Infantile Colic Among The Traditional Shona People: An Ethnopsychological perspective

Abstract

The study provides an ethnopsychological view of infantile colic among the Shona people. Ethnopsychological perspectives are culturally grounded views of psychological phenomena, and intersect a number of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology and cultural psychology. The study considered Shona perspectives on the aetiology, diagnosis and treatment of colic among the traditional Shona people from their cultural lenses. Unlike Western perspectives which regard infantile colic as primarily reactive physiological phenomenon to gastrointestinal disorders or other psychosomatic stimulation, the traditional Shona people emphasize the social aspects of infantile colic. They may also ascribe infantile colic to diseases of childhood and the influence of supernatural powers.

Key words:

• Infantile Colic
• infants
• colic
• culture
• Shona people