Competition, race, and professionalization: African healers and white medical practitioners in Natal, South Africa in the early twentieth century

Social History of Medicine

Volumn 14, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 199-221

  Flint, Karen ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE   (United States)

Author keywords

African healers; Competition; Medical authority; Medical syncretism; Professionalization; Race; South Africa

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BEHAVIOR; ECONOMIC ASPECT; HISTORY; HUMAN; PHYSICIAN; RACE; SOUTH AFRICA;

CONTINENTAL POPULATION GROUPS; ECONOMIC COMPETITION; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; PHYSICIANS; POWER (PSYCHOLOGY); SOUTH AFRICA;

EID: 0035433713     PISSN: 0951631X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/shm/14.2.199     Document Type: Article

References (124)

1. Quote from 'Natives Have Own "Medical" Body', Sunday Times (Johannesburg), 10 April 1938; 'Native Medical Association', The Star, 11 April 1938.
2. Quote from 'Natives Have Own "Medical" Body', Sunday Times (Johannesburg), 10 April 1938; 'Native Medical Association', The Star, 11 April 1938.
3. Ngcobo to Minister of Native Affairs, Cape Town, 2 March 1931; Central Archive Depository, (CAD), NTS, 9301,1/376, p. 3.
4. J. Pieterse, White on Black (New Haven, 1992), pp. 69-75; M. Vaughan, Curing their Ills: Colonial Power and African Illness (Stanford, 1991), Chs. 3 and 7.
5. J. Pieterse, White on Black (New Haven, 1992), pp. 69-75; M. Vaughan, Curing their Ills: Colonial Power and African Illness (Stanford, 1991), Chs. 3 and 7.
6. See N. Etherington, 'Missionary Doctors and African Healers in Mid-Victorian South Africa', South African Historical Journal, 19 (1987), 77-91.
7. E. Koch, 'South Africa's Cure', Mail and Guardian, 25 August 1995. Estimate given by Saliem Fakir at the Land and Agricultural Policy Center, South Africa.
8. Political economists of health include R. Packard, White Plague, Black Labour (Berkeley, 1989); T. Falola and D. Ityavyar, The Political Economy of Health in Africa (Ohio, 1992); and many of the chapters in S. Feierman and J. Janzen, The Social Basis of Health and Healing in Africa (Berkeley, 1992).
9. Political economists of health include R. Packard, White Plague, Black Labour (Berkeley, 1989); T. Falola and D. Ityavyar, The Political Economy of Health in Africa (Ohio, 1992); and many of the chapters in S. Feierman and J. Janzen, The Social Basis of Health and Healing in Africa (Berkeley, 1992).
10. Political economists of health include R. Packard, White Plague, Black Labour (Berkeley, 1989); T. Falola and D. Ityavyar, The Political Economy of Health in Africa (Ohio, 1992); and many of the chapters in S. Feierman and J. Janzen, The Social Basis of Health and Healing in Africa (Berkeley, 1992).
11. Foucauldian scholars include R. Macleod and M. Lewis (eds.), Disease, Medicine, and Empire. Perspectives on Western Medicine and the Experience of European Expansion (New York, 1988); T. Ranger and P. Slack (eds.), Epidemics and Ideas: Essays on the Historical Perception of Pestilence (New York, 1992); Vaughan, Curing their Ills; D. Arnold (ed.), Imperial Medicine and Indigenous Societies (New York, 1988); H. Deacon, 'Racial Segregation and Medical Discourse in Nineteenth-Century Cape Town', Journal of Southern African Studies, 22 (1996), 287-308.
12. Foucauldian scholars include R. Macleod and M. Lewis (eds.), Disease, Medicine, and Empire. Perspectives on Western Medicine and the Experience of European Expansion (New York, 1988); T. Ranger and P. Slack (eds.), Epidemics and Ideas: Essays on the Historical Perception of Pestilence (New York, 1992); Vaughan, Curing their Ills; D. Arnold (ed.), Imperial Medicine and Indigenous Societies (New York, 1988); H. Deacon, 'Racial Segregation and Medical Discourse in Nineteenth-Century Cape Town', Journal of Southern African Studies, 22 (1996), 287-308.
