There are many cultures across the globe that still believe in superstitions, witchcraft, traditional healing, and magic. These beliefs expand throughout generations in some cultures and traditions. Many superstitions are rooted in the belief of old magic and the mystical healing properties of animals and medical herbs. Numerous superstitions were developed to explain events or situations that occurred out of fear of the unknown. These ideas enlightened individuals about why things happened, and the unexplained event could be cause by witches, ancestors, or curses. These faiths could explain why there was a bad harvest or crop failures, unpleasant illness or unanticipated death, or even the dying of sacred animals.
In the article, A Salvage Ethnography of the Guinea Worm by Amy Moran-Thomas whom reported her main thesis as a viewpoint about a “hard-fought health campaign against a centuries old pathogen, and the conflicting priorities and values, and laden paradoxes of humanitarianism at play as medicine breaches boundaries not normally thought of a permeable” (p.207). Moran-Thomas describes …show more content…
The second piece of evidence that Moran-Thomas utilizes is from a New York Times article in 2006 involving people in Nigeria, which describe a similar situation the author identifies. She states, “In Ghana, those who consider the worms a sign from their ancestors did not fear the parasite as a symbol of death, but an angry message from the honored dead…. a white finger from another world searing through their flesh” (p.214). As in The Beautiful Forever by Katherine Boo the villagers relate superstitious fears from the one-leg’s ghost, and her curse for their troubles. These types of perceptions caused conflict with the eradication campaign because of fears that the worms set curses from ill-intentioned person with dangerous
In the article, A Salvage Ethnography of the Guinea Worm by Amy Moran-Thomas whom reported her main thesis as a viewpoint about a “hard-fought health campaign against a centuries old pathogen, and the conflicting priorities and values, and laden paradoxes of humanitarianism at play as medicine breaches boundaries not normally thought of a permeable” (p.207). Moran-Thomas describes …show more content…
The second piece of evidence that Moran-Thomas utilizes is from a New York Times article in 2006 involving people in Nigeria, which describe a similar situation the author identifies. She states, “In Ghana, those who consider the worms a sign from their ancestors did not fear the parasite as a symbol of death, but an angry message from the honored dead…. a white finger from another world searing through their flesh” (p.214). As in The Beautiful Forever by Katherine Boo the villagers relate superstitious fears from the one-leg’s ghost, and her curse for their troubles. These types of perceptions caused conflict with the eradication campaign because of fears that the worms set curses from ill-intentioned person with dangerous