soch111 history of healing · o arabic, asian, mediterranean and european influences ... charms,...

SOCH111 – History of Healing

www.endeavour.edu.au

Session 4

Traditional African Medicine

Department of Social

Sciences

© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 2

Session Aims

• To describe the historical and cultural

contexts of indigenous African medicine

• To define the general African worldview

and how it relates to their Traditional

Medicine

• To describe indigenous African medicine

practices historically and today


The Continent of Africa

By Data courtesy

Marc Imhoff of

NASA GSFC and

Christopher

Elvidge of NOAA

NGDC. Image by

Craig Mayhew and

Robert Simmon,

NASA GSFC. -

http://eoimages.gs

fc.nasa.gov/ve//14

38/land_lights_16

384.tif, Public

Domain,

https://commons.w

ikimedia.org/w/ind

ex.php?curid=210

39068

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21039068


Indigenous African History

o Believed to be the oldest continent on

earth

o Place of evolution of the human species

o Stone Age: first human technology

o Neolithic Period: a wet and fertile Sahara

(8000-5000 BCE)

o Beginnings of agriculture

o Egyptian culture emerged along lower

regions of the Nile River around 3000

BCE

By José-Manuel Benito Álvarez —> Locutus Borg - Own

work, Public Domain,




Sub-Saharan Africa

2000-500 BCE

o Bantu-speaking tribes

migrated and settled

into sub-Saharan Africa

o Iron smelting

o The first Kingdoms of

Sub-Saharan Africa are

established

By Mukuyu - National Archives, CC BY-SA 4.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?c

urid=41147465



Trade History

o Around 1550-300 BCE

– Maritime Trade, the

Phoenicians

o 500BCE – trade

increased between

north and south of

Africa

o Ivory, salt, precious

metals

o Slaves By No machine-readable source provided. Own work

assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0,


8318



Trade History

o Sea trade routes linked Africa,

Asia and Europe

o Around 50 BCE - Roman

Empire conquered N. Africa

o 9th Century CE - Arabian trade

missions in N.E. Africa

o 15th Century CE – European

trade exploration by the

Portuguese, Spanish and

English

o 16th Century CE – transport of

slaves to the Americas

By Runehelmet derived from

Aliesin - CC BY-SA 3.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w

/index.php?curid=19874095



Cultural Context

o Long history of Africa leads to diverse cultural

tapestry

o Arabic, Asian, Mediterranean and European

influences

o All of Africa colonised, except Ethiopia and Liberia

o Impact of colonialism influenced systems of

indigenous knowledge

o Slavery, capitalism, colonialism influenced

indigenous African development


Colonialisation and Independence

By Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting) -

Own work CC BY-SA 3.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org

/w/index.php?curid=2212637

By Original uploader was Mehmetaergun;

recreated by Nobelium CC BY-SA 3.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.ph

p?curid=1813972




Revision Questions

o Name two economic forces that influenced the

early development of African culture.

o Name two early cultures/civilisations that were

factors in shaping the early African landscape.

Other food for thought:o What impact might Roman, Arabian and European

colonisation have had on indigenous African cultural

development?


Religion in Africa

o Religious belief and

practice is central to all

aspects of life in Africa

o Traditional religions were

polytheistic

o God/Goddess worship

was connected with earth

o European influence

introduced Christianity

o Arabic influence

introduced Islam

By Toluaye - foto by user:

User:Toluaye, Public Domain,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/

w/index.php?curid=4118159



God in Native African Religions

o All African societies have a belief in God

o Many Africans conceptualise God as:

• Creator of all things

• Sustains all creation

• Provides for and protects creation

• Rules over the universe

• All powerful (omnipotent)

• All knowing (omniscient)

• Viewed as a parent

• Supports justice

• Human-beings cannot directly know God


Indigenous African Spirituality

o Spirituality is based

on connection with

living or dead

spirits

o Traditional

Medicine in Africa

incorporates

spirituality

By Brooklyn Museum, CC BY 3.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/in

dex.php?curid=22510413



Traditional Medicine in Africa

TM is ‘the sum total of the knowledge, skills and

practices based on theories, beliefs and experiences

indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or

not, used in the maintenance of health, as well as in

the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of

physical and mental illnesses’ (WHO, 2000)

Traditional Medicine (TM) has been the dominant

medical system available to millions of people in Africa



Traditional Healer: “A

person who is recognised

by the community where

he or she lives as

someone competent to

provide health care by

using plant, animal, and

mineral substances and

other methods based on

social, cultural and

religious practices.”

By Unknown photographer, possibly

G. T. Basden - Public Domain,






o TM in Africa is a holistic approach where herbalism

combines with spirituality

o Healers are called:

• Babalawo, Adahunse or Oniseegun (Yorba speaking

people, Nigeria)

• Abia ibok (Ibibio community, Nigeria)

• Dibia (Igbo community, Nigeria)

• Boka (Hausa speaking people, Nigeria)

• Sangoma or Nyanga (South African communities)

o Colonialists referred to them as “witchdoctors”


What is a Shaman?

