- Placebo effects can be used to explain the effectiveness of ritual healing. The
evidence supporting the effectiveness of rituals and positive affective responses are due
to neurobiological studies on placebo effects that point to the activation of the descending
opioid and dopaminergic neural systems. Using Kaptchuk’s (2011) proposal of a ritual
approach to understand the placebo phenomenon, I argue that placebo ritual theory can
help explain how language, culture and metaphor affect physiological processes.
Research for this thesis took place in Iquitos, Peru—the largest city in the
Peruvian Amazon. Qualitative research was performed using semi-structured interviews
and participant-observations. Healers and practitioners of the traditional healing system
of curanderismo were interviewed to gain an understanding of the elements of healing
(e.g. etiology of sickness, treatments, ritual ceremonies) present in this system. With this
information, a discursive bridge was developed to link placebo neurobiological studies
with the elements present in Peruvian curanderismo.
- Thesis:
- Thesis (B.A.) -- New College of Florida, 2014
- General Note:
- RESTRICTED TO NCF STUDENTS, STAFF, FACULTY, AND ON-CAMPUS USE
- Bibliography:
- Includes bibliographical references.
- General Note:
- This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida Libraries, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.
- General Note:
- Faculty Sponsor: Bauer, Gordon
- Statement of Responsibility:
- by Victoria Elizabeth Jara
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- New College of Florida
- Holding Location:
- New College of Florida
- Rights Management:
- Applicable rights reserved.
- Classification:
- S.T. 2014 J3
- System ID:
- AA00024755:00001
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