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Indigenous Concepts of Health and Healing in Andean Populations: Understanding the Relevance of Traditional Medicine in a Changing World

Indigenous Concepts of Health and Healing in Andean Populations: Understanding the Relevance of Traditional Medicine in a Changing World

Paperback

ArchaeologyIndigenous Studies

ISBN10: 1032526378
ISBN13: 9781032526379
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Jul 20 2026
Pages: 312
Language: English

This book uses archaeology and ethnohistory to explore the evidence for the survival of ancestral beliefs and practices related to health and healing in Indigenous Andean communities.

The authors argue that through determining the nature of the survival of beliefs around health and healing, important insights are gained into how people develop adaptive strategies for survival in a way that allows a continuity of identity and integrity. The book works through various stages of research to arrive at its conclusions. Firstly, through archaeology and ethnohistory, it establishes a 'baseline' of key ancestral (pre-European) Indigenous Andean beliefs related to health, illness and healing. It then proceeds to review the evidence for the survival of these ancestral beliefs and practices related to Indigenous pre-European Andean epistemologies and ontologies. Analysing the results of the first two sections, the final part reflects on the narratives around ancestral beliefs and practices and how they influence lived experience in the contemporary world. In essence, this book deals with the question 'How do people manage change?', a universal question relevant to humanity at any time, and stresses the need to recognise the significance of cultural diversity, intangible heritage and plurality.

Also in

Indigenous Studies