Tóth Ferenc szerk.: Fiatal Néprajzkutatók Országos Konferenciája. Makó, 1991. augusztus 26-28. A Makói Múzeum Füzetei 75. (Makó, 1993)

ELŐADÁSOK - KOLTAY ERIKA: A népi orvoslás fogalmi kérdéséről

Temesváry Rezső Előítéletek, népszokások és babonák a szülészet körében Magyarországon. Budapest. A magyar népi orvoslás kutatása. A Magyar Népkutatás Kézikönyve II. 18. Budapest. Orvostudomány és babona. Orvosi Hetilap 17. Gazdaság és társadalom. A megértő szociológia alapvonalai 1. Budapest. ABSTRACT ON CONCEPTUAL QUESTIONS OF FOLK MEDICINE Erika Koltay Recently, there has been an increased interest in traditional methods of medical treatment, medicines prepared of natural ingredients, and healthy ways of living. Methods of folk medicine, which in the past were considered only folk superstitions by many, are today at the centre of attention and considered to be of valuable "popular knowledge." But what is, or can be, called "folk medicine" today? How did this concept change in the course of time, if it did at all? Up to what extent is the obscurity of the concept of "folk medicine" responsible for all of those problems which occur durint the systematization of the issues of folk medicine? The issues provided by the recommended topics of the conference refer to the whole of ethnography; the problems, however, which are raised by these topics, make a strong influence on all the fields of ethnography. Neither is the field of folk medicine an exception; the aim of my paper, therefore, is to raise the problems occurint palpably in this field. Beyond clarifying the concept of folk medicine, I analyse the concept of natural medicine as well. Through all of this, I also examine the phenomena which make people turn to the new (or always existing?) "quacks" or natural healers. 1899 Vajkai Aurél 1948 Verebélyi Tibor 1927 Weber, Max 1987 100