Je Jongle Au Bon Dieu Quand Je Traite

"Je jongle au bon Dieu quand je traite" highlights a local understanding of traitement, or treatment as it is called in English, a healing tradition specific to Francophone Louisiana. After the Acadian resettlement in Louisiana--a Spanish colony at the time--the Cajuns developed a unique, blended culture in response to both a physical environment (which included swamps, bayous, marshes, and prairies) and a social environment that mixed continental and Caribbean French peoples, Germans, Spaniards, Indigenous peoples, and African and Anglo-Americans. Sharing the need for medical attention, the practice of traitement--and the importance of traiteurs--was born.

In this work, presented in English on one side and French on the other, Dana David Gravot explores the practice of traitement through her decades-long experience interviewing the traiteurs themselves. In particular, she explains the complex and often unspoken social rules that underpin the tradition, and notes a few of the common herbal remedies that often accompany a traitement. By combining years of academic study with highly personal and intimate interviews, Gravot underscores the significance of this local healing practice.