Can External Interventions in the Field of Traditional Medicine Help Conserve Natural Resources and Enhance Ancestral Heritage?

Authors

  • G. Lefèvre Independent Researcher

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/hcs.2014.161

Keywords:

traditional medicine, development, local taboos, medicinal gardens.

Abstract

In Madagascar some development programs interested in local medical knowledge have been working simultaneously to enhance the life of people and conserve the natural habitat. A study of these practices casts a different light on their work. After presenting several misconceptions concerning traditional medicine, I discuss the use of local taboos by development organisations as a means for conserving natural environment. Secondly I examine attempts to plant medicinal garens to stem the loss of natural habitat, and finally, I discuss misunderstandings concerning the notion of development and the selective screening of therapeutic practices. I suggest in conclusion that programs should primarly be less concerned with assessing the immediate prcaticalities of the proposed action and more concerned with an understanding of the soical whole.

References

Althabe, G. 1971. Oppression et libération dans l'imaginaire ; Les communautés villageoises de la côte orientale de Madagascar. F. Maspero, Paris.

Andriamiarisoa, H. 2005. Questions à Désiré Ramarozatovo Président de l’Association nationale des tradipraticiens de Madagascar. L’Express de Madagascar, 6 septembre.

Baumann, H., Westermann, D. 1948. Les Peuples et les Civilisations de l'Afrique. Payot, Paris.

Blanchy, S. 2008. Pratiques et représentations religieuses à Madagascar au temps de Lars Vig (missionnaire et ethnographe), 1875-1903. Textes et contexte. Ateliers du LESC [online], 32 | 2008, consulted the 22 November 2010. URL : http://ateliers.revues.org/2002

Bloch, M. 2005. Are religious beliefs counter-intuitive? In: Essays on cultural transmission London School of Economics monographs on social anthropology. 75:103-121. Berg, Oxford

Brightman, M. 2008. Plants, Property and Trade among the Trio and Wayana of southern Suriname. In: M. Lenaerts & A-M. Spadafora (eds), pp.153-168. Pueblos indigenas, plantas y mercados, Amazonia y Gran Chaco. Zeta, Bucharest.

Douglas, M. 1966. Purity and danger; an analysis of concepts of pollution and taboo. Praeger, New York.

Dubois, H. 1932. Traité de Missiologie pratique, Le répertoire Africain. Sodalité de S. Pierre Claver, Rome

Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1937. Witchcraft, oracles and magic among the Azande. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Fauroux, E. 2003. Comprendre une société rurale. Une méthode d'enquête anthropologique appliquée à l'Ouest malgache. Editions du GRET, Paris.

Fauroux, E., Le Gros, B., Rasoamalavao, C., David L. 1991. Le vocabulaire de la propreté dans les langues vernaculaires du Sud-Ouest de Madagascar : pour une meilleure approche des problèmes d'hygiène urbaine. In: Plurilinguisme et développement. Cahiers des Sciences Humaines. J. Charmes (ed.), pp. 355-366. ORSTOM, Paris.

Gardner, C. J., Ferguson, B., Rebara, F.,

Ratsifandrihamanana, A. N. 2008. Integrating traditional values and management regimes into Madagascar’s expanded protected area system: the case of Ankodida. In: Protected Landscapes and Cultural and Spiritual Values. J.-M. Mallarach (ed.), pp. 92-103. IUCN-GTZ-OSCC and Kasparek-Verlag, Heidelberg.

Géraud, J.-F. 2006. 1658-1910 : Coloniser les simples de Madagascar. In : Pharmacopée traditionnelle dans les îles du Sud-Ouest de l’Océan Indien. Actes du Colloque International, 10-13 décembre 2005, Tuléar. S. Fuma and B. Manjakahery (ed.), pp. 41-54. Université de la Réunion, Saint-Denis.

Hobsbawn, E., Ranger, T. 1983. The invention of tradition: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Human development report. 2010. UNPD (United Nations Development Programme), New York .

Keller, E. 2009. The danger of misunderstanding ‘culture’. Madagascar Conservation & Development. 4 (2): 82–85.

Leslie, C. 1976. The ambiguities of medical revivalism in Modern India ; Asian medical system. Asian Medical Systems: a comparative study. University California Press, Berkeley.

Malinowski, 1922. Argonauts of the western Pacific : an account of native enterprise and adventure in the archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. George Routledge & Sons, London.

Mauss, M. 1924. Essai sur le don, Forme et raison de l’échange dans les sociétés archaïques, L’Année sociologique.

Ramamonjisoa, J.-B.I. 2009. Sans la plante point de devin-guérisseur. Etudes Océan Indien 42-43: 321-338.

Ramamonjisoa, J.-B.I. 1994. La Maladie et la Guérison chez les Masikoro de la région de Tuléar (Sud-Ouest de Madagascar). Diagnostiquer et guérir. Unpubl. Ph.D. Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris.

Rarojo, J. 1995. Manongarivo La clinique du bout du monde. Vintsy, trimestriel malgache d’orientation écologique 15 : 23.

Ratsimamanga, A. R., Boiteau, P., 1964, Une expérience originale : l’IMRA Institut Malgache de Recherches Appliquées. In: Premier congrès international des industries agricoles et alimentaires, Abidjan, 14-19 décembre 1964, pp. 1-8. Ceuterick, Louvain.

Sambo, C., 1993. Destins astrologiques et libertés humaines. Etudes Ocean Indien. 16 : 1-29.

Velonandro, 1990. (ed.), L'Origine des Choses. Récits de la Côte Ouest de Madagascar. Editions Foi et Justice, Antananarivo.

Vig, L. 2001 (1892). Ny Fireham-pinoan’ny Ntaolo Malagasy – Les Conceptions religieuses des anciens Malgaches. Ambozontany Analamahitsy, Antananarivo and Karthala, Paris.

WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2002-2005. World Health Organization, Genève.

Downloads

Published

2014-12-15

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2014): Cohabitation of Traditional and Modern Medicine in Madagascar: anthropological analyses

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.