This article was originally presented as part of The 2009 Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference. You can read the article along with two commentaries and extensive discussion at http://compassconference.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/conference-paper-fertility-and-inequality-across-borders-assisted-reproductive-technology-and-globalization.
How does moving off the public utility grid in the United States affect the daily lives of those who live off-grid, including their intra-community social relations and the way they think about energy choices and energy use? We use the term 'intracommunity social relations' to refer to interactions within the limited local neighborhood of the study.
This qualitative research sought answers to questions about how elders in Agate, Ghana, coped with the challenges of illness in a rural village and in particular how they negotiated treatment for their illnesses within a flawed and limited healthcare system. In our study, 22 of 28 interviewees used all methods available to them (biomedical approaches [doctors and/or hospitals and/or doctor-prescribed medications], herbs, over-the-counter medicines [i.e., acetaminophen painkillers], and faith-based methods [praying/fasting/laying of hands/holy food and/or water]) in attempts to heal their illnesses. A syncretism existed in the negotiation of treatment options. All participants in our study used some form of what we term "Treatment Blending" (TBL), the use by a single participant of more than one of the aforementioned treatment methods for illness. Our research also revealed a widespread use of multiple spiritual systems (at the same time) and practitioner overlap (visiting a doctor, a traditional healer, and/or Christian pastor). Elders, in multiple cases, demonstrated the daily practice of one religion while seeking healing through another framework. TBL among our participants was a reflection of the lives elders lead in which illness and healing cannot be separated from the spiritual, the idea of an omnipresent God who is the ultimate "doctor," and ancient African traditions of herbs and rituals that possess deeper meaning for both physical and psychological healing and well-being. This ran parallel with the syncretism of religion itself in Ghana and suggests possible related paths through which to improve the healthcare system for elders in rural Ghana utilizing local faith-based groups and the elders themselves to assist.
Human society and the natural environment of the south Florida Everglades developed simultaneously. From the beginning the human perspective was inherently exploitative. Archaic Indians occupied all the high natural ground but neither farmed nor lived in the Everglades. This culture and succeeding Indian cultures persisted for thousands of years with the population sustainably capped by food supply and availability of high ground. After Spanish contact, Indian society collapsed leading to a 150-year hiatus in human occupation. In the late 1800s for the first time newly immigrated Indians took up residence in the Everglades; European-derived Americans settled high ground and agriculture developed. Within 100 years thereafter, half of the Everglades had been drained and the population of south Florida had reached 6.2 million residents. The overall exploitation of the Everglades' resources during the 20th century reflects the area as a place of transience. Contemporary human relationships with the environment appear to be different in scope but not in fundamentals from cultures that came before. Until the contact period, humans had adapted their culture to sustain communities in balance with the difficult landscape. Today's human population dominates the natural environment, although perhaps only in the short term. It remains to be determined whether cultural views can change quickly enough to secure a new viable carrying capacity.
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IntroductionDeacon Baldwin, clad in overalls, stood in the searing Florida sun of September, 2001, and mused about what had brought him to this place. He had recently orchestrated the planting of over six hundred native trees by volunteers. This tree-planting project took place on the outskirts of Miami in foliage-barren Richmond Heights, a neighborhood settled by Black service men after World War II. Deacon Baldwin revealed through his actions and words the essence of how many churchgoing Blacks in South Florida connect the natural world and the environment to their lives:
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