Indigenous and Cultural Methods of Healing
I agree that cultural beliefs, healing practices, and traditions are vital to individuals from the Global Majority. As such, it is important to recognize how systems in which we work or live are designed to support or get rid of these concepts. One of the major challenges that indigenous and cultural healing methods of healing face is biomedical hegemony. The concept of biomedical hegemony refers to the dominance and imposition of Western biomedical models of health and healing over other knowledge systems, particularly those of Indigenous cultures. This hegemony is characterized by the marginalization, devaluation, and suppression of alternative healing practices, such as those rooted in Indigenous traditions.
Even today, especially through pop culture, the concept of biomedical hegemony is prevalent. My thoughts on this is that it is mainly because we exist in a capitalist society where healthcare has become more about money than helping people, and traditional healing methods threaten these billion-dollar industries. Time and time again, we have seen Western medical practices recommend products that they initially condemned when they were being used by traditional or indigenous communities. An example of this can be seen in toothpaste—for centuries, indigenous communities used charcoal to brush their teeth, but this practice was condemned as primitive, and fluoride toothpaste was recommended. However, recently, dentists and toothpaste manufacturing companies have turned to charcoal-made toothpaste, as fluoride was deemed toxic. The same case is being witnessed with the increasing rates of home births.
As such, I believe that one of the reasons that indigenous and cultural healing methods are usually suppressed or rarely taught in medical fields is that they will not result in people spending huge amounts of money just so they can get better. Nevertheless, I disagree with Sue et al. (2022) that healing practices should be based on intent and not consequences. We live in a world of consequences, and as such, the result and not the intent determines whether the action was good or bad. Therefore, all healing practices should also be based on this, and the pros should outweigh the cons.
Based on this suppression, it will be a challenge to get acquainted with indigenous and cultural healing methods, not to mention changing our own mindsets, which have been programmed to think of these methods as primitive, not useful because they are not based on scientific research and superstitious. Therefore, coming across this topic and getting to delve extensively into it is vital because we not only learn how to work effectively and help the Global Majority but also learn our shortcomings when it comes to passing judgments or, rather, ethnocentrism in relation to medical practices.
References
Sue, D. W., Sue, D., Neville, H. A., & Smith, L. (2022). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons.
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Question 
How do Indigenous and cultural methods of healing differ from conventional Western medical practices, and what are the key principles and practices that define these methods within specific cultures?
Indigenous and Cultural Methods of Healing