The different kinds of cultural perspectives on health and disease of the participants are related to their knowledge, beliefs, values and practices manifested in various forms of lifestyle in... Show moreThe different kinds of cultural perspectives on health and disease of the participants are related to their knowledge, beliefs, values and practices manifested in various forms of lifestyle in Indonesia. The cultural diversity of the population is also related to differences in health behaviour. Nursing as a profession has to be able to encourage clients and patients, particularly with Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) to obtain holistic nursing in an effort to meet all client needs, regardless of their ethno-cultural background and their diverse beliefs and values about health and healing. Every effort to improve cultural competency among nursing practitioners who fully work with diverse patients from the numerous ethno-cultural groups in Indonesia is a challenge. One important step which can be taken is to learn and understand the Sundanese people as the dominant cultural group in West Java. The situation certainly requires a deepening of understanding of social behaviour and public health in terms of how to use traditional institutions such as kearifan kesehatan lokal, as well as indigenous knowledge of jamu and ubar kampung in dealing with health care of the elderly with CVD. Show less
The Sundanese people, the largest ethnic group in West Java, have been using traditional medicine for a long time. Known as ubar kampung, Sundanese indigenous knowledge, beliefs and practices of... Show moreThe Sundanese people, the largest ethnic group in West Java, have been using traditional medicine for a long time. Known as ubar kampung, Sundanese indigenous knowledge, beliefs and practices of traditional medicine are based on local people’s knowledge and use of Medicinal, Aromatic, and Cosmetic (MAC) plants. MAC plants have continuously provided the Sundanese community with practical and readily available traditional medicine. Despite the remarkable contribution of indigenous medical knowledge in society, the practical utilisation of indigenous resources at the community level have hardly ever been the focus of research. At the same time, the practice of Sundanese traditional medicine in West Java is also at risk of being lost. To address the lack of studies on indigenous knowledge and its role in patterns of health care utilisation, this study aims to document, describe, and analyse knowledge of, beliefs in, and practices with MAC plants among the Sundanese community members in the environment where biomedicine and traditional medicine are co-existing. While most studies on health care utilisation are currently limited by the use of one medical system - generally speaking, the modern medical system - the present study has a primary focus on utilisation across medical systems. The broad objective of this study is to explore the utilisation of the plural medical system with particular attention to the role of knowledge and practice of ubar kampung by the Sundanese community for the treatment of diabetes mellitus.This study employs the ‘Leiden Ethnosystems’ Approach’ methodology to document and analyse Indigenous Knowledge Systems at the community level which consists of three basic concepts including the Participant’s View (PV), the Field of Ethnological Study (FES) and the Historical Dimension (HD). In the context of health care utilisation behaviour, this approach can also be extended to the concept of medical pluralism in which the traditional, transitional, and modern medical systems co-exist within the community. Comparison of the medical systems in the community provides a better understanding of the determinants of health care utilisation behaviour. Show less
This investigation is an attempt to gain a better understanding of the religious and socio-political organization of pre-colonial Tobabatak society. In literature the traditionally stateless... Show moreThis investigation is an attempt to gain a better understanding of the religious and socio-political organization of pre-colonial Tobabatak society. In literature the traditionally stateless Tobabatak society is usually depicted as being organized principally along kinship lines and there is still a widespread perception that in pre-colonial times there were no more highly developed political units than villages. Fieldwork, archival research, and research into old Tobabatak texts have produced a different picture. Tobabatak society did indeed never transform into statehood (in the sense of having a centralized government with the military power to enforce its decisions) but it had a functional alternative at its disposal: The many genuinely democratically organized ‘house-organizations’ (bius) of which the society consisted, each composed of thousands or even tens of thousands of members, were abl e to organize co-operation for the construction of irrigation-facilities and other communal projects (sometimes on a huge scale) and for the permanent infrastructure of hydraulic agriculture. Within these house-organizations the parbaringin as spiritual as well as political representatives of the smaller units of society on the higher levels, and the paniaran as the representatives of the women played a leading role without ever using any military might. Show less
