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Voodoo Death and the Mechanism for Dispatch of the Dying in East Arnhem, Australia
Author(s) -
Eastwell Harry D.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1982.84.1.02a00020
Subject(s) - fatalism , cause of death , psychosocial , medicine , demography , medical emergency , psychiatry , sociology , philosophy , disease , theology
A similar psychosocial sequence surrounds cases of voodoo death and cases where dying is expedited. Predeath obsequies and fatalism in the victim are common to both. The death mechanism in both is dehydration by confiscation of fluids. Intervention in two voodoo death sequences involved rehydrating the victim. As medical services extend to remote Aborigines, deaths with prominent psychosocial components that resemble voodoo death become diagnosable as orthodox medical conditions, [voodoo death, Australian Aboriginals, dehydration]