why is geophagy treated like dirt?
@article{Henry2003whyIG, title={why is geophagy treated like dirt?}, author={Jacques Henry and Alicia Matthews Kwong}, journal={Deviant Behavior}, year={2003}, volume={24}, pages={353 - 371} }
Geophagy is treated as adaptive behavior in most of the world and as deviant behavior in American culture. The dominant nutritional approach has strongly documented the useful contribution the consumption of clay brings to the diet of pregnant women and children. The same practice, found mostly among minority groups, is stigmatized in American culture. The different treatment of geophagy appears to rest on the different meaning of dirt, a formative element whose consumption is normalized in…
25 Citations
“Earth Eaters”: Ancient and Modern Perspectives on Human Geophagy
- Psychology
- 2010
Every person reading this chapter has eaten soil. For many, especially the wellto-do and those residing in a developed country, this statement may come as a surprise, but such people will have…
Ethnomedicines and Health Management in Kenya: Which Way Forward?
- Sociology
- 2019
Ethnic diversity and ethnosystematics have gradually evolved to give rise to unique and beneficial cultural and ethnomedical practices that have withstood the test of time in various human societies…
Ethnomedical and Sociocultural Factors of Pica Substances in Rural South India
- SociologyEcology of food and nutrition
- 2017
It was showed that in contrast to Western models of pica, nonfood consumption is not entirely taboo; consumers rely on local remedies to cure overconsumption; and perceptions of prevalence extend beyond pregnancy.
Toward a Comprehensive Approach to the Collection and Analysis of Pica Substances, with Emphasis on Geophagic Materials
- Chemistry, MedicinePloS one
- 2008
The comprehensive and multi-disciplinary approach to the collection and analysis of pica substances detailed here is a necessary preliminary step to understanding the nutritional enigma of non-food consumption.
Maternal Geophagy of Calabash Chalk on Foetal Cerebral Cortex Histomorphology.
- Medicine, BiologyThe Malaysian journal of medical sciences : MJMS
- 2015
Calabash chalk cause body weight increase and histomorphological changes in the cerebral cortex of foetuses and hypertrophy and hyperplasia of cells in all the cortical layers, with less demonstrated Nissl and higher cellular population compared with the control group.
[Geophagy associated with severe anemia in non-pregnant women: A case series of 12 patients].
- MedicineLa Revue de medecine interne
- 2017
Diseases and medical disabilities of enslaved Barbadians from the seventeenth century to around 1838. Part I.
- MedicineThe West Indian medical journal
- 2008
The disease environment, health problems and causes of mortality of enslaved Barbadians are described, including psychogenic death or illness caused by beliefs in witchcraft or sorcery.
Healing and edible clays: a review of basic concepts, benefits and risks
- MedicineEnvironmental Geochemistry and Health
- 2017
This paper pretends to review historical data, basic concepts and functions, as well as benefits and risks of the use of healing clays, in general, for therapeutic and cosmetic purposes, and of edible clays for therapeutic purposes.
The Social and Material Life of Antimicrobial Clay: Exploring Antimicrobial Resistance, Medicines' Materiality, and Medicines Optimization
- BiologyFrontiers in Sociology
- 2020
This article takes the example of clay, whose antimicrobial properties are well-established and which has been used to treat wounds and gastrointestinal problems for millennia, and offers a number of theoretical “ways in” for sociologists to begin making sense of clay as it comes under the western biomedical gaze.
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