Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2005 Continuity and Change in Islamic Ethnopharmacological Practice: New Methods for Cognitive Dialectometry Kevin D. Pittle Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN ISLAMIC ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL PRACTICE: NEW METHODS FOR COGNITIVE DIALECTOMETRY By KEVIN D. PITTLE A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2005 Copyright © 2005 Kevin D. Pittle All Rights reserved The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Kevin D. Pittle Defended on October 21, 2005. _____________________________ Judy K. Josserand Professor Directing Dissertation _____________________________ Peter P. Garretson Outside Committee Member _____________________________ Glen H. Doran Committee Member _____________________________ Bruce T. Grindal Committee Member Approved: ____________________________________________ Dean R. Falk, Chair, Department of Anthropology The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to the many people who have helped me to complete this dissertation. First, I would like to thank my dissertation supervisor, J. Kathryn Josserand for her commitment to excellence and her unwavering support throughout the course of my studies. In addition, I would also like to thank her husband, Nicholas A. Hopkins, a mentor to whom I owe much of the inspiration behind this research. I am also grateful to my doctoral committee, Dr. Glen Doran, Dr. Bruce Grindal, and Dr. Peter Garretson, who have all contributed significantly to my formation as a scholar. I would like to thank the Garden Club of America, whose generous funding trough the Anne S. Chatham Fellowship in Medicinal Botany made this research possible. In addition, I would like to thank the Florida State University for awarding me a Dissertation Research Grant to complete this project. I am grateful to Dr. James Miller, Mr. Riadh Saadaoui, and the staff at Le Centre d'études maghrébines à Tunis for their assistance during the field component of this project. I would also especially like to thank Khaled for his friendship and hard work, as well as Jamal, Tawfik, Sabr, and the other herbalists who shared their knowledge of healing plants with me. I would like to acknowledge my debt to Bonnie Brown, who edited an early draft of this manuscript, and to David Russell who helped with the figures. Any deficiencies that remain are my own responsibility and do not reflect your excellent work, but rather, my own recalcitrance. Finally, I wish to thank my beloved family. Without the help and inspiration of my parents, Marshall and Eileen Pittle, and my grandmother, Esther Danto, I would not have embarked on this journey. My in-laws, Marge and Bill Glauch also provided a great deal of support and encouragement, for which I am thankful. I owe my deepest gratitude to my wife, Natasha, and to our dear children, Emeth, Mekerah, and Jonathan, who endured much, encouraged much, and without whom I would not have been able to complete this work. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… vi List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… vii Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… xi INTRODUCTION: SECOND GENERATION COGNITIVE ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE PROBLEM OF HISTORY ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Toward a Solution for the Problem of History ……………………………………………………………… 3 Necessary Assumptions …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 General Research Hypotheses …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6 Significance of the Study ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6 Delimitations ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 8 Preliminary Definitions and Key Terms ……………………………………………………………………………… 10 1. BACKGROUND: ISLAMIC MEDICINE IN CONTEXT ……………………………………………………………………………… 14 The “System” of Islamic Medicine …………………………………………………………………………………………… 14 Philosophical Bases of the System ………………………………………………………………………… 17 Prevention and Treatment in the System …………………………………………………………… 19 Underreporting of an Important Aspect of the System: Herbs ……… 20 The Sources of Middle Eastern Medicine …………………………………………………………………………… 21 Ancient Near Eastern Medicine …………………………………………………………………………………… 21 Greek Humoral Medicine ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 25 Prophetic Medicine and Popular Movements ……………………………………………………… 28 Problems with Identifying the “Sources” of Islamic Medicine …… 29 Relevant Historical Interactions of Middle Eastern Societies ………………… 30 The Pharmaceutical Trade ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 32 Traveling Physicians, Traveling Texts ……………………………………………………………… 34 Trade and Pilgrimage Routes ………………………………………………………………………………………… 36 Socio-Political Factors …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 43 Linguistic Factors ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 44 Shifting Intellectual Centers …………………………………………………………………………………… 51 The Significance of Historical Interactions for the Development of Islamic Medicine ……………………………………………………………… 52 2. LITERATURE REVIEW: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL SOURCES FOR COGNITIVE DIALECTOMETRY AND DIACHRONIC PHENETICS ………………………………………… 54 Cognitive Categories: G1 and G2 Perspectives and Instruments ………………… 54 First-Generation Cognitive Studies ……………………………………………………………………… 55 Second-Generation Cognitive Studies …………………………………………………………………… 67 Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Change ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 74 Biological Models …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 75 Linguistic Models …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 84 Cultural Models ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 104 iv Implications of Prior Theory and Method for the Present Research …… 123 3. METHODS: MEASURING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COGNITIVE DIALECTS …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 124 Design Parameters of the Research Project ………………………………………………………………… 124 Derivation of Specific Hypotheses and Associated Variables …………………… 131 Sources and Sampling Procedures …………………………………………………………………………………………… 133 Data Collection and Analysis: Techniques and Measures ………………………………… 136 Limitations of the Study ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 143 4. RESULTS: A NUMERICAL TAXONOMY OF ISLAMIC MEDICAL SYSTEMS AND THEIR ANTECEDENTS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 145 Description of the Sample …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 145 Group I, Modern Sources Only …………………………………………………………………………………… 145 Group II, Pre-Modern and Modern Core Sources ………………………………………… 148 Results …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 152 The Cognitive Structures of Islamic Medical Systems and Their Antecedents ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 152 Relationships and Influences among Sources ……………………………………………… 161 The Efficacy of Various Instruments and Measures ……………………………… 185 CONCLUSIONS: THE EFFICACY OF A PHENETIC APPROACH TO COGNITION …………………………… 188 Overview of the Study ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 188 Toward the Measurement of Cognitive Dialects of Islamic Ethnomedical Practice ……………………………………………………………………………………… 188 Procedures for Measuring Cognitive Dialects …………………………………………… 190 Research Hypotheses Considered ……………………………………………………………………………… 193 Results and Conclusions ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 193 Major Findings ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 194 Conclusions and Interpretation ……………………………………………………………………………… 194 Implications ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 199 Theory ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 199 Methodology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 200 Recommendations for Future Research ………………………………………………………………………………… 200 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 199 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 221 v LIST OF TABLES 1. Similarity Rankings of Sources in Group I, in Arbitrary Units …………………… 172 2. K-Means Clustering Results for Sources in Group I (A) ……………………………………… 175 3. Similarity Rankings of Sources in Group II, in Arbitrary Units ………………… 178 4. K-Means Clustering Results for Sources in Group II (UA/G) ………………………………… 182 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 The Middle East and Central Asia: Political Boundaries, 1990 ……………………… 31 1.2 The home of myrrh and frankincense …………………………………………………………………………………………… 33 1.3 Ibn Battuta’s Return itinerary from China to North Africa, 1346-1349 … 38 1.4 External Trade Routes of India ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 39 1.5 Trade Routes Connect the Middle East and Asia ……………………………………………………………… 40 1.6 Some Principal Lines of Trade in Africa and the Middle East ………………………… 41 1.7 African Pilgrimage Routes to Mecca, ca. 1300-1900 …………………………………………………… 42 1.8 Muslim schools of law and Sufi brotherhoods: c. 1500 …………………………………………… 45 1.9 The Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, C.E. 600 …………………………………… 46 1.10 The Spread of Islam ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 47 1.11 Major Middle Eastern and Central Asian Languages ………………………………………………… 49 2.1 Levels of Contrast