His mother became medicine

Drinking problems, ethical transformation and maternal care in central Uganda

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2103406
AutoresC Scherz (0000-0002-5562-8538, autor correspondente), George Mpanga
Ano2019
Volume89
Fascículo1
Páginas125-146
Data de publicação2019-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAfrica (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0001-9720 • E-ISSN: 1750-0184
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0001972018000736
OpenAlexW2924333743
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas91

Excessive alcohol consumption often appears as an issue of great concern for the friends and family members of drinkers in Uganda, where per capita consumption rates among drinkers are among the highest in the world. In many cases, these families seek care for their loved ones in small shops run by herbalists, in the shrines of spirit mediums, in the pews of churches, or in one of several newly established inpatient rehabilitation centres. Yet, acts of intervention come not only from living family members or friends, but also from an array of spiritual beings who may arrive uninvited and outside intentional therapeutic contexts. In this article, we consider a case in which a mother's spirit intervenes in the life of her son, first by possessing his body and then by continuing to dwell there in ways that make it impossible for him to drink. This case highlights the importance of forces experienced as non-self in life-transforming processes, and demands that we give attention to a moment in a person's life when the work of care is achieved through an act of physical force

Consumption (sociology · Economic growth · Environmental health · Intervention (counseling · Per capita · Political science · Population · Promotion (chess · Psychiatry · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · African Studies and Ethnography · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Rehabilitation