Introduction
In Southern Louisiana, a relatively unknown healing tradition provides a case study for the adaptation and utilization of traditional healing within the context of biomedicine and modern American life. Called traiteur in Cajun French or "treater" in English, these healers represent an amalgam of three ethnic groups: the Cajun/European-American, Houma/Native-American and Creole/African-American. Although much is known throughout the country about rural Louisiana's food, music and festivals, the traiteur system of healing continues to exist as a "shy" tradition, familiar only to the practitioners and their patients. Good for What Ails You illuminates this tradition, presenting the most extensive documentation to date of the practices of these three ethnic groups. The film goes beyond the ethnographic description, however, to explore how this healing tradition relates to broader issues in anthropology, the study of comparative medical systems, and the role of "folk" practices in contemporary society. Commentaries interwoven between the segments portraying the individual healers challenge viewers to think about how traiteurs are changing and adapting in response to new technologies of communication — such as consultations by phone, fax and e-mail and media publicity for the healers via television and this documentary film itself.

Traiteur is a modern American healing system, and most of the patients look like everyday, middle class folks. When combining the normalcy of the people's appearance with the fact that they are all speaking English (albeit with pronounced accents), a feeling of familiarity is achieved that will aid in a student's avoidance of "culture shock" and identification with the people. For these reasons and for the broad range of basic anthropological concepts presented, the film and guide are ideal for class use in introductory to anthropology, American culture, folklore, medical anthropology and history of medicine. This guide is intended as a supplementary teaching tool that outlines the text of the film, while highlighting important concepts and providing additional information about the principal characters' backgrounds and conflicts and ethical issues that arose during filmmaking. The format is as follows: first, it lists the major questions covered in the film and other discussion questions (a page which professors may want to xerox for their students); second, it elucidates the topics of the film, organized according to those major questions; third, it provides references from the anthropological literature that correspond to the broader ideas discussed; fourth, it contributes a glossary of definitions to explain various cultural items about traiteur and general anthropological concepts.

The documentary was produced by two Southern Louisiana natives. Glen Pitre, a veteran filmmaker, has made various films, including the feature film Belizaire the Cajun, and written twelve books about the area. Nicole Falgoust produced the film while on leave from her undergraduate studies in anthropology at Vanderbilt University. This study guide was written as part of her senior honors project in anthropology.