Jero Tapakan: Balinese Healer

Book excerpt: Jero Tapakan is a popular village spirit medium on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Clients consult her about problems ranging from physical and mental illness to theft and advice on ritual matters. This book is a fascinating case-study of healing in a Southeast Asian society, and is unique because the book is integrated with film of specific patient treatments, as well as of Jero's own reflections on her life and work. Healer Jero, anthropologist Linda Connor, and ethnographic film-makers Timothy Asch and Patsy Asch collaborated in the study and in the production of the book and films, and for the first time a major academic press has produced a video-cassette of films to accompany the book. The result is an unrivalled resource for people interested in alternative medical systems, and is an important and innovative contribution to ethnographic methodology.