The
Potential for African Healing Practices:
Bridging
the Indigenous and the “Modern”
Tanya A. Pergola, PhD
Terrawatu@hotmail.com
5520
Canfield Pl N.
Seattle,
WA 98103 USA
Phone:
206.226.3882
Fax:
206.229.1283
The rapid and widespread popularity of
natural healing remedies and practices in the United States over the past
couple of years provides fertile ground for the preservation and sustainable
development of traditional medicines and healing practices in indigenous areas
in Africa. In many instances,
manufacturers and marketers of natural products in the US (specifically
large-scale pharmaceutical companies) have not “gotten the story” right in
terms of processing the remedies and educating the public in how to integrate
these healing practices into their lives.
The majority of these products and services are manufactured and sold in
the same manner as standard synthesized medicines (often as quick fix, Band-Aid
solutions to illnesses).
As the number of illnesses and “unwell”
people have increased in the US, many are searching for authentic
healing remedies. Ones that are embedded
in cultural traditions that have long-term knowledge and experience of using
indigenous plants. The opportunity for
African healing cultures to share their experience and educate Americans[1] about health care is
enormous, especially regarding how to integrate medicinal plants into
the social, cultural and spiritual aspects of everyday life. It has been well documented that Americans
are currently searching for “stories” when they consume products and services
in today’s world. This presentation will
include a case study of focus groups conducted in the US regarding the
development of herbal remedies manufactured and marketed by Indians in the
Southwestern United States using sustainable growing practices. The findings reveal how consumers perceive
native healing practices and the importance of maintaining indigenous knowledge
while helping to grow the economies of depressed Indian reservations.
The insights from this study will be used
to articulate some of the barriers and facilitators towards preserving and
sustainably developing indigenous healing plants and remedies in Africa with
respect to their dissemination to areas such as the United States. Barriers include the difficulty in educating
and convincing those who have the power to slow destruction of lands where
native plants grow of 1) the importance of preserving these areas; and 2) the
importance of the lifestyle that surrounds traditional healing practices
(e.g. inserting shea butter in small amounts into an expensive French body
cream that a woman quickly spreads on her hands is very different from the
ritual use of shea butter by the Igbos of Nigeria). Facilitators include the increasing interest
and awareness of Americans regarding authentic traditional healing practices
and the increasing resources being dedicated towards sustainable
development. Concrete examples of how to
bridge indigenous knowledge of healing practices in Africa with modern
“Western” science techniques are: 1) incorporating ritual into modern American
life, and 2) web page of integrated medicine- state-of-the-art antibiotics and
surgery techniques combined with recovery using herbal remedies and spiritual
techniques.
*****
A few words about myself to put the words
above in context. I have a PhD in
environmental sociology from the University of Washington. I have worked as a consultant for the natural
products industry in the United States researching and writing about the
cultural shift towards American’s search for “wellness”. I am the owner of a research and consulting
group, Terrawatu, focusing on sustainable development. One of the goals of this group is to bring
Americans to Africa to educate them about indigenous cultures while helping
local communities in Africa develop long-term sustainable development projects
in the areas of natural resources. I am
currently a consultant with the MacArthur foundation and ICLARM on a project on
Population and Environment in Coastal Areas of Africa and Asia.
[1] I use the comparison to America (as opposed
to other countries) because my own research and work has been focused on the
American case.
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