Virginia Boucher

Cindy Rouzer

Soc1DE1

Las Positas College

26 May, 2006

Medicine 

 The ancient Hawaiian culture looked to kahunas for healing if home remedies didn’t work.  Home remedies might include certain foods or teas or herbal treatments.  Many maladies were attributed to curses from the gods or from a malevolent kahuna.  Healing might take the form of “prayer, transfer of the mana, the laying on of hands, and the skilled application of a large pharmacopoeia of herbs and minerals” (Rodman, 7).  The kahuna who practiced the healing arts of la’au lapa’au were said to “…heal broken bones and other traumas almost instantly or within a few days, through prayers and certain esoteric processes” (Rodman, 11).

In central Oahu, there is an alter at Wahiawa, that is called the “Healing Stones”.  These stones are nothing special to look at but are thought to have healing powers. Until the 1920’s they were regularly visited by pilgrims who left offerings to the greater powers who, according to myth, created the stones by petrifying two sisters from Kauai (Discovery, 194). 

       Although homeopathic care is quite prevalent for many residents, all medical care in Hawaii is on the standard of most other US states.  There are various hospitals on the islands.  Some are University affiliated and others are run by HMO groups such as Kaiser, there are also some religion based organizations that provide care.   

One of the treatments more readily available in Hawaii than in some other areas is the hyperbaric chamber that is used for treatment of decompression sickness (DCS) from SCUBA diving (commonly called “the bends”).

To examine medicine and medical care from the sociological perspective, we can see the Functional aspect as providing a balance and filling the need for some comfort in times of illness.  The Conflict perspective shows that the groups in power, the socially high-ranking kahuna, used their influence as healers (or their capability to cause, rather than cure maladies) to attain and retain the respect and elevated status desired.  This status assured their continued control of the actions of the populace.  The Interactionist perspective calls to the symbols of superior knowledge and trust in seeking assistance from a healer… a kahuna or another respected care provider.