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Engaging conceptions of identity in a context of medical pluralism: explaining treatment choices for everyday illness in Niger
Author(s) -
Sams Kelley
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.12564
Subject(s) - hausa , sociology , identity (music) , pluralism (philosophy) , ideology , ethnography , meaning (existential) , sociology of health and illness , context (archaeology) , social identity theory , medical anthropology , epistemology , social psychology , social science , gender studies , social group , psychology , anthropology , aesthetics , health care , politics , political science , law , paleontology , philosophy , linguistics , biology
This article uses ethnographic research to reflect upon how the treatment of 'everyday' illnesses in Niger engages concepts of social identity. Inspired by Bourdieu's concept of social distinction, as well as Appadurai's edited volume on the 'social lives' of 'things', I present an analysis of how medications are understood by their users in terms of social and ideological meaning in one rural Hausa village. Decisions about medication choice were framed by three main themes: belonging to the 'modern' world, 'traditional' Hausa culture, and religious identity. This article does not argue that these notions of identity fully explain medication use, nor necessarily predict treatment choices. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the dynamic meanings given to treatment decisions after they have been made, attributed to the medications themselves and negotiated through their circulation in a context where multiple medical systems are drawn from to manage illness. Producers and sellers of medication also engage these meaning-centred concepts, which have theoretical and practical interest for the social sciences and public health. A virtual abstract for this paper can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_979cmCmR9rLrKuD7z0ycA.