African Medical Practice Research Articles

Why Social Distance Demands Social Justice: Systemic Racism, COVID-19, and Health Security in the United States.

Why Social Distance Demands Social Justice: Systemic Racism, COVID-19, and Health Security in the United States.

The Philosophy of African Medical Practice

The philosophy of African medical practice is rooted in the African world view. Those locating the cause and cure of sickness in traditional practice ask about the ultimate who, rather than what. The answers given are in terms of the cosmological beliefs of the people. I shall deal with the philosophical issues in African medicine with particular reference to causes and cures of sickness in the traditional practice, the human person in this practice, the Christian, the colonial, and modern impact on this view, and a look towards the future. In doing this, I shall show that African traditional medical practice has important contributions to make in technologically oriented medicine.

Between Magic and Logic: Globalization and the Challenge of Medical Collaboration in Ngugi's Wizard Of The Crow

AbstractPerhaps one of the ways by which the Third World, especially Africa, may negotiate its position in the unfolding global politics is through what has been described as the necessary "fusion of ideas and cultures" (Anyidoho 2006:158), along an intellectual axis for Africa's developmental goals. Therefore, this paper seeks to explore one of the areas of such intellectual contributions through a reading and analysis of the developmental angle of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's latest novel Wizard of the Crow (2006). Although the novel has been aptly described as a novel that reflects "on Africa's dysfunctions… and possibilities" (Reed Business Information 2006) in the age of globalization, this paper seeks to transcend the overwhelming concern about unbridled African despotism caught in the mesh of global politics, which the author critiques in the novel and which many a reviewer has commented upon in order to consider the developmental rays of hope that fire through the narrative simultaneously. By so doing, the paper is concerned with one of the "possibilities" in the positive sense of the word along the line of the reinvention of autochthonous African medical practice, otherwise derogatorily designated as magic and sorcery. The reason is that it is obvious in the novel that there is a possibility of investing the indigenous medical practice with a logical modern appeal to the extent of finding collaboration with Western medical practice in order to earn better reception across global spatial boundaries. In the process of this exploration, I also engage the notion of modernity.

The Philosophy of African Medical Practice

The philosophy of African medical practice is rooted in the African world view. Those locating the cause and cure of sickness in traditional practice ask about the ultimate who, rather than what. The answers given are in terms of the cosmological beliefs of the people. I shall deal with the philosophical issues in African medicine with particular reference to causes and cures of sickness in the traditional practice, the human person in this practice, the Christian, the colonial, and modern impact on this view, and a look towards the future. In doing this, I shall show that African traditional medical practice has important contributions to make in technologically oriented medicine.

The Philosophy of African Medical Practice

The philosophy of African medical practice is rooted in the African world view. Those locating the cause and cure of sickness in traditional practice ask about the ultimate who, rather than what. The answers given are in terms of the cosmological beliefs of the people. I shall deal with the philosophical issues in African medicine with particular reference to causes and cures of sickness in the traditional practice, the human person in this practice, the Christian, the colonial, and modern impact on this view, and a look towards the future. In doing this, I shall show that African traditional medical practice has important contributions to make in technologically oriented medicine.

Nineteenth-century Asante medical practices.

Most of the literature concerning traditional African medical practice has dealt with aspects often deemed ‘irrational,’ such as the role of priests, shrines, magic and religious ritual. M. J. Field's work demonstrates convincingly that these aspects of medical treatment in Ghana are essential in mitigating and curing psychosomatic illnesses as well as controlling neuroses. The emphasis on religious and psychological methods of treatment, however, can often lead to less perceptive conclusions, such as those of U.S. doctors visiting Ghana in 1960 who stated flatly that traditional medical practices there consist solely of ‘ignorance and superstition’ and that ‘witchdoctor … medicine man and native doctor are synonymous terms.