Pathogen or panacea? A new perspective on culture and illness

How a rare condition in the Arctic can teach us more about the connections between culture and health

“Alnayah having Piblock-to (Arctic Hysteria)”. An Inughuit woman restrained in a straightjacket for Pibloktoq. Source: Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum (1909)

The Arctic tundra of Greenland, home to the Inughuit people, stands witness to one of medicine’s greatest conundrums. During the late 19th and early 20th century expeditions to Greenland…