Alimentación salud y cultura - SANHISO C. International health and ...

360
Diversos autores
una diversidad de opciones para restituir la salud y prevenir las
enfermedades en la niñez, en este caso la desnutrición.
Palabras clave: enfermedad, representaciones, desnutrición, niños,
wayuu.
Abstract: The representations of the urban wayuu who live in the
city of Maracaibo (Venezuela) are investigated in this article,
regarding child malnutrition and the ties that these representations
have with illnesses is explained from their cultural point of
view. The objectives are: to describe the representations that urban
wayuu have with regard to malnutrition, to compare this ailment
with the significance that it has within the original wayuu system
of illness and beliefs. To gather this information, 2 doctors and 15
urban wayuu women were interviewed. The data interpretation is
done from a Nourishment and Medical Anthropological point of
view.
While in the urban media, malnutrition is acknowledged and
diagnosed within the parameters of the biomedical system, in the
wayuu group the childhood illnesses tied to this ailment are explained
according to their wayuu culture, but also according to the
cult to Maria Lionza which sees this desease as a manifestation of
the evil eye. In the city, the wayuus have redefined their representations
and healing practices, according, not only to their original
curative system, but also to the intercultural situation in which
they live. At the same time, in some cases, they have used and superimposed
a diversity of options in order to restitute health and to
prevent childhood desease, in this case due to malnutrition.
Keywords: illness, representations, malnutrition, children, wayuu.
Introducción
El interés de esta investigación, inscrita en la antropología de la medicina
y de la alimentación, se centra en el análisis de la enfermedad
en un determinado contexto sociocultural. La enfermedad, que «más
allá de un hecho clínico, es un hecho social», en la cual los distintos
actores sociales interactúan frente a una misma realidad: el individuo