Shaman in Bruce Olson (Class Readings)

April 20, 2022 

Bruce Olson uses an interesting method to convince the Witch Doctor of the Motilone tribe to use the different drugs that he brings. The witch doctor first replies to his offer to give them drugs saying that they do things differently than white people. Bruce Olson decides that he won't be able to convince the witch doctor with an argument, but instead resorts to proving the medicine works. He gets himself sick with pinkeye and asks her to heal him. When she can't heal him using her primal techniques, he shows her his use of Terramycin, an antibiotic, and how it clears up his pinkeye. The witch doctor then uses the "potion" that Bruce gives her and adds it to her ritual. This allows the Motilone tribe to have modern medicine, but not lose their cultural, and oral, understanding of sickness.

 

This relates well to an article we read earlier in the class where we discussed the role of a Shaman in oral cultures. The Shaman had the role of creating a healthy relationship between the people and the environment. If they were not in tune with nature, they would have different ailments like pinkeye. That is why the witch doctor was chanting and singing to mend different ailments. Bruce did a good job of allowing this understanding of the relationship between humans and the environment to stay in place while still allowing them to have access to modern medicine. If he had, instead, attempted to not introduce the medicine by way of the witch doctor or shaman, he would have likely run into issues with the tribe and messed up their worldview.

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