Browsing by Author "Jan de Boer"

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    A healer's dream: A portrait of a guided Ñaka, local medicine in Eastern Caprivi (Namibia)
    (Utrecht University; University of Namibia, 2026) Jan de Boer
    This research focus on the folk sector: the indigenous healthcare system rooted in local culture. This study describes the illness conceptions and practices of a local healer and the users of his care. However, the folk sector does not exist in isolation from the professional sector. Despite the considerable differences between the folk and professional sectors on the comparative dimensions outlined above, sick individuals draw upon both sectors, moving back and forth between them in their search for recovery. As we shall see, indigenous illness conceptions provide the legitimating framework for this movement. The professional and folk sectors come into contact through their shared users. This research, therefore attended to the question of how this indirect relationship manifests itself in the practice of ñaka