Fallen fontanelle: culture-bound or cross-cultural?

Rather than bound to one culture, fallen fontanelle has been labeled as an illness or recognized as a symptom through time and space. The condition may be called siriasus, sitibundum, fontanellae collapsus, el apostema cálido del cerebro, Blatfallen, Blattschiessen, entzündung des Gehirns und der Ge...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inMedical anthropology Vol. 15; no. 2; p. 137
Main Author Kay, M A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.04.1993
Subjects
Central America - ethnology
Cranial Sutures
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Dehydration - etiology
Dehydration - therapy
Diarrhea, Infantile - complications
Diarrhea, Infantile - therapy
Hispanic Americans
Humans
Infant
Medicine, Traditional
United States
Central America
United States
Online AccessGet more information

Cover

More Information
Summary:Rather than bound to one culture, fallen fontanelle has been labeled as an illness or recognized as a symptom through time and space. The condition may be called siriasus, sitibundum, fontanellae collapsus, el apostema cálido del cerebro, Blatfallen, Blattschiessen, entzündung des Gehirns und der Gehirnhäute der Kleinen Kinder, coup de soleil, sorte de maladie causée par l'inflammation des membranes du cerveau, head-mould-shot, mollera caída, desmollerado, gual, split skull, sutt, nhova, kubabula, chipande, phogwana and dehydration. Defining features of this condition as well as prevention and treatment have corresponded to the specific cultural setting and ethnographic present. Fallen fontanelle (or fontanel) is "a culturally interpreted symptom rather than culture-bound" (Low 1985). The methodological perspective is an ethnohistorical recounting of change in the meaning of this symptom.
ISSN:0145-9740
DOI:10.1080/01459740.1993.9966086