Eziopatologie socio-simboliche in Sicilia. Una ricognizione

Abstract

Paper on popular conceptions of the disease procrastinated until today, when they appear to be competitive with the biomedical system and with alternative therapies, to the point of producing manifestations with dyscrasic and hybrid traits. As the result of a survey of Sicilian pathogenetic phenomena, the study involved different claims related to ethnopathies and ritual practices defined as scantu, evil eye, fattura, toccatura, gastimia, etc., with the aim of interpreting the personal and social connotations of these pathological statutes, now in the process of decay or refunctionalization within the ideological systems of reference. The research reveals implications between diseases, the social context, the economic political system in which they are expressed and the set of beliefs relating to pathogenic symbolic entities and mystical personalities.