Barrett R J, Lucas R H
Department of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide, Australia.
Soc Sci Med. 1994 Jan;38(2):383-93. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(94)90408-1.
Iban categories of hot and cold are examined in the context of humoral medical systems in southeast Asia. These categories are more than binary and oppositional: they are also contradictory and can only be understood in terms of their capacity for transformation in 'depth'. Analysis of the Iban epistemology of temperature sensation reveals the limitations of reductionist empirical approaches to hot and cold. Illness is apprehended, at one level, in terms of unusual conjunctions of opposite temperatures which signify a deeper disturbance in the relationship between body and soul, humans and spirits. Iban therapy redefines and relocates these categories in their proper place and at their appropriate level. It progresses from hot lay treatments to cool ritual treatments, yet cannot be accounted for within a limited framework of homeostatic balance. This paper develops an ethnographically grounded definition of humoralism which emphasizes non-reductive logic, cultural practice and transformation. The key element, transformation, is defined as a transition between categories and a shift in the level of interpretation which fundamentally alter the Iban experience of body and illness.
伊班人的寒热分类是在东南亚体液医学体系的背景下进行考察的。这些分类并非仅仅是二元对立的：它们还相互矛盾，且只有从其在“深度”上的转化能力方面才能理解。对伊班人温度感知认识论的分析揭示了对寒热采用还原论实证方法的局限性。在一个层面上，疾病被理解为相反温度的异常结合，这意味着身体与灵魂、人类与神灵之间关系的更深层次紊乱。伊班疗法在其恰当的位置和适当的层面重新定义并重新安置了这些分类。它从热性的世俗治疗发展到凉性的仪式治疗，但无法在体内平衡的有限框架内得到解释。本文提出了一个基于民族志的体液学说定义，该定义强调非还原论逻辑、文化实践和转化。关键要素“转化”被定义为类别之间的过渡以及解释层面的转变，这从根本上改变了伊班人对身体和疾病的体验。