13. Foucauldian scholars include R. Macleod and M. Lewis (eds.), Disease, Medicine, and Empire. Perspectives on Western Medicine and the Experience of European Expansion (New York, 1988); T. Ranger and P. Slack (eds.), Epidemics and Ideas: Essays on the Historical Perception of Pestilence (New York, 1992); Vaughan, Curing their Ills; D. Arnold (ed.), Imperial Medicine and Indigenous Societies (New York, 1988); H. Deacon, 'Racial Segregation and Medical Discourse in Nineteenth-Century Cape Town', Journal of Southern African Studies, 22 (1996), 287-308.
14. Foucauldian scholars include R. Macleod and M. Lewis (eds.), Disease, Medicine, and Empire. Perspectives on Western Medicine and the Experience of European Expansion (New York, 1988); T. Ranger and P. Slack (eds.), Epidemics and Ideas: Essays on the Historical Perception of Pestilence (New York, 1992); Vaughan, Curing their Ills; D. Arnold (ed.), Imperial Medicine and Indigenous Societies (New York, 1988); H. Deacon, 'Racial Segregation and Medical Discourse in Nineteenth-Century Cape Town', Journal of Southern African Studies, 22 (1996), 287-308.
15. Foucauldian scholars include R. Macleod and M. Lewis (eds.), Disease, Medicine, and Empire. Perspectives on Western Medicine and the Experience of European Expansion (New York, 1988); T. Ranger and P. Slack (eds.), Epidemics and Ideas: Essays on the Historical Perception of Pestilence (New York, 1992); Vaughan, Curing their Ills; D. Arnold (ed.), Imperial Medicine and Indigenous Societies (New York, 1988); H. Deacon, 'Racial Segregation and Medical Discourse in Nineteenth-Century Cape Town', Journal of Southern African Studies, 22 (1996), 287-308.
16. Anthropologists include C. Good, Ethnomedical Systems in Africa (New York, 1987); H. Ngubane, Body and Mind in Zulu Medicine (London, 1976); J. Janzen, Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire (Berkeley, 1978); G. L. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers and the Shona Patient (Gwela, 1978); V. Turner, Drums of Affliction (London, 1967).
17. Anthropologists include C. Good, Ethnomedical Systems in Africa (New York, 1987); H. Ngubane, Body and Mind in Zulu Medicine (London, 1976); J. Janzen, Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire (Berkeley, 1978); G. L. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers and the Shona Patient (Gwela, 1978); V. Turner, Drums of Affliction (London, 1967).
18. Anthropologists include C. Good, Ethnomedical Systems in Africa (New York, 1987); H. Ngubane, Body and Mind in Zulu Medicine (London, 1976); J. Janzen, Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire (Berkeley, 1978); G. L. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers and the Shona Patient (Gwela, 1978); V. Turner, Drums of Affliction (London, 1967).
19. Anthropologists include C. Good, Ethnomedical Systems in Africa (New York, 1987); H. Ngubane, Body and Mind in Zulu Medicine (London, 1976); J. Janzen, Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire (Berkeley, 1978); G. L. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers and the Shona Patient (Gwela, 1978); V. Turner, Drums of Affliction (London, 1967).
20. Anthropologists include C. Good, Ethnomedical Systems in Africa (New York, 1987); H. Ngubane, Body and Mind in Zulu Medicine (London, 1976); J. Janzen, Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire (Berkeley, 1978); G. L. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers and the Shona Patient (Gwela, 1978); V. Turner, Drums of Affliction (London, 1967).
21. South African medical history's two most thorough accounts of biomedicine are M. Gelfand and P. Laidler, South Africa, Its Medical History 1652-1898 (Cape Town, 1971); E. Burrows, A History of Medicine in South Africa up to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Cape Town, 1958). These authors only reference indigenous medical systems with regards to herbs such as aloe and buche that later became incorporated into the British pharmacopoeia. More recent works that mention African medical practices include L. White, '"They Could Make Their Victims Dull": Genders and Genres, Fantasies and Cures in Colonial Southern Uganda', American Historical Review, 100, no. 5 (1995), 1379-1402; M. Lyons, The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire 1900-1940 (Cambridge, 1992); I. S. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors Under Segregation and Apartheid: A Sociological Analysis of Professionalization among Doctors in South Africa. 1900-1980' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 1996); A. Digby, '"A Medical El Dorado"? Colonial Medical Incomes and Practice at the Cape', Social History of Medicine, 7 (1995), 463-79. A few works exploring medical interactions include N. Etherington, 'Missionary Doctors and African Healers'; C. Burns, 'Brought to Bed: Bridgeman Memorial Hospital and the History of Black Women's Experiences of Childbirth in Johannesburg, 1928-1965' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1996); and C. Bums, 'Louisa Mvemve: A Woman's Advice to the Public on the Cure of Various Diseases', Kronos:Journal of Cape History, 23 (1996), 108-34.
