Native Hawaiian culture group 2. Life Sciences Research Paper

NATIVE HAWAIIAN CULTURE
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A. Research the selected cultural group’s perspective of disease, illness and healing.
• Identify what are their beliefs when it comes to disease and the role ethnomedicine plays in healing.
Niihauan people shared the beliefs and cultural practices with the larger Hawaii community. Their lives, understanding and approaches to healthcare are therefore similar to those of the Hawaiian people living in the other Hawaii islands. To the Hawaiian population, health was understood as a result of Pono or rightness. They belief ill health occurred when the body was not in perfect balance and the measures to treat them were centered on spiritual, mental and physical interventions taught and believed to restore the perfect harmony. Thus, the approach to medical therapy is psycho-spiritual using methods such as prayer, revelations and group discussion with physical treatments.
• Who does the healing in your cultural group (Medicine man/woman? Shaman? Healer? Etc.)
Healing was done by medicine men and women who spend years even decades to understand how to diagnose and treat these illnesses and diseases. The healers were known as Kahunas and they held a revered position in the society. They used herbal medicine (la`au lapa`au) and the process of learning how to identify different herbs and how prepare them for administration was lengthy and comprehensive. During diagnosis, the kahunas made careful observations and palpation to determine the treatment process. Healers learnt the art of massage which was coupled with many treatment processes, bone setting, hydrotherapy ad use of herbs. They also learnt the songs, chants and the prayers that were meant to restore balance to the spiritual aspect of the patient.
• What is a common illness in this population and how is it treated?
The common history to this community was introduced by the seamen who anchored in the islands in their pacific expeditions. Notably, captain Cook and his seamen brought measles and smallpox which decimated the Hawaiian population CITATION Sch011 \l 1033 (Schmitt & Nordyke, 2001). Two centuries later, the population has never fully recovered and the disease was largely untreatable as Hawaiian people had very little immunity against them. Traditional healers (Kahuna) instead referred the patient to western healers for such diseases.
B. Research Kinship and domestic lives structures in your selected cultural group.
• How does the cultural group trace descent? (Unilineal (if so matriarchal or patriarchal)? Bilineal?) Explain.
The Niihauan people have ambilineal culture group descent. Most Polyne...