Traditional healers of Southern Africa
Traditional healers of Southern Africa
Traditional healers of Southern Africa (pronunciation: trəˈdɪʃənəl ˈhiːlər ɒv ˈsaʊðən ˈæfrɪkə) are practitioners of traditional African medicine in Southern Africa. They fulfill different social and political roles in the community, including divination, healing physical, emotional and spiritual illnesses, directing birth or death rituals, finding lost cattle, protecting warriors, counteracting witches, and narrating the history, cosmology, and myths of their tradition.
Etymology
The term "traditional healers" is a common English translation for the Zulu word inyanga, which refers to a person who uses natural materials from plants and animals to cure illness. The term is also used to describe the Sangoma who are diviners and spiritual healers in the Zulu, Swazi, Xhosa and Ndebele traditions in Southern Africa.
Related Terms
- African traditional medicine: This is a term that refers to the traditional healthcare practices of African people that have been passed down from generation to generation.
- Sangoma: This is a practitioner of ngoma, a philosophy based on a belief in ancestral spirits (Zulu: amadlozi; Sesotho: badimu; Xhosa: izinyanya) and the practice of traditional African medicine.
- Inyanga: This term refers to a traditional medical practitioner who uses natural materials from plants and animals to cure illness.
- Divination: This is the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means.
- Herbalism: This is the study or practice of the medicinal and therapeutic use of plants, now especially as a form of alternative medicine.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Traditional healers of Southern Africa
- Wikipedia's article - Traditional healers of Southern Africa
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