22. South African medical history's two most thorough accounts of biomedicine are M. Gelfand and P. Laidler, South Africa, Its Medical History 1652-1898 (Cape Town, 1971); E. Burrows, A History of Medicine in South Africa up to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Cape Town, 1958). These authors only reference indigenous medical systems with regards to herbs such as aloe and buche that later became incorporated into the British pharmacopoeia. More recent works that mention African medical practices include L. White, '"They Could Make Their Victims Dull": Genders and Genres, Fantasies and Cures in Colonial Southern Uganda', American Historical Review, 100, no. 5 (1995), 1379-1402; M. Lyons, The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire 1900-1940 (Cambridge, 1992); I. S. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors Under Segregation and Apartheid: A Sociological Analysis of Professionalization among Doctors in South Africa. 1900-1980' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 1996); A. Digby, '"A Medical El Dorado"? Colonial Medical Incomes and Practice at the Cape', Social History of Medicine, 7 (1995), 463-79. A few works exploring medical interactions include N. Etherington, 'Missionary Doctors and African Healers'; C. Burns, 'Brought to Bed: Bridgeman Memorial Hospital and the History of Black Women's Experiences of Childbirth in Johannesburg, 1928-1965' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1996); and C. Bums, 'Louisa Mvemve: A Woman's Advice to the Public on the Cure of Various Diseases', Kronos:Journal of Cape History, 23 (1996), 108-34.
23. South African medical history's two most thorough accounts of biomedicine are M. Gelfand and P. Laidler, South Africa, Its Medical History 1652-1898 (Cape Town, 1971); E. Burrows, A History of Medicine in South Africa up to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Cape Town, 1958). These authors only reference indigenous medical systems with regards to herbs such as aloe and buche that later became incorporated into the British pharmacopoeia. More recent works that mention African medical practices include L. White, '"They Could Make Their Victims Dull": Genders and Genres, Fantasies and Cures in Colonial Southern Uganda', American Historical Review, 100, no. 5 (1995), 1379-1402; M. Lyons, The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire 1900-1940 (Cambridge, 1992); I. S. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors Under Segregation and Apartheid: A Sociological Analysis of Professionalization among Doctors in South Africa. 1900-1980' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 1996); A. Digby, '"A Medical El Dorado"? Colonial Medical Incomes and Practice at the Cape', Social History of Medicine, 7 (1995), 463-79. A few works exploring medical interactions include N. Etherington, 'Missionary Doctors and African Healers'; C. Burns, 'Brought to Bed: Bridgeman Memorial Hospital and the History of Black Women's Experiences of Childbirth in Johannesburg, 1928-1965' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1996); and C. Bums, 'Louisa Mvemve: A Woman's Advice to the Public on the Cure of Various Diseases', Kronos:Journal of Cape History, 23 (1996), 108-34.
24. South African medical history's two most thorough accounts of biomedicine are M. Gelfand and P. Laidler, South Africa, Its Medical History 1652-1898 (Cape Town, 1971); E. Burrows, A History of Medicine in South Africa up to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Cape Town, 1958). These authors only reference indigenous medical systems with regards to herbs such as aloe and buche that later became incorporated into the British pharmacopoeia. More recent works that mention African medical practices include L. White, '"They Could Make Their Victims Dull": Genders and Genres, Fantasies and Cures in Colonial Southern Uganda', American Historical Review, 100, no. 5 (1995), 1379-1402; M. Lyons, The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire 1900-1940 (Cambridge, 1992); I. S. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors Under Segregation and Apartheid: A Sociological Analysis of Professionalization among Doctors in South Africa. 1900-1980' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 1996); A. Digby, '"A Medical El Dorado"? Colonial Medical Incomes and Practice at the Cape', Social History of Medicine, 7 (1995), 463-79. A few works exploring medical interactions include N. Etherington, 'Missionary Doctors and African Healers'; C. Burns, 'Brought to Bed: Bridgeman Memorial Hospital and the History of Black Women's Experiences of Childbirth in Johannesburg, 1928-1965' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1996); and C. Bums, 'Louisa Mvemve: A Woman's Advice to the Public on the Cure of Various Diseases', Kronos:Journal of Cape History, 23 (1996), 108-34.
