Of Life and Health: The Language of Art and Religion in an African Medical System, Alexis Bekyane Tengan

Abstract

Reviewed by: Of Life and Health: The Language of Art and Religion in an African Medical System by Alexis Bekyane Tengan Patrick Chukwudike Okpalaeke BOOK REVIEW of Tengan, Alexis Bekyane. 2019. Of Life and Health: The Language of Art and Religion in an African Medical System. New York: Berghahn Books. 242 pp. $135 (hardcover). If anything has discredited the ingenuity and authenticity of African traditional approaches to life, health, and wellness, it is an emphasis on the secrecy associated with traditional African healthcare (Emeagwali 2014; Ezekwesili-Ofili and Okaka, n.d.; Masango 2019). Assumptions of secrecy have been a major setback when discussing traditional health practices. They have led many Eurocentric scholars to dismiss traditional healthcare as nonexistent and to regard whatever Africans claim to practice as simply a variant of jujuism, voodoo, or necromancy. This in turn has ensured that knowledge of traditional African healthcare continues to be limited on many fronts. Nonetheless, anthropologist Alexis Bekyane Tengan’s Of Life and Health: The Language of Art and Religion in an African Medical System debunks some long-held views and proves not only vital in unraveling the nitty-gritty details of traditional African healthcare, but also timely, as it provides a nuanced analysis and graphical demonstration of healthcare seen from a typical African perspective. It contributes to a critical aspect of African studies, that of the nature and praxis of the healthcare system. It has seven chapters, with a rigorously drafted introduction to get the narratives rolling, an appendix, references, and an index. Taking the indigenous perspective of the Dagara people (located in northern Ghana and southern Burkina Faso), Tengan analyzes the nexus between African indigenous knowledge systems (AIKS) and traditional [End Page 154] African healthcare practices. He presents a richly particularized insight into the operationality of traditional healthcare by adopting a method that “consists of ethnographic description and analysis of six cultic institutions within an African society, the Dagara people of northern and southern Burkina Faso” (1). As a member of the Dagara community, he recounts his experiences to elucidate the mode, dimension, and practices inherent in traditional forms of healthcare delivery. His childhood recollections support the argument that traditional African societies had a uniquely crafted method of educating their youth. This sort of education is ingrained in the AIKS, where “participant observation” (4) is a key to learning in the traditional education system. Tengan shows how the living relate to nature in their quest to gain access to enriched life experiences. In this respect, two points need to be expatiated to make sense of Tengan’s narratives. First, Tengan overwhelmingly annotates the reasoning patterns and knowledge framing that aid traditional medical practices; his argument centers on the fact that the knowledge framing and scientific language(s) employed in traditional healthcare are “embedded in cultural practice” (17). The second point concerns the link between the physical and the metaphysical (spiritism): in a broader sense, traditional beliefs link the seen and the unseen, the living and the ancestors, in issues that involve health, wellness, and life. Of course, beyond the Dagara cosmology, several other African groups have similar views on healthcare. Take for instance, the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria, where illnesses are not treated apart from spiritual forces (Nwoko 2009; Okonkwo 2012). Of Life and Health addresses many epistemic issues relating to traditional African healthcare: it makes a paradigm shift toward unearthing fundamental ideals ingrained in traditional medical practices. Tengan particularly explores the nexus between AIKS and traditional healthcare, and he emphasizes a link between the physical and the spiritual, both tied to nature, in traditional healthcare systems. Nonetheless, Of Life and Health comes with some question marks. One of the most worrisome is that it may be too insular for an audience with little understanding of anthropology, given it often uses professional jargon, and that could prove problematic in pedagogy; this, however, does not diminish its importance. In sum, it is highly recommended for scholars of medical history and the anthropological and sociological dimensions of African studies, for which it promises to be a useful companion. Patrick Chukwudike Okpalaeke University of Uyo references cited Emeagwali, Gloria. 2014. “Intersections between Africa’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems and History.” In African...