Abstract
It might be assumed that in a situation of universal access to biomedical health care, as is the case in contemporary Spain, folk illness beliefs would have vanished. Field research conducted in the spring of 2004 in Andalusia showed considerable knowledge in the general population about a number of folk illnesses, including mal de ojo (evil eye). Based on a focus group conducted with traditional healers, as well as in-depth interviews with specialists in mal de ojo, in-depth interviews with lay people who believe in this illness, and review of archival materials, this paper describes the contemporary explanatory model of mal de ojo and offers some hypotheses as to why beliefs in this illness, and other folk illnesses, persist.
| Translated title of the contribution | The popular illnesses in the Spanish culture of today: A comparative study on the evil eye |
|---|---|
| Original language | Spanish |
| Pages (from-to) | 139-156 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Revista de Dialectologia y Tradiciones Populares |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - 2006 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Evil eye
- Folk illness
- Folk medicine
- Latin American culture
- Spanish culture
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cultural Studies
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language