25. South African medical history's two most thorough accounts of biomedicine are M. Gelfand and P. Laidler, South Africa, Its Medical History 1652-1898 (Cape Town, 1971); E. Burrows, A History of Medicine in South Africa up to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Cape Town, 1958). These authors only reference indigenous medical systems with regards to herbs such as aloe and buche that later became incorporated into the British pharmacopoeia. More recent works that mention African medical practices include L. White, '"They Could Make Their Victims Dull": Genders and Genres, Fantasies and Cures in Colonial Southern Uganda', American Historical Review, 100, no. 5 (1995), 1379-1402; M. Lyons, The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire 1900-1940 (Cambridge, 1992); I. S. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors Under Segregation and Apartheid: A Sociological Analysis of Professionalization among Doctors in South Africa. 1900-1980' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 1996); A. Digby, '"A Medical El Dorado"? Colonial Medical Incomes and Practice at the Cape', Social History of Medicine, 7 (1995), 463-79. A few works exploring medical interactions include N. Etherington, 'Missionary Doctors and African Healers'; C. Burns, 'Brought to Bed: Bridgeman Memorial Hospital and the History of Black Women's Experiences of Childbirth in Johannesburg, 1928-1965' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1996); and C. Bums, 'Louisa Mvemve: A Woman's Advice to the Public on the Cure of Various Diseases', Kronos:Journal of Cape History, 23 (1996), 108-34.
26. South African medical history's two most thorough accounts of biomedicine are M. Gelfand and P. Laidler, South Africa, Its Medical History 1652-1898 (Cape Town, 1971); E. Burrows, A History of Medicine in South Africa up to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Cape Town, 1958). These authors only reference indigenous medical systems with regards to herbs such as aloe and buche that later became incorporated into the British pharmacopoeia. More recent works that mention African medical practices include L. White, '"They Could Make Their Victims Dull": Genders and Genres, Fantasies and Cures in Colonial Southern Uganda', American Historical Review, 100, no. 5 (1995), 1379-1402; M. Lyons, The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire 1900-1940 (Cambridge, 1992); I. S. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors Under Segregation and Apartheid: A Sociological Analysis of Professionalization among Doctors in South Africa. 1900-1980' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 1996); A. Digby, '"A Medical El Dorado"? Colonial Medical Incomes and Practice at the Cape', Social History of Medicine, 7 (1995), 463-79. A few works exploring medical interactions include N. Etherington, 'Missionary Doctors and African Healers'; C. Burns, 'Brought to Bed: Bridgeman Memorial Hospital and the History of Black Women's Experiences of Childbirth in Johannesburg, 1928-1965' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1996); and C. Bums, 'Louisa Mvemve: A Woman's Advice to the Public on the Cure of Various Diseases', Kronos:Journal of Cape History, 23 (1996), 108-34.
27. South African medical history's two most thorough accounts of biomedicine are M. Gelfand and P. Laidler, South Africa, Its Medical History 1652-1898 (Cape Town, 1971); E. Burrows, A History of Medicine in South Africa up to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Cape Town, 1958). These authors only reference indigenous medical systems with regards to herbs such as aloe and buche that later became incorporated into the British pharmacopoeia. More recent works that mention African medical practices include L. White, '"They Could Make Their Victims Dull": Genders and Genres, Fantasies and Cures in Colonial Southern Uganda', American Historical Review, 100, no. 5 (1995), 1379-1402; M. Lyons, The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire 1900-1940 (Cambridge, 1992); I. S. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors Under Segregation and Apartheid: A Sociological Analysis of Professionalization among Doctors in South Africa. 1900-1980' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 1996); A. Digby, '"A Medical El Dorado"? Colonial Medical Incomes and Practice at the Cape', Social History of Medicine, 7 (1995), 463-79. A few works exploring medical interactions include N. Etherington, 'Missionary Doctors and African Healers'; C. Burns, 'Brought to Bed: Bridgeman Memorial Hospital and the History of Black Women's Experiences of Childbirth in Johannesburg, 1928-1965' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1996); and C. Bums, 'Louisa Mvemve: A Woman's Advice to the Public on the Cure of Various Diseases', Kronos:Journal of Cape History, 23 (1996), 108-34.
