Health Seeking Behaviour among the Migrant Tribal Workers of Tea Plantation in Assam: Some Observations

Abstract

In anthropology, emphasis is generally put on the group; and on the study of human beings within the framework of a culture. Every culture has its own notion regarding health and health seeking behaviour; and this is often referred to as Health Culture. The health of any community, particularly of a tribal community is a function of the interaction between cultural and biological practices, the genetic attributes and the environmental condition. It has long been recognized that Health Culture is a suitable field for ethnographic research in anthropology. In the paper, an attempt has been made to have an understanding of the health culture of the migrant tribal worker in Assam tea plantation with special reference to their health seeking behavior. The people generally subscribe to their own understanding of health, disease and disease etiology, as defined by their tradition and culture. With regard to disease etiology, they believe in both supernatural and natural forces. Some diseases are believed to be the outcome of the wrath of supernatural powers; and some are caused by natural factors. Their prolonged contact with the modern medicare system for around sixteen decades does not seem to have the desired impact on their overwhelming subscription to the traditional sub-culture of medicine. Despite the availability of modern medicare services at the door step, the people usually give priority to traditional or folk medicine. The inability of folk medicine to cure some ailments sometimes may compel them to avail of the services of the hospital or some other modern health practitioners. Sometimes, however, they continue both the treatments simultaneously. On the whole, till date, the migrant tribal tea workers in Assam are by and large, relatively more tradition-oriented with regard to their health seeking behaviour. Sometimes, however, both the traditional and the modern health care systems have been found to complement each other; and the people use both the systems apparently without any reservation or any feeling of contradiction.