Mexico: Nosology of Health and Sickness Between Modern Doctors and Indigenous Patients
Although my study abroad experience came with many challenges, it was also combined with many personal rewards. While living in Mexico City, I had great difficulty orienting myself with my neighborhood due to my limited knowledge of the language and inability to communicate with people all around. Since this was the first time I traveled away from home, I also felt cut off from all my friends and family, while trying to survive in a new society where I did not have the courage to walk down the street because of fear of getting lost or being robbed—even eating food in the street seemed like a life and death decision, fearing I might get sick and not know what to do. While slowly adjusting to the customs and cultural expressions, another challenge arose as I began my research project. In the initial phase of my research, I was very confused on how to design an experiment that would elicit a patient’s and doctor’s explanation of the patient’s illness that would require the least interaction on my part; I was scared that my Spanish-speaking skills were not proficient enough to do interviews. After talking to my mentor, however, I became convinced that conducting interviews and surveys was critical to obtaining the information I wanted. When I began searching for patients and doctors to interview, again, I did not know how to proceed. This forced me to seek outside help from the medical school in Morelia and the National Indigenous Institute and the Traditional Medicine Hospital in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. When I found my subjects, I realized another challenge—the traditional doctors and patients were very reluctant to talk to me about their traditional healing methods, thinking that I might abuse their confidence. Frustrated and worried, I tried many approaches to make the patients more comfortable. After several failures, I realized that the patients were more willing to talk to me when I demonstrated a better understanding of their culture and control of their language. Thus, I changed my attitude and mentality during subsequent conversations and was able to finish gathering my data with more than 60 interviews and surveys. Throughout my project, I did not realize that my Spanish got better after each interview. From the interviews, I was also getting first-hand experience and a more profound knowledge about the remedial practices and daily lifestyles of the indigenous patients. After the project, I realized that this program had allowed me to mature and become more confident in my decision-making skills, an attribute that will be useful in whatever career I choose in the future. —Chor Vang, UC Davis |
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