28. South African medical history's two most thorough accounts of biomedicine are M. Gelfand and P. Laidler, South Africa, Its Medical History 1652-1898 (Cape Town, 1971); E. Burrows, A History of Medicine in South Africa up to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Cape Town, 1958). These authors only reference indigenous medical systems with regards to herbs such as aloe and buche that later became incorporated into the British pharmacopoeia. More recent works that mention African medical practices include L. White, '"They Could Make Their Victims Dull": Genders and Genres, Fantasies and Cures in Colonial Southern Uganda', American Historical Review, 100, no. 5 (1995), 1379-1402; M. Lyons, The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire 1900-1940 (Cambridge, 1992); I. S. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors Under Segregation and Apartheid: A Sociological Analysis of Professionalization among Doctors in South Africa. 1900-1980' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 1996); A. Digby, '"A Medical El Dorado"? Colonial Medical Incomes and Practice at the Cape', Social History of Medicine, 7 (1995), 463-79. A few works exploring medical interactions include N. Etherington, 'Missionary Doctors and African Healers'; C. Burns, 'Brought to Bed: Bridgeman Memorial Hospital and the History of Black Women's Experiences of Childbirth in Johannesburg, 1928-1965' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1996); and C. Bums, 'Louisa Mvemve: A Woman's Advice to the Public on the Cure of Various Diseases', Kronos:Journal of Cape History, 23 (1996), 108-34.
29. South African medical history's two most thorough accounts of biomedicine are M. Gelfand and P. Laidler, South Africa, Its Medical History 1652-1898 (Cape Town, 1971); E. Burrows, A History of Medicine in South Africa up to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Cape Town, 1958). These authors only reference indigenous medical systems with regards to herbs such as aloe and buche that later became incorporated into the British pharmacopoeia. More recent works that mention African medical practices include L. White, '"They Could Make Their Victims Dull": Genders and Genres, Fantasies and Cures in Colonial Southern Uganda', American Historical Review, 100, no. 5 (1995), 1379-1402; M. Lyons, The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire 1900-1940 (Cambridge, 1992); I. S. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors Under Segregation and Apartheid: A Sociological Analysis of Professionalization among Doctors in South Africa. 1900-1980' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 1996); A. Digby, '"A Medical El Dorado"? Colonial Medical Incomes and Practice at the Cape', Social History of Medicine, 7 (1995), 463-79. A few works exploring medical interactions include N. Etherington, 'Missionary Doctors and African Healers'; C. Burns, 'Brought to Bed: Bridgeman Memorial Hospital and the History of Black Women's Experiences of Childbirth in Johannesburg, 1928-1965' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1996); and C. Bums, 'Louisa Mvemve: A Woman's Advice to the Public on the Cure of Various Diseases', Kronos:Journal of Cape History, 23 (1996), 108-34.
30. Medical authority refers to both the cultural and legal authority, which is exercised by different groups of medical practitioners.
31. Note on terminology: 'African healers', also referred to as 'popular healers', 'indigenous medical practitioners' or 'traditional healers', is a general term used to unite conceptually a variety of different types of healers. I prefer the term 'African healer' as it seems a more accurate title that does not relegate healers to a static past. Medical anthropologists often prefer the term 'biomedicine', though the terms 'Western medicine' or 'cosmopolitan medicine' are also commonly used. I favour the term 'biomedicine' as it emphasizes science's attachment to biology as a site for disease and contagion. I use the term 'White' rather than 'European' to refer to people of European descent. The White population in South Africa is of fairly mixed origin, though most of the earliest settlers came from Holland and Britain. While the British settlers thought of themselves as European and worked hard to recreate British institutions in Africa, Afrikaners (Afrikaans for 'African') saw themselves as distinctly different.
32. J. Stuart, The Diary of Henry Francis Fynn (Pietermaritzburg, 1986); N. Isaacs, Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa (Cape Town, 1970); O. Spohr (ed.), The Natal Diaries of Dr W. H. I. Bleek. 1855-1856 (Cape Town, 1965).
33. J. Stuart, The Diary of Henry Francis Fynn (Pietermaritzburg, 1986); N. Isaacs, Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa (Cape Town, 1970); O. Spohr (ed.), The Natal Diaries of Dr W. H. I. Bleek. 1855-1856 (Cape Town, 1965).
34. J. Stuart, The Diary of Henry Francis Fynn (Pietermaritzburg, 1986); N. Isaacs, Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa (Cape Town, 1970); O. Spohr (ed.), The Natal Diaries of Dr W. H. I. Bleek. 1855-1856 (Cape Town, 1965).