"Shamanism can be defined as a family of

traditions whose Practitioners focus on

voluntarily entering altered states of

consciousness in which they experience

themselves or their spirit[s], traveling to other

realms at will, and interacting with other

entities in order to serve their community.“

(From The Spirit of Shamanism, Roger N. Walsh, M.D., PhD)



o The goal of TM practitioners was/is to reestablish the

social and emotional balance in patients

o Belief that religion permeates every aspect of

existence

o This equilibrium was based on community and

relationship rules

o Traditional healers act as an intermediary between

visible and invisible worlds

o Determined which spirits are at work to return

harmony with ancestors



o Healer is told the cause

of a person’s illness

o The therapeutic process

requires reciprocity

By © Hans Hillewaert /, CC BY-SA 3.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index

.php?curid=3099425




Colonialism:

o Impacted social,

economic, political, and

indigenous ways of

knowing

o Introduction of Western

medicine created a

clash with TM

o Delivery of medicine

became empirically-

based

By The National Archives UK, OGL,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/ind

ex.php?curid=21744030



TM in Colonial Africa

o 1953 - TM was banned in some places,

particularly South Africa

o 1957 & 1970 - TM declared unconstitutional

through the Witchcraft Suppression Act

• Evidence suggests that TM aetiology

designation was both natural and supernatural

o Stigmatisation of TM practice

o Mutual distrust between allopathic medicine and

TM


Revision Questions

o How was religion/spirituality related to healing in

indigenous African culture?

o How was the cause of illness determined?

Other food for thought:o “…During several centuries of conquest and invasion,

European systems of medicine were introduced by

colonisers, pre-existing African systems were

stigmatised and marginalised. Indigenous knowledge

systems were denied the chance to systematise and

develop.” Consider the impact that this might have had

on development of traditional African medicines.


Post-Colonial Africa

o Doctor:patient ratio (Cameroon) = 1:150 (Fokunang et al.

2011)

o Ratio of TM healers and medical doctors to

patients in Africa =

• 1:100 - 700 (TM healers) vs 1:987 – 70,000

(medical doctors) (Abdullahi, 2011)

o Accessibility to healthcare impacts health

o TM is thought to be desirable for diseases that

allopathic medicine does not adequately treat (Abdullahi, 2011)


Post-Colonial Africa

o TM widely used in Africa to date

o Ghana, Mali, Zambia and Nigeria:

TM first-line treatment for 60% of

paediatric high fevers (WHO, 2002)

o Burkina-Faso: increasing demand

for TM to treat neurological and

rheumatic conditions

o Tanzania: convulsions

o Lagos, Nigeria: high blood

pressure

o 27 million South Africans report

using TM

By Angela Sevin - CC BY 2.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w

/index.php?curid=3884832



TM in Post-Colonial Africa

o Concerted efforts to recognise the role of TM in

healthcare delivery

o Nigeria: governmental encouragement of

research on herbs

o Federal and State governments established

National Traditional Healers’ Board

o Policies to accredit and register TM practitioners

o Nigerian Healthcare Reform: importance of TM

in primary care


TM in Post-Colonial Africa

o Framework for

development in

Cameroon highlights

health goals for the

millennium

o WHO and Cameroon

government strategic plan

to integrate TM into health

care system

o Development of research

into herbal indications By Tatoute assumed (based on

copyright claims). - Public Domain,





Barriers to Integrative Medicine

o Mistrust

o Opinions amongst

Western-trained

physicians/medical

students

o Apathy

o Difficulties in

regulating practices

o Incorrect diagnosis

o Dosage variability

o Herbal shelf-life

o Secret nature of

knowledge

o Absence of written

patient documentation

o Hygiene practices

o Evidence supporting

efficacy and

indications


Indigenous Healing Practices

o Plants are chosen

according to the imbalance

o White, black, red are

considered symbolic and

magical

o Seeds, twigs and leaves of

these colours possess

healing properties

o Traditional African healers also employ

charms, incantations and spell casting

o Insects

By Mycelium101 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0,




Indigenous African Herbs

Hepasor: used to treat Hepatitis

From Enantia chlorantha (African whitewood)

Image: Labothera laboratories


o Assegaai tincture

o Common herbal remedy in

African medicine

o Made from Curtisia dentata

bark

o Important botanical used by

Zulus as an aphrodisiac,

recognised to have

properties to treat diarrhoea

and used as a blood purifier

o Protected in some places

due to over-harvesting


By Abu Shawka - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?

curid=17197809



o Ancistrocladus spp.

o Actions: anti-HIV,

antimalarial, anti-

measles

o Constituents:

Michellamine B and

other alkaloids

o From Cameroon and

Ghana


By Vinayaraj - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.p

hp?curid=25231851



o Cinchona succirubra

o Action: Anti-malarial

o Constituent: Quinine

o From: West African

countries


By H. Zell - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.p

hp?curid=10672502



o Catharanthus roseus

(Madagascar periwinkle)

o Action: anti-Leukaemia

and Hodgkin’s disease

(chemotherapeutic)

o Constituent:

triterpenoids, tannins

and alkaloids

o From: Madagascar


By Joydeep, CC BY-SA 3.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/

w/index.php?curid=20904933



Revision Questions

o Explore some of the reasons behind the barriers to

integration of conventional and traditional medical

systems in Africa.

o Name three indigenous African medicinal herbs

and their modern uses.

Other food for thought:o What do you see as being the benefit of the

continuation of Traditional Medicine in Africa,

particularly the spiritual component?


References

o Abdullahi, AA 2011, ‘Trends and Challenges of Traditional Medicine in Africa’, African Journal Traditional Complementary Alternative Medicine, vol. 8(s), pp. 115-123.

o Fokunang, et al. 2011, ‘Traditional Medicine, Past, Present and Future Research and Development Prospects and Integration In the National Health System of Cameroon’, African Journal Traditional Complementary Alternative Medicine, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 284-295.

o Kayne, SB 2010, Traditional medicine: a global perspective, Pharmaceutical Press, London.

o Markale, J 1997, The Great Goddess, Inner Traditions International, Rochester, Vermont.

o Michigan State University, Exploring Africa, viewed 9 June 2016, <http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/>.

o World Atlas, African history, viewed 9 June 2016, <http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/af.htm>.

http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/af.htm

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