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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Traditional Medicine and the Quest for National Identity in Zimbabwe |
Author: | Waite, Gloria |
Year: | 2000 |
Periodical: | Zambezia (ISSN 0379-0622) |
Volume: | 27 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 235-268 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Zimbabwe Southern Africa |
Subjects: | traditional medicine Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Health and Nutrition Medicine, Nutrition, Public Health Traditional medicine ZINATHA (Organization) Health legislation imperialism history |
External link: | https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/AJA03790622_9 |
Abstract: | Beginning with a brief historical background of the role of traditional medicine in Zimbabwe in the colonial period, during which traditional medical practice was marginalized and denigrated, while efforts were made to promote Western medicine by the colonial settlers who benefited most from it, the author highlights the various postcolonial campaigns to get traditional medicine officially recognized as 'a legitimate form of health care' and the struggles to 'reshape traditional medicine into a health service parallel to Western medicine'. Those involved included, amongst others, Gordon Chavunduka, a recognized authority on traditional medicine, the late Herbert Ushewokunze, onetime Minister of Health, and the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers' Association (Zinatha), founded in 1980. These campaigns, which involved debates not only on the place of traditional medicine, but also on who should control it and toward what end, are analysed within the broader context of Zimbabwe's search for national identity. Bibliogr., sum. |