35. For other examples in Africa see G. Waite, A History of Traditional Medicine and Health Care in Precolonial East Central Africa (New York, 1992); S. Feierman, 'Struggles for Control: The Social Roots of Health and Healing in Modern Africa', African Studies Review, 28 (1985), 73-147; D. Maier, 'Nineteenth-Century Asante Medical Practices', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 21 (1979), 63-81.
36. For other examples in Africa see G. Waite, A History of Traditional Medicine and Health Care in Precolonial East Central Africa (New York, 1992); S. Feierman, 'Struggles for Control: The Social Roots of Health and Healing in Modern Africa', African Studies Review, 28 (1985), 73-147; D. Maier, 'Nineteenth-Century Asante Medical Practices', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 21 (1979), 63-81.
37. For other examples in Africa see G. Waite, A History of Traditional Medicine and Health Care in Precolonial East Central Africa (New York, 1992); S. Feierman, 'Struggles for Control: The Social Roots of Health and Healing in Modern Africa', African Studies Review, 28 (1985), 73-147; D. Maier, 'Nineteenth-Century Asante Medical Practices', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 21 (1979), 63-81.
38. J. B. Wright and E. Webb, The James Stuart Archive (Durban, 1982), vol. 3, Mjobo, p. 141.
39. For more on the role of Xhosa prophets and healers see J. B. Peires, The Dead Will Arise (Johannesburg, 1989).
40. Native Laws and Customs Commission 1881 (Grahamstown, 1881), p. 68.
41. In 1862, D. Erskine, at the behest of the Lieutenant Governor, issued a circular to all Magistrates making the practice of and consultation with African healers illegal. Pietermaritzburg Archive Repository (PAR), SNA, 1/1/35,1878/774.
42. 1881 Natal Native Commission (Pietermaritzburg, 1882), pp. 18, 33, 60, 68, 131, 164, 175.
43. This can be viewed in comparison with the Indian Immigrants Commission of the same year that was very much interested in the availability of biomedicine and general sanitation for Indian Immi-grants. Report of the Indian Immigrants Commission (Pietermaritzburg, 1882).
44. In 1858, Dr Fitzgerald of the Eastern Cape wrote that hospitals would 'draw the savage from the remotest parts of South Africa and attach him forever to that Government which entered in spirit into his sickness and sufferings and provided a remedy', Laidler and Gelfand, South Africa, p. 299. The debate surrounding the training of African biomedical doctors in the 1910s and 1920s also carried this rhetoric. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors', pp. 248-9.
45. In 1858, Dr Fitzgerald of the Eastern Cape wrote that hospitals would 'draw the savage from the remotest parts of South Africa and attach him forever to that Government which entered in spirit into his sickness and sufferings and provided a remedy', Laidler and Gelfand, South Africa, p. 299. The debate surrounding the training of African biomedical doctors in the 1910s and 1920s also carried this rhetoric. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors', pp. 248-9.
46. See Select Committee on the Contagious Diseases Prevention Bill, no. 19, 1890, SSP-LC.
47. This can be seen in the early donations of mining money to the building of African hospitals in Johannesburg and contributions to the South African Institute for Medical Research in 1912. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors', p. 65; K. Shapiro, 'Doctors or Medical Aids - The Debate over the Training of Black Medical Personnel for the Rural Black Population in South Africa in the 1920s and 1930s'. Journal of Southern African Studies, 13 (1987), 234-55.
48. This can be seen in the early donations of mining money to the building of African hospitals in Johannesburg and contributions to the South African Institute for Medical Research in 1912. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors', p. 65; K. Shapiro, 'Doctors or Medical Aids - The Debate over the Training of Black Medical Personnel for the Rural Black Population in South Africa in the 1920s and 1930s'. Journal of Southern African Studies, 13 (1987), 234-55.
49. Unfortunately, the archival record is silent on the exact motivations behind the licensing of inyanga in the Natal Code of 1891. While this law also legalized the practice of African midwives, they did not commercialize like the inyanga.
50. CAD, NTS, 2/376 pt 1. When Tobias Mtshali applied for an inyanga licence, he stated that he needed it as he could no longer perform manual labour. The magistrate denied his application after sending him for an examination by the District Surgeon, who concluded that, while he had a slight heart condition, 'there is no evidence of any lung trouble, and I see no reason that he should not be able to perform ordinary labour' (Magistrate, Verulam to Secretary for Native Affairs (SNA), Pretoria-24/2/30). Several chiefs or magistrates when recommending persons for inyanga licences mention that the person is no longer fit for manual labour (e.g. CAD, GES, 1785 - Application for Inyanga licence, Hlomis Dhlamini, 8 April 1936).
