1953] RITZENTHALER, CHIPPEWA HEALTH 219 



Part Two 



The Cause and Background 

 of the Attitude 



Thus far, the discussion has been concerned with an analysis of the 

 aspects of culture in which the Chippewa have exhibited a preoccupation 

 with health. This section will deal with an analysis of the reasons for this 

 interest in health. The most obvious problem that arises is how much real 

 reason is there for such an interest. The analysis of primitive culture by 

 anthropologists has clearly revealed the fact that necessity does not always 

 determine the cultural interests. Man is not necessarily a rational being and 

 many social cynosures seem to have no logical basis. Thus there is no actual 

 necessity for the elaborate social organization built up by the Australians. 

 They could survive as well with a simple system. An elaborate death cult 

 as expressed by the early Egyptian culture or the prehistoric Hopewellian 

 peoples of the greater Mississippi Valley does not necessarily mean that the 

 cultures were threatened by oblivion. Why one group like the Hopi develop 

 a rich religious complex, while another group, like the Pima, living under 

 similar physical conditions, almost ignore the religious phase, cannot be 

 explained in terms of necessity. 



Focusing again on the Chippewa, the first question to be considered is 

 how much of the preoccupation with health is merely a cultural interest, and 

 how much is a reflection of the actual situation. In other words, are the 

 Chippewa actually sickly people and is their interest in health a direct re- 

 sponse to that situation, or is health merely another unexplainable cynosure.' 



1. THE MODERN HEALTH SITUATION 



An analysis of the amount and types of sickness and longevity rate in 

 recent times was carried on by two methods: (1) interviews with field and 

 hospital nurses and physicians, and, (2) by an examination of the health 

 records at the government hospital. 



The hospital records revealed some rather startling facts which are con- 

 vincing evidence that the interest in health is based on a serious health 



