|
Grisi Siknis
Grisi siknis (in Miskito language, from English, means "crazy sickness") is a contagious, culture-bound syndrome that occurs predominantly among the Miskito people, Miskito people of eastern Central America and affects mainly young women. It is also known as "grisi munaia", "Chipil siknis", and "Nil siknis". More recently, cases occurring amongst people of Spanish descent have also been reported. Grisi siknis in relation to culturally bound syndromes Joseph Westermeyer, head of psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma, states that a culturally bound syndrome is defined as "certain trance-like disturbances [that] occur with unusual frequencies in certain societies". These syndromes, he says, actually occur in a wide variety of cultures separated by great distance that have similar symptoms including "fear, anxiety, amnesia, aimless escape, psychophysiological symptoms, social withdrawal, behavioral deviance and nondirected violence". However, these symptoms are not confined to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miskito Language
Miskito ( in the Miskito language) is a Misumalpan language spoken by the Miskito people in northeastern Nicaragua, especially in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, and in eastern Honduras. With 700,000 speakers, Miskito is the most widely spoken of a family of languages of Nicaragua and Honduras that has come to be known as Misumalpan. This name is formed from parts of the names of the family's subgroups: Miskito, Sumo, Matagalpan. The relationship of some aspects of the internal family tree to the family is uncertain. However, it is clear that: (1) Miskito is apart from Sumo and Matagalpan, which seem to share a common lower node, and (2) in the past Miskito was heavily influenced by other languages like English, German and Dutch. Sumo is thought to have been dominant in the area before the period of Miskito ascendancy. Today the relationship has been reversed: many former Sumo speakers have shifted to Miskito, which has in turn heavily influenced the Sumo dialects. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |