中国少数民族的疾病认知、实践及其深意:以凉山彝族为例
Illness Cognition, Healing Practices, and Their Cultural Significance among Ethnic Minorities in China: The Case of the Liangshan Yi
This paper examines the unique illness cognition system and medical practices of the Yi people in Liangshan, Sichuan Province, with a focus on the cultural logic and deeper meanings embedded within them. Despite the increasing penetration of modern biomedicine, local therapeutic practices grounded in local knowledge remain widespread among the Liangshan Yi. Illness is often anticipated through dreams and anomalous events, while its causes are interpreted through divinatory practices conducted by bimo and suni. The Yi construct a pluralistic and layered explanatory model of illness etiology and develop corresponding ritual healing practices. These practices reflect not only the dynamic interactions between humans, ancestors, nature, and supernatural forces but also function as cultural strategies for coping with illness and uncertainty. Building on this foundation, the paper further explores Yi understandings of death, otherness, and the natural world. The dead, particularly deceased kin, are treated with a logic of “intimate distance” to preserve boundaries between the living and the dead and to maintain familial order. In contrast, ghosts believed to be transformed Han Chinese souls symbolize the cultural boundaries and ethnic distinctions perceived by the Yi. The Yi worldview is grounded in an animistic cosmology, in which all entities in the natural world are believed to possess spirits. Maintaining respectful relations with these spirit-beings is seen as essential to health and plays a role in fostering an implicit ecological awareness. Importantly, Yi medical practices are not static remnants of tradition but represent a dynamic cultural strategy, continually adapting through interactions with modern medicine and the religious traditions of neighboring ethnic groups.
동북아시아문화학회 [The Association of North-east Asian Cultures]
설립연도
2000
분야
복합학>학제간연구
소개
동북아시아 문화의 다양성과 정체성을 연구 토론하고, 지역내 문화 교류의 다양한 모습을 연구하고 문화변동의 큰 틀을 집적함으로써 우리 민족 문화 및 상대 민족의 문화적 터전을 이해하여 문화공동체적 특성을 계발하고 상호 관련성의 강화를 유도하는 학술활동을 통해 동북아시아의 문화발전에 이바지함.