Culture, Sexuality and Indigenous Healing in Pakistan: Exploring Sexual Health Care through Hakeems and Herbalists
Culture, Sexuality and Indigenous Healing in Pakistan
Abstract
Objective: This paper aims to understand the relationship between sexuality, culture, and male sexual health through the role of hakeems as an indigenous healing framework in Pakistan.
Study Design: Participant observation (by first author) and personal practice (by second author).
Place and Duration of Study: At a matab where second author practices hikmat is located in Islamabad. The fieldwork in the form of collaborative learning has been going on since September 2019 to date.
Materials and Methods: This research is based on the participant observation at the matab where people come to seek herbal medicine and consultancy from the hakeem. Narrative account of anthropologist and practice of certified hakeem, through an interactive exchange of ideas about questions of the study, was employed. The study has taken information in the form of semi-structured interviews from the patients who either gave consent or asked to remain anonymous.
Results: Results have shown that the nature of the relation between sexuality and cultural order have compelled people to seek hikmat as indigenous healing on a long-term basis. The framework of indigenous healers has helped to understand the cultural logic of sexuality, which is embedded more closely in the practice of hakeems than the biomedical regime.
Conclusion: Cultural competence, in this case the same cultural background of the hakeem and patients, adds to our understanding of the indigenous healing framework, sexuality, and culture.
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