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WORLD ANTHROPOLOGICAL UNION

CONGRESS 2024​

Paper

Storytelling as an indigenous research approach to health care beliefs and practices among Indo- and Afro-Trinidadians

presenters

    Susan Julia Chand

    Nationality: Trinidadian

    Residence: Trinidad and Tobago

    School of Social Sciences at the University of the Southern Caribbean (USC), Trinidad and Tobago.

    Presence:Face to Face/ On Site

Storytelling as an indigenous research method was employed to collect data on health care beliefs and practices from two major ethnic groups in Trinidad, Indo- and Afro-Trinidadians. residing in non-urban communities. Purposive sampling was used to determine three Indo-Trinidadian households and three Afro-Trinidad households. Participants shared common experiences of time-tested home remedies passed down the generations, an indigenous knowledge that survived the British colonization. Indo-Trinidadians linked their indigenous knowledge to their country of origin, India. Both ethnic groups believed in magio-religious and herbal practices in treating a wide range of ailments both chronic and acute. Participants distinguished between hot (flour-and cornmeal-based foods, rice, spices, seasonings), cold (all fruits and vegetables) and neutral foods (ground provisions). Plant-based home remedies commonly used for various ailments by Indo-Trinidadians were sacred basil, moringa, bitter melon, turmeric, ginger, garlic, marigold, hibiscus; and by the Afro-Trinidadians were Christmas bush, jerry tooth, seed under leaf, blue potter weed, Indian mulberry, castor oil. Oral history of both the ethnic groups included turmeric (Curcuma longa), bitter melon (Momordica charantia), moringa (Moringa oleifera), papaya leaves (Carica papaya), lime (Citrus aurantiifolia), lemon (Citrus limon), lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), leaf of life (Bryophyllum pinnatum), chadon beni (Eryngium foetidum), castor (Ricinus communis), and sour sop (Annona muricata) as home remedies for ailments like fever, cold and cough, indigestion, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, anaemia, blood cleansing, skin rashes and even preventing and treating COVID-19 virus. Both ethnic groups had commonalities in their health care beliefs and practices given their shared socio-cultural and geo-political spaces. Storytelling as an indigenous research method can be used to deconstruct Western world views, provide historical, holistic, and culturally nuanced knowledge related to health care beliefs and practices.

Keywords:

storytelling, indigenous research, healthcare beliefs, Indo-Trinidadians, Afro-Trinidadians