51. Chief Native Commissioner (CNC), Natal to SNA, Pretoria, 6 October 1915, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376 p. 1; 'Natives Have Own "Medical" Body'.
52. This notion is uniformly supported by oral testimony from healers today as well as in the archival sources (see Letter to SNA, Pretoria from CNC, Natal, 'Native Medicine Men', 6 October 1915, NAB, CNC, 193, 1915/149). Foreign healers whose reputation preceded them were invited and compensated by Zulu kings and chiefs to live in their compounds.
53. Examples from Ubombo and Nongoma. H. A. Rippon (Sergt. SAMR) to Magistrate of Umbombo, 26 July 1918 and Oswald Fynney (Magistrate of Nongoma) to CNC Natal, 4 September 1918. Both cases regard a travelling healer from up-north who administered snuff to prevent illness from malaria that was epidemic at the time; SAB, NTS, 9465, 3/394.
54. CNC, Natal to SNA, Pretoria, 6 October 1915, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376 p. 1; 'Digest of Replies to CNC Circular 4/15, re Sale of Roots, etc. by Native Medicine Men', 1916, CAD, NTS, 9301,1/376 p. 1.
55. L. Kuper, H. Watts, and R. Davies, Durban: A Study in Racial Ecology (London, 1958), p. 53. See chart for population growth based on race from 1862-1951, based on a compilation of census reports. In 1880 only 4,000 Africans lived in Durban; this increased to over 12,000 in 1920.
56. CNC, Natal to SNA, Pretoria, 6 October 1915, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376 p. 1. Protus Cele tells how his father used to collect herbs around Durban as well as buy herbs from women coming into the city during the 1930s. Protus Cele, interview by author, Durban, RSA, 9 December 1998.
57. A. B. Cunningham, An Investigation of the Herbal Medicine Trade in Natal/KwaZulu: Report of the Institute of Natural Resources (Pietermaritzburg, 1988); J. Beall and E. Reston-Whyte, 'How Does the Present Inform the Past? Historical and Anthropological Perspectives on Informal Sector Activity in Early 20th Century Natal' (paper presented at the Conference on the History of Natal and Zululand, held at University of Natal Durban, July 1985).
58. A. B. Cunningham, An Investigation of the Herbal Medicine Trade in Natal/KwaZulu: Report of the Institute of Natural Resources (Pietermaritzburg, 1988); J. Beall and E. Reston-Whyte, 'How Does the Present Inform the Past? Historical and Anthropological Perspectives on Informal Sector Activity in Early 20th Century Natal' (paper presented at the Conference on the History of Natal and Zululand, held at University of Natal Durban, July 1985).
59. Approximately 21% of Zulu, Xhosa, and Sotho herbs are poisonous; they are used to induce vomiting. A. Hutchings, 'Acute Poisoning in Zulu and Xhosa Traditional Medicine', paper presented at the Premier Colloque Européen d'Ethnopharmacologie, 23-5 March 1990, pp. 123-32. The strength of a herb is dependent on where and when it is grown and how it is collected.
60. Protus Cele, interview, Durban, 9 December 1998.
61. 'Natives Have Own "Medical" Body', Sunday Times , 10 April 1938; '"Native Medical Association" ', Natal Medical Council to Barret, 18 February 1921, CAD, NTS, 9301,1/376 p. 2. Gordon to Secretary of Natal Medical Council, 15 December 1924, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376 p. 2.
62. 'Natives Have Own "Medical" Body', Sunday Times , 10 April 1938; '"Native Medical Association" ', Natal Medical Council to Barret, 18 February 1921, CAD, NTS, 9301,1/376 p. 2. Gordon to Secretary of Natal Medical Council, 15 December 1924, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376 p. 2.
63. This comes from Ngcobo's 1931 letterhead, PAR, CNC, 50A.
64. This is probably downplayed within the historiography, as the editors of the South African Medical Record did not include African patients in their analysis of competition. Monamodi, however, rightly recognizes that African healers were a significant competitive threat to White doctors. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors', p. 76. Shapiro also acknowledges that White doctors feared competition should full medical training be available to African doctors: Shapiro, 'Doctors or Medical Aids'.
