Global Encounters - Literature review Example

Global Encounters Total Number of Words: 2,020 Reflection on Fadiman’s Man Idea of “The SpiritCatches You and You Fall Down” Western medicine is based on scientific and/or clinical-based evidences that has been gathered over many years of research studies. Despite the fact that many people around the world has accepted Western medicine as a way of treating various forms of illnesses, it remains unavoidable for some people to believe in other non-scienific based way of healing such as in the case of the Shamanism or ‘witch-doctoring’ (Fadiman 1997: Ch. 4, p. 35) Because of pure ignorance which is associated with lack of educational background on the importance of having a scientific-based medical practice in diagnosing and treating an illness such as the case of epilepsy, thousands of people around the world tend to believe in non-scientific based stories like the need to kill ‘chickens and/or pigs’ as a means of a sacrfice in curing a patient from the disease (Fadiman 1997: Ch. 3, p. 21). Up to the present time, there is a wide gap that exists between the availability of the Western medical services and the demand for the Western medicine. Barriers between the Western medicine and the sick individuals around the world include not only communication problems but also financial and cultural issues. In line with this matter, it remains a fact that one of the most common reasons that make a lot of people loses their faith and/or trust in the practice of Western medicine is caused by language barriers (Fadiman 1997: Ch. 3, p. 25). Given that communication problem can lead to a large number of misdiagnosis cases, a lot of patients who seek for Western medicine ends up having adverse health effects rather than accurately rendering the patients with proper treatment and care. Aiming to minimize the gap between the physicians and the patients and/or patients’ family members, hospital administrator has the option to hire qualified translators with a competitive knowledge on medicine. However, this option can increase the operational costs of the hospital. According to Fadiman (1997), MCMC complex – a rual county hospital intentionally hire bilingual medical staff members or allow ten-year-old girls to do the translate the discussion on issues related to the need to resuscitate a dying patient with the family members (Fadiman 1997: Ch. 3, p. 25). The problem with having a ten-year-old girl to do the translation increases the possibility for people to doubt the medical diagnosis provided to them by the physicians. Aside from communication barriers, the fact that investing on modern medical facilities which includes building large hospital buildings, setting up a large number of surgical beds, medical and radiology laboratories and purchasing other newly innovated diagnostic machines like the MRI or the CT scan equipments can be very costly makes the presence of tertiary hospitals less accessible to people who lives in rural and less populated areas. Even if a tertiary hospital is available in a rural area, people who are able to afford the high-cost of medical services would use their money to get a quick access to highly competitive medical facilities that are available in the urban areas. Since majority of the local people in rural areas are unable to pay the premium prices of modern medical equipments and the salary received by highly qualified physicians, rural-based tertiary hospitals are unable to improve the medical services they render to the local people (Fadiman 1997: Ch. 3, p. 24). Summary of Marvin Harris’ the “Sacred Cow” As a symbol of life, Hindus worship and consider cows as something that is scared (Harris, 1974a: p. 11) For this reason, it is a mortal sin to slaughther cows. With regards to the fact that slaughtering cows is considered a mortal sin, a lot of economic experts on food supply argues that this type of cultural belief contributes a lot to the increase in poverty and hungry people throughout India. Since cows also eat crops, human beings tend to compete with the available food supply with the continuously growing population of cows (Harris 1974a:p.12). Indians do not use sacred cows for milk production. Instead of using the large population of cows as a way of increasing the milk supply in India, Indians are relying on female water buffalo to give them a high butterfat milk supply (Harris 1974a: p. 16). The problem with relying the milk supply on female buffalos is the fact that these animals takes a longer time to lactate. As a result of waiting for longer period of time for female buffalos to lactate, the available supply of milk within the country suffers. Since the demand of milk is greater than the available supply, the market prices of available milk in the market tends to increase. For this reason, a large number of poor people are unable to afford the high prices of milk which deprives them from being able to receive nutritional needs coming from milk and other related dairy products. With regards to small-scale agricultural farming activities in India, Indians are not financially capable of investing large amount of money to purchase heavy tractors or other machineries for farming purposes (Harris 1974a: p.17). Instead of using their sacred cows in ploughing the fields, they prefer to use the male buffalos because of its strength in doing field-related work activities. Since cattles excrete as much as 700 million tons of manure each year, Indians are using half of the recovered manure as fertilizers and the other half is used as heat when cooking food (Harris 1974a: p. 18). On the other hand, cows manure are converted into paste which is designed to be used for household flooring materials (Harris 1974a: p. 19). Aside from the issues related to the available food supply in India, giving cows a special treatment such as the allocation of the government collected taxes to support government agencies that maintains a home for the aged and sick cows can be very costly (Harris 1974a: pp. 12 –13). Instead of using the collected government taxes on the educational programs of the youth or