Spaces of Remedy: Cultural Topography of Traditional Healing Knowledge among the Karo Society

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-499-0_10How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Cultural Topography; Traditional Healing; Karo society

Abstract

This study reveals the existence of Karo ethnomedicinal knowledge, specifically regarding the use of animals as medicinal ingredients, and maps the social spaces that function as sites for constructing, reproducing, and transmitting healing experiences. This qualitative research was conducted using an ethnographic approach within the context of the anthropology of place. Data were collected through participant observation and in-depth interviews, then analyzed using ethnographic interview techniques, domain analysis, and taxonomy. The results show that the Karo ethnic community recognizes a wide variety of animals as essential ingredients in healing preparations, each believed to possess specific therapeutic properties, among them is the leech, monitor lizard, The reticulated python, The crocodile, the seahorse, which is processed whole to oil. Besides that, the bat and dog meat is prepared as soup. Another use lion ants in making traditional medicine, as well as palm wine (lapo tuak), houses, healing practice sites, and traditional markets. These are not merely physical locations but also function as social spaces that play an important role in the cultural landscape/topography of healing. These spaces serve as media for transmitting healing knowledge from generation to generation, places for sharing experience of illness and recovery, and healing narratives between individuals and communities, and place for fulfilling material needs for healing herbs and other supplies. The existence of these social spaces forms a dynamic and contextual topography of healing culture in Karo society.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Puspitawati Puspitawati
AU  - Dedi Andriansyah
AU  - Lisbhet Tarigan
AU  - Gadis Anastasia
AU  - Annisa Carolin Br Sebayang
AU  - Lode Wijk Pandapotan Girsang
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/12
TI  - Spaces of Remedy: Cultural Topography of Traditional Healing Knowledge among the Karo Society
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies (ICSSIS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 107
EP  - 120
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-499-0_10
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-499-0_10
ID  - Puspitawati2025
ER  -