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Medica, interdisciplinary conference on (folk) medicine on December 10
Research into folk medicine has so far been largely limited to the sphere of folklorists and ethnologists, medical historians have approached the subject from a different angle, and medical practitioners from the viewpoint of herbal medicine, etc. Presently, folklore scholars have taken into focus the more recent periods and have noted that progress in general education has broadened people's knowledge of medicine, and has therefore prompted changes in popular treatment methods and truisms.
Conference lectures will mainly discuss popular healing methods (Piret Paal on malaria) and methods of treatment (Renata Sõukand on texts accompanying treatment with herbs), but also contemporary medical lore (Marju Kõivupuu). Medical historian Ken Kalling sheds some light on peasant breeding healthcare in veterinary studies. Mare Kõiva, PhD, discusses ethnopsychiatry and Jaanus Harro, the leading scholar in the field, discusses neural mechanisms of depression.
The conference in organised by the Centre of Cultural History and Folkloristics in Estonia, Department of Folklore at the Estonian Literary Museum, and the Estonian Institute of Folklore.
