TY - JOUR
T1 - Ethno-ophthalmology in the Egyptian delta
T2 - An historical systems approach to ethnomedicine in the Middle East
AU - Inhorn Millar, Marcia
AU - Lane, Sandra D.
N1 - Funding Information:
grant its first military pensions for the support of disabledb lind veterans[ 29,30]. It is important to note that, at this time, the European medical establishmentb elieved that the so-called‘ military ophthalmia’w as a noncontagious diseasec, onfined to soldiers.Y et, the various forms of blinding eye diseaseo riginating in Egypt spread widely through the civilian populations of Europe, devastatingth ec ontinentf or nearly 50 yearsa ftert he breakupo f the various armiest hat had fought in the Napoleonic Wars. Since the mechanismo f infection was not yet understood,c ausesw eres oughti n dust, sand, sun-glare,a nd perspiration[ 12)-all of which are etiologieso f eye diseased escribedb y Egyptian villagerst oday. Returning to 19th-century Egypt, which has become obscured in this discussion of European military history,t he Egyptian Mamelukea rmies,p art of the sprawling Ottoman Empire, were overthrown by Napoleon, who thenr etreated-making it possible for a young Ottoman colonel, named Muhammed Ali, to securea position for himself as Viceroy and Pasha of Egypt and founder of a dynastyt hat ended rather ingloriously with King Farouk in 1952[ 33]. Muhammed Ali Pasha was determined,f or military reasons,t o keeph is ocularly infectedt roops in good visual and general health. Thus, he sent emissaries to France to recruit eminent physicians; one of those physicians, Antoine B. Clot, was soon to initiate a systemo f Europeanb iomedicine--complete with hospitals, medical schools, and public health programs-that would alter the structurea nd future of Egyptian health care.
Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1988
Y1 - 1988
N2 - Ethnomedical studies of the Middle East may be enriched by a long-term historical perspective, which takes into consideration the complex syncretism, through time, of both literate and nonliterate medical systems in this region, as well as the tumultuous history of conquest and colonialism in the Middle East. In this paper, the authors place the seemingly idiosyncratic, local, 'ethno-ophthalmological' practices of one northern Egyptian community, which is afflicted by the blinding eye disease, trachoma, into a broader historico-political context, through examination of the four major literate medical systems of Egypt and the imperialistic forces responsible for their entrenchment.
AB - Ethnomedical studies of the Middle East may be enriched by a long-term historical perspective, which takes into consideration the complex syncretism, through time, of both literate and nonliterate medical systems in this region, as well as the tumultuous history of conquest and colonialism in the Middle East. In this paper, the authors place the seemingly idiosyncratic, local, 'ethno-ophthalmological' practices of one northern Egyptian community, which is afflicted by the blinding eye disease, trachoma, into a broader historico-political context, through examination of the four major literate medical systems of Egypt and the imperialistic forces responsible for their entrenchment.
KW - Egypt
KW - ethnomedicine
KW - medical systems
KW - trachoma
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U2 - 10.1016/0277-9536(88)90030-5
DO - 10.1016/0277-9536(88)90030-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 3283948
AN - SCOPUS:0023818330
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 26
SP - 651
EP - 657
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
IS - 6
ER -