The African Transformation of Western Medicine and the Dynamics of Global Cultural Exchange

261 Pages·2008·1.25 MB·English

by  David Baronov

The African Transformation
of Western Medicine
and the Dynamics of Global
Cultural Exchange
The African Transformation
of Western Medicine
and the Dynamics of Global
Cultural Exchange
David Baronov
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Phi ladelphia
Temple University Press
1601 North Broad Street
Philadelphia PA 19122
w ww. temple. edu/t empress
Copyright © 2008 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 2008
Printed in the United States of America
Text design by Erin New
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Information S ciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48- 1992
Library of Congress C atal oging-i n-P ublication Data
Baronov, David.
African biomedicine : Africa’s appropriation and ongoing transformation of
Western medicine in world-historical perspective / David Baronov.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59213-915-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Traditional medicine—Africa. 2. Medicine—Africa—History—19th
century. 3. Medicine—Africa—History—20th century. 4. Anthropology,
Cultural—Africa. I. Title.
[DNLM: 1. History of Medicine—Africa. 2. History, 19th Century—
Africa. 3. Anthropology, Cultural—Africa. 4. History, 20th Century—
Africa. 5. Medicine, African Traditional—Africa. WZ 70 Ha1 B266a 2008]
GN645.B37 2008
398'.353096—dc22 2008024426
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Dedication
para André y Jimena . . . y su madre
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 The Origins of African Biomedicine 1
2 Dissecting Western Medicine 33
3 Biomedicine’s Civilizing Mission 77
4 African Pluralistic Medicine and Its Biomedical Antecedents 124
5 African Biomedicine 179
References 215
Index 241
Acknowledgments
o begin, I wish to offer my deep gratitude to the Reverend Dr.
Stephen Mbugua Ngari and his research team of multilingual
Tgraduate students at Egerton University in Nakuru, Kenya. Their
invaluable assistance and keen observations took me along many valu-
able and unanticipated avenues of investigation. I am equally grateful
to those Kamba healers in the Kitui region of Eastern Kenya who
kindly shared their time and expertise. Their patience and generosity
will not soon be forgotten. This travel and research in Kenya was made
possible by a generous Faculty Development Grant from St. John Fisher
College.
Among the many who have prodded and provoked me throughout the
pro cess of developing the ideas that comprise this work, I extend a special
appreciation to Robert Brimlow, Paul Fuller, Ruth L. Harris, Festus
N’Garuka, Barbara Rockell, Daniel Schaffer, and John Till. In addition,
Timothy Madigan and the members of the Bioethics Reading Group at
the University of Rochester Medical Center provided helpful comments
and guidance for earlier drafts of select chapters. I have also signifi cantly
benefi ted from the critical feedback of my anonymous reviewers as well
as the important insights and assistance of Micah Kleit, the executive
editor at Temple University Press.
In the current age of library bud get cuts and a general shift from paper
to electronic library materials, the truly unsung heroes of contemporary