Suchergebnisse

Using a case study approach, this article explores the role of the Jose Domingo de Obaldia maternity hospital in Western Panama, and its policies and practices for responding to the cultural differences between Panamanian hospital staff and pregnant Ngöble Buglé patients, and their different understanding of health and illness that has been shaped by principles of traditional medicine. Using a range of in-depth interviews with hospitality staff and management and intercultural interpreters, this study explores how cultural aspects and differences can be of a compound and complex nature, requiring strong intercultural understanding, awareness andcross-cultural dialogue. The case of the Ngöble Buglé illustrates how interculturalism can foster such cultural inclusiveness and cross-cultural dialogue, and how interculturalism can have implications for other Indigenous communities in Latin America, and for non-Indigenous communities facing increasingly cultural diverse environments and contexts.

Many Indigenous islander populations in Latin America and the Caribbean have been facing high levels of poverty and widespread economic and social exclusion. Based on a case study approach, this paper proposes the concept of interculturalism as a means toward collaboration between Indigenous islander communities and non-Indigenous stakeholders, to influence the Indigenous islander communities' socio-economic development. The study focuses on the Indigenous people of the autonomous Kuna Yala region of San Blas in Panama and explores how intercultural principles and characteristics could contribute to a cross-cultural dialogue between the Kuna people and external stakeholders, and to the socio-economic growth through tourism development in the Kuna region. Considering that certain aspects related to the Kuna culture are of a compound and complex nature, mutual trust and awareness, intercultural understanding and dialogue are critical in this process.