Traditional African Medicine

Mganga? Herbalist? Medicine Man? Witch doctor? Holistic alternative medical practitioner?

Would you like to have access to traditional or magical medicine on the NHS?

As Una Maclean writes in "Magical Medicine" (Penguin Press, 1971):

"For many people the mention of African Medicine is still apt to conjure up the image of the 'witch doctor'.
Featured in innumerable sensational films, this alarming personage, clad in furs and feathers, prances round a fire, to the inexorable rhythms of the tom-tom...The damage done by this kind of caricature is hard to erase."

YouTube has the anthropological film by Jean Rouch, Les Maitres Fous (filmed 1954), with scenes of trance-like possession filmed during a ritualistic Haouka ceremony (see my 5-page interview with Jean Rouch, Educational Broadcasting International, June 1978).

Jean Rouch, West Africa

Sean Graham, Gold Coast Film Unit, filming the fetish priest for Amenu's Child (1949/1950):

"The nurse and the fetish priest: knowledge and superstition fighting their eternal battle", UNESCO, 1952

When I worked in Kenya, I was responsible for the production of a series of 16mm documentary films on Environmental Science, designed primarily to be used in the training of science teachers.

Since most of the objects and materials available for study and investigation had to be available in the environment, it seemed a good idea to investigate traditional medicine and the extent of useful knowledge of practitioners such as herbalists.

Here are some photos (which have deteriorated since the mid '70s), to illustrate some of the scenes we filmed.

There is no doubt that there is much to be said for holistic medical treatment, ie treating the whole person. Our investigations revealed that the herbalist had extensive knowledge of the healing properties of certain herbs (a number of which are also used in 'Western Medicine'). Some of the medicines and ingredients on sale in the local markets (and some of the treatments advertised in Swahili) didn't seem so tempting or convincing. With the psychological help of the mganga, they were probably just as curative and effective as a stay in some UK hospitals (yes, I'm thinking of the Francis report on the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust NHS Hospital). Maybe the survival rates were better.

A good starting point for an environmental science project?