65. This is probably downplayed within the historiography, as the editors of the South African Medical Record did not include African patients in their analysis of competition. Monamodi, however, rightly recognizes that African healers were a significant competitive threat to White doctors. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors', p. 76. Shapiro also acknowledges that White doctors feared competition should full medical training be available to African doctors: Shapiro, 'Doctors or Medical Aids'.
66. For a fuller discussion see Digby, '"A Medical El Dorado?"'; Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors', pp. 122-216.
67. For a fuller discussion see Digby, '"A Medical El Dorado?"'; Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors', pp. 122-216.
68. Secretary for the Interior to SNA, 28 June 1911, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376 p. 1.
69. For detailed information on Afrikaner home remedies see A. Coetzee, 'Some Folkloristic Aspects of Afrikaans Folk Medicine', Institute for the Study of Man, 5 (1962), 1-23.
70. IBM to Clark, 13 November 1920, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376 p. 1.
71. 'Skies Split!', South African Post, 21 September 1947.
72. I. Alexander's pamphlet, 1930, CAD, GES, 1788, 25/30M.
73. 'Reasons for Judgement in the Case of Mafayifa Radebe', PAR, NMC, T23, 5057/1905.
74. Dr Campbell Watt to Colonial Secretary, 15 August 1905, PAR, NMC, T23, 5057/1905.
75. Campbell Watt to SNA, 16 September 1910, PAR, NMC, T23, 1208/191.
76. Translation of Zulu article from Izinduba Zabantu dated 15 March 1915 entitled 'Doctors for Killing People', PAR, NMC, T24.
77. 'Doctors' Correspondence', PAR, NMC, T12. 'Coloured' refers to people in South Africa who are of mixed race descent.
78. Only 3% of Africans in the rural areas of Natal and Zululand were said to visit biomedical doctors. 'Report of Committee appointed to investigate and report on "Health of Durban Natives" for Durban Joint Council of Europeans and Natives', September 1928, NAB, 3/DBN, 4/1/2/1219 p. 1.
79. Marks claims an increase in African use of hospitals followed the high African mortality rates in the 1930s and 1940s: S. Marks, Divided Sisterhood (New York, 1994), p. 11.
80. Campbell Watt to SNA, 16 September 1910, PAR, NMC, T23, 1208/1911.
81. P. la Hausse, 'The Struggle for the City: Alcohol, the Ematsheni, and Popular Culture in Durban 1902-1936', (unpublished Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1984), pp. 120-2.
82. Gordon to Natal Medical Council, 15 December 1924, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 2.
83. H. Callaway, The Religions System of the Amazulu (Natal, 1870); A. T. Bryant, Zulu Medicine and Medicine Men (Cape Town, 1966).
84. H. Callaway, The Religions System of the Amazulu (Natal, 1870); A. T. Bryant, Zulu Medicine and Medicine Men (Cape Town, 1966).
85. A. W. Burton, 'Medical Practitioners and Dispensing', The Journal of the Medical Association of South Africa (JMASA), 1,19 (1927), 497-502.
86. W. G. Stafford, Principles of Native Law (Johannesburg, 1955), p. 205.
87. CNC to SNA, Pretoria, 9 May 1931, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 3.
88. Circular No. 54 of the Natal Pharmaceutical Society, 16 July 1938, PAR, 1/DBN, 1/1/1/2/2.
89. See Shapiro, 'Doctors or Medical Aids'.
90. In 1913, the president of the Natal Pharmaceutical Society stated 'the pharmaceutics profession . . . had no option but to preserve it[self] for the white man', Minutes of the Natal Pharmaceutical Society, 1908-23.
91. Shapiro, 'Doctors or Medical Aids'.
92. Hay-Michel, 'Native Medical Practitioners and European Patients', JMASA, I, 19 (1927), 494-7.
93. Ibid.
94. Monamodi, 'Medical Doctors', p. 285.
95. Ibid., p. 213.
96. J. A. du Toit, 'Letter to the Editor: Native Doctors and European Patients',JMASA, II, 2 (1928), 45.
97. Secretary for Public Health to Barrett, 18 February 1921, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 2.
98. H. A. Moffat, 'Letter to the Editor: Native Doctors and European Patients,' JMASA, I, 24 (1927), 659.
99. du Toit, 'Letter to the Editor: Native Doctors and European Patients'.
100. Marks, Divided Sisterhood, p. 60.
101. P. Starr, The Social Transformation of American Mediane (New York, 1982).
102. Secretary of Public Health to Minister of Public Health, 4 May 1933, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 1. (This does not include Zululand, which had more inyanga