Dec 15, 2015
MY SISTER FRIEND FROM GRAYLAND, WASHINGTON
For a person who was not fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with those related by blood to me, I have been extraordinarily grateful for the many members…
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.
Dec 15, 2015
WESTPORT, WASHINGTON USA AN ENTHUSIASTIC RETURN TO AMERICANA
Westport, Washington: A report from what used to be the Salmon Capital of the World Going towards the Pacific coast, skirting the Puget Sound, once you pass an indistinct town…
Dec 15, 2015
THE LUCKY ENDOCRINOLOGIST OF HAVANA..OUR ANTHROPOLOGIST IN CUBA
I am writing this in a hotel room in Westport in the State of Washington in the USA. I can hear the ocean in the distance and i can see…
Oct 15, 2015
ANCIENT WISDOM AND THE NEW SCIENCE
ANCIENT WISDOM AND THE NEW SCIENCE When you are with Indigenous people, you begin to understand intuitively, myth, history, symbolism. Claude Levi-Strauss recognized this 80 years ago when he worked…
Oct 15, 2015
Happiness and Health
Recently while in the Amazon River region, I was asked: what do you do keep yourself healthy? There are Medical and Anthropological answer to this question and surprisingly enough, they…
Oct 15, 2015
PLANET OF PRE DIABETES: THE CASE OF COLOMBIAN AMAZON
PLANET OF PRE-DIABETES OR HOW I GOT A DISCOUNT AT A PHOTOSHOP IN COLOMBIAN AMAZON One visionary leader in the year 2000 went against the then enthusiastic endorsement of globalization…
Oct 15, 2015
CONFUSION ABOUT CULTURAL IDENTITY: SOY LETICIANO, CASE REPORT FROM lETICIA IN COLOMBIA
I AM NOTHING. A BEGINNING OF CULTURAL CONFUSION AND LACK OF IDENTITY AND HOW IT IMPACTS HEALTH I have just been to Leticia, in Colombian Amazon, my fourth visit in…
Oct 15, 2015
HOW MUCH DO CUBANS EARN PER MONTH?
HOW MUCH DO CUBANS EARN? This is a question often asked of me, and over the years, representing Cuba, in an unofficial capacity as its roving ambassador, self-described of course,…
Oct 15, 2015
ANIBAL THE BOATMAN OF THE AMAZON
HANNIBAL THE BOATMAN OF THE AMAZON The amazon conjures up various images in the mind of the European or their descendants in USA. It is painting of a savage on…
Sep 15, 2015
MOTORCYCLE AND OBESITY: THE CHINESE CONTRIBUTION TO COLOMBIAN OBESITY
MOTORCYLES AND OBESITY Or China’s Contribution to the Obesity in Developing Countries, in this case Colombia It was in Leticia, a small delightful town along the Amazon, I first heard…
Sep 15, 2015
WHY ARE PEOPLE SO KIND TO ME? AN EREV YOM KIPPUR REFLECTION
Why are people so nice to me? I asked Alejandra, the lady in charge of the Amazonas BnB where I am staying in Leticia, in Colombian Amazon, just across from…
Sep 15, 2015
FRIENDSHIP OVER TIME AND DISTANCE
FRIENDSHIP OVER TIME AND DISTANCE While I was a post graduate student at Jackson Memorial Hospital of the University of Miami, the southern cone of the Americas was always within…
Sep 15, 2015
HOW TO GET RID OF THE FEAR AND HATRED OF THE OTHER: HERE IS A CHANCE
Refugee Situation in Europe and the chance to cleanse our minds about FEAR of the OTHER Unprecedented numbers of people seeking refuge from war torn nations such as Syria, Iraq…
Sep 15, 2015
A MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGIST IN THE LAND OF TWO SPIRITS
The sun was setting as I drove into the village where the Blue House is located. One main road and at the end of the main road is the school…
Sep 15, 2015
THE PHYSICIAN ANTHROPOLOGIST IN COLOMBIA
THE PHYSICIAN ANTHROPOLOGIST in COLOMBIA When people ask me about my profession, I joyously answer: I am an Anthropologist. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a Medical Doctor, the…
Sep 15, 2015
CULTURAL IDENTITY
Pablo Neruda had written that if you do not know or have a cultural identity, you are like a boat without an anchor, moving where the wind takes you, without…
Sep 15, 2015
VIKAS THE KABULIWALLA OF FORT COCHIN ELITE RESTAURANT
Vikas is a Nepali whose family lives in Darjeeling in Northern India at the foot of the Himalayas. He works long hours as a waiter at Elite Restaurant at Princess…
Sep 15, 2015
BUENOS AIRES IN COCHIN
BUENOS AIRES IN COCHIN I used to feel so elated walking along the streets of Palermo, listening with intent, long faded footsteps of Jorge Luis Borges. BA and its culture…