invesment on the improvements of public infrasructure, a large portion of the government fund goes straight to economically unproductive group of sacred cows. It is a fact that majority of the people around the world either slaughter cows to increase the supply of meat for food consumption or use them to produce dairy products such as milk and cheese. However, this is not true in the case of India. This is not true in the case of Indians. Even when their sacred cows die, these people would refuse to sell their cows to slaughter houses as a sign of respect for their beloved cows (Harris 1974a: pp. 20 – 21). As part of fighting for the rights of the cows to live, Indians would enter into a lot of historical public riots and disorders with other nationality and races as they fight against cow slaughtering activities that occurs within their geographic boundary (Harris 1974a: p. 13 – 14). Summary of Marvin Harris’ “Pig Lovers and Pig Haters” People in general are divided into two groups known as the pig lovers and the pig haters. Even though millions of people around the world eat pork meat, there are still some people who loves and hates eating pork (Harris, 1974b: pp. 38 – ). Because of the dietary law scriptures that are written in the Bible and the book of Koran, a large population of Muslim, nomadic Israelites, and the Jewish people around the world are among the few individuals who never appreciate eating pork meat. (Harris, 1974b: p. 39 – 41) For those individuals who hates eating pork, most of them either consider pigs as ‘sacred’ and/or ‘unclean animals’ (Harris, 1974b: p. 39). Since pigs are unable to sweat which makes the animal to remove some of its body toxins out of its body (Harris, 1974b: p. 42). Given the fact that pigs can die when exposed in extreme heat and cold temperature, pigs dampen their own body either on fresh clean mud or its own urine and feces to receive a cooling effect from its external environment (Harris, 1974b: pp. 42 – 43). In line with the perception that pigs meat are not clean, they believe that pork is a good source of human diseases. Contrary to the religious and dietary law beliefs of the Muslim, nomadic Israelites, and the Jewish people, some people who are living in the Middle East consider pigs or pork meat as a luxury food because of its good taste and for the reason that they often use domestic animals like sheep, goat, and cattles to supply them with “milk, cheese, hides, dung, fiber, and traction for plowing” (Harris, 1974b: pp. 43 – 44). Since there are people who consider pork as a luxury food, pork meat are normally served during special occasions such as the victory of future wars, victory over a territory, or festival celebrations (Harris, 1974b: p. 46 – 47, 51). Aside from raising pigs for food purposes, there are some families that raises pigs as part of their family members (Harris, 1974b: p. 46). Because of their love for pigs, some of the pig lovers even go up to the extent that they sleep together with their pigs, talk to them, give them a personal name, stroke and fondle them, and feed them with good food among others. Some families goes to the extent that women in the family has to plant a bigger garden of yams and sweet potatoes to feed not only their family members but also their pigs. (Harris, 1974b: p. 50) Reflection of Marvin Harris’ Main Ideas in “Sacred Cow” and “Pig Lovers and Pig Haters” Aside from the socio-economic and environmental condition in each country, religious beliefs of the people significantly affect their food choices and preferences. Based on different personal reasons, there are millions of people all over the world who are very much determined in trying to avoid eating either beef or pork. The fact that Indians consider cows as something that is sacred and holy makes them psychologically avoid slaughtering cows and/or eating beef (Harris 1974a: pp. 20 – 21; Harris, 1974b: p. 43 – 44). Since the eating pork is not tolerated nor accepted in the Bible or the book of Koran, pig farming is considered a threat over the religious, cultural and natural ecosystems of most the Muslims and Jewish people who are living in the Middle East for the reasons that it could increase their temptation to eat pork (Harris 1974b: p. 40). As part of globalization, it becomes unavoidable for people to mingle or get acquainted with people of different culture and traditional beliefs. For this reason, it becomes very important for people to learn more about the basic cultural concerns of other people who belongs to different nationality or race. With regards to the differences of people’s food choices, it is important for us to learn, understand, and respect their own personal and cultural beliefs in order to avoid unconsciously disrespecting them which could eventually cause them angry. People with no limitations on what they eat such as in the case of most Americans may find it more difficult to appreciate the uniqueness of each person especially when it comes to the economics of food scarcity and food supply. For individuals who do not perceive cows as something sacred such as in the case of the Indians, it is so much easier for them to conclude that one of the best solutions to fight poverty and food scarcity in India is to make the large population of cows available in slaughter houses. The same concept applies with the food preferences of the Muslims, nomadic Israelites, and the Jewish people when it comes to eating pork. In reality, globalization is about exploiting the available human and non-human resources around the world. However, there is always a limitation with regards to the extent wherein business people could exploit these resources. In order to avoid and prevent unnecessary public riots and making people angry, exploitation of these resources should be in accordance to the cultural and religious beliefs of foreign people we are dealing with. *** End *** References: Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997. Harris, Marvin. Pig Lovers and Pig Haters. NY: Vintage, 1974b. —. Sacred Cow. In Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches. NY: Vintage, 1974a. Read More