MEDICINE MAN

member of a nonliterate society who is knowledgeable about the magic potencies of various substances (medicines) and skilled in the rituals in which they are administered, particularly for healing. The term has been used most widely in the context of indigenous American cultures. Some medicine men (women may perform this function in some societies) undergo rigorous initiation to gain supernormal powers, while others are essentially learned experts. The medicine man commonly carries a kit of objectssuch as feathers of valued birds, suggestively shaped or marked stones, or hallucinogenic plantsthat have magical associations; in some cases, the stones are considered to have been embedded in the body of the medicine man at his initiation. Correspondingly, the work of healing often involves the extraction, by sucking, pulling, or other means, of offending substances from the patient's body. Because nonliterate societies often attribute illness and other distressing situations to the activities of witches or sorcerers, the term witch doctor, denoting a person who diagnoses and treats such conditions, was coined by 18th-century Western observers; in the late 20th century the term was generally considered pejorative. See also shaman.