CARILLA MAGIC: AFRO GUYANESE MEDICINE AND MEMORY

Abstract

The general context of this historical investigation is Herbal Medicine in the Afro-Caribbean Atlantic and, particularly, in Guyana. Specifically, this essay is focused on the use of Memory and Medicine to alleviate the socioeconomic and socio-spiritual challenges that non-European cultures faced in the ‘New World’. My central question concerns the transplantation, transmission, and syncretism of various remedies to pre-colonial and pre-Columbian maladies, as well as modern maladies. It is already known that Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine is associated with the treatment of diseases through florae, and it has already been established that, at the time of contact, non-Europeans were healthy because of their Ethnobotanical knowledge. This essay’s importance relies on the investigation into the nature of Afro-Caribbean Atlantic retention. The analytic method contains a fusion of Social Histories, especially the use of Guyanese news articles, used to analyze the memory and history that remains in the hearts and minds of the public. The results show that there is a simultaneous recollection of Herbal Medicinal memory, and an attempt to remember to be as healthy as generations before. The contemporary implications are especially relevant in this era, as the chronic nature of Covid illness becomes a greater threat in our human society.