May 15, 2026
Curing vs. Healing: An Afternoon at an Indigenous Clinic
A field note on the difference between curing disease and healing persons, drawn from an afternoon in an Indigenous clinic.
Stories
Field notes from the road
Medicine, culture, travel, food, healing, and human stories from my archive. Start with a trail, search for a memory, or move by year.
Roads, meals, clinics, and human encounters.Archive into inquiry
These field notes are not only memory. They are the ground from which my new field inquiries begin.
The current inquiry follows one trail through the archive: food culture, metabolic health, Indigenous knowledge, and Suriname.
Apr 15, 2026
A Physician-Anthropologist Among Indigenous Peoples
A reflection on medicine, anthropology, and long relationships with Indigenous communities around the world.
Jan 15, 2025
Healing and Caring Rather Than Curing Among Indigenous Peoples
A field note on Indigenous care, monthly clinical gatherings, and the difference between service and healing.
Jun 15, 2023
AMERINDIO. THE CULTURAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF INDIGENOUS MEXICANS TO MEXICAN CULTURE
When you are in Mexico, it does not take very long to realise the contribution of the indigenous people to the culture of Mexico. Unlike the predominantly protestant immigrant country…
May 15, 2022
IT IS WITH THE HEART THAT ONE SEES : TRIBUTE TO THE GREAT NURSES THAT I HAVE WORKED WITH AMONG INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
The Elderly Indian Nurse shuffled her small frame into the consulting room of a health clinic of a traditional group of Indians in the middle of nowhere (as the europeans…
Mar 15, 2022
WHAT ALL HAPPENS IN THE COURSE OF A DAY…AN UNUSUAL DAY IN AN UNUSUAL LIFE .. HUMILITY, GRATITUDE AND COMPASSION, SAY THE INDIGENOUS WISDOM
it has been an extraordinary day of euphoria: doing exactly what you want to do with your body, thoughts and mind. It began with a poem arriving from a friend…
Feb 15, 2022
AFTER A DAY IN THE PARK TAKING CARE OF ITS INDIGENOUS POPULATION, 30 MINUTES OF VIPASSANA AND ITS EFFECT ON THE BLOOD PRESSURE
When it is 10 pm in Miami, it is 6 30 am in Tehran and the city is waking up A friend of mine from there joins me in 30…
Jan 15, 2022
ENDOCRINOLOGIST-ANTHROPOLOGIST TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, IN THIS CASE THE AMERICAN INDIANS. LOS INDIOS
I am happy to have come to the USA for my post graduate studies in Endocrinology (excellent clinical education at Jackson Memorial Hospital of the University of Miami) but even…
Dec 15, 2021
A LOVELY DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN ANTHROPOLOGIST, SO MUCH PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION OF INDIGENOUS AND NON INDIGENOUS LIFE
What all happens in the course of a day? asked the poet. Each day is an unexpected gift, you may meet someone new, taught my erudite jewish teacher in Melbourne,…
May 15, 2021
IS KINDNESS CONTAGIOUS: A WONDERFUL DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN ENDOCRINOLOGIST/ANTHROPOLOGIST TO THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
One of the pleasures of driving leisurely to the National Park to visit the Indigenous people, is to listen to BBC World Service.. It is truly, as it claims, the…
May 15, 2021
VISIT TO AN INDIGENOUS VILLAGE AND THEY INTRODUCE ME TO THE FOREST
Last night I felt an excitement which I couldn't explain and always reminded me of my Meskwakia teacher : What a pity you are not smart enough to understand all…
May 15, 2021
AS THE WORLD BECOME MORE AWARE OF THE PLIGHT OF MARGINALIZED, OPPRESSED PEOPLE, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THE PLEA OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE WORLD: NOT ONLY IN THE AMERICAS, AUSTRALIA AND AOTEAROA BUT ALSO ADIVASI/INDIA, ORANG ASLI/MALAYSIA, SAN/SOUTHERN AFRICA
“LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERATIVE REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL, JAIR MESSIAS BOLSONARO by Free Journalists • 01/03/2019 Mr. President, We have already been decimated, tutelage and victims…
Apr 15, 2021
INDUSTRIALIZATION OF FOOD HAS BEEN THE DEATH BLOW TO THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
When talking to my friends at the Ticuna village along the Colombian Amazon, the fear they express, this time around from the Settlers from Europe, is the industrialization of the…
Nov 15, 2020
WHEN WOULD BRAZILIANS BEGIN TO TREAT THEIR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AS EQUALS? WHOSE LAND IT IS ANYWAY?
The Video is Silent Killer Coronavirus in the Amazon I heard from my Ticuna friends that they were also relying upon the remedies from the Forest to fight this disease.…
Aug 15, 2020
REMEMBERING WHAT MY INDIGENOUS TEACHERS TOLD ME ABOUT DIABETES CARE AMONG THE NATIVE PEOPLE
I will never forget the words of the elder, Adeline W. Here we were sitting at her modest home in the settlement of Indians out of the bling and business…
Jun 15, 2020
INDIGENOUS SURVIVAL IN LATIN AMERICA. PABLO ALBARENGA OF URUGUAY THE PHOTOGRAPHER
The winners of the professional category of the 2020 Sony World Photography Awards have been announced, with Pablo Albarenga named as Photographer of the Year for his work on indigenous…
Apr 15, 2020
ISRAELI INNOVATIONS HERE TO STAY: A BOON TO ISOLATED INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
The world-wide shut down has been observed to various degrees in different parts of the world. Israel was one of the first countries to shut down its borders, impose lockdown.…
Jun 15, 2019
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE DYING BECAUSE OF LACK OF IMMUNITY . THE YEAR IS 2019
Many of the indigenous peoples around the world had lived their lives in relative comfort and conditions when OUTSIDERS began to arrive.. it does not matter that it happened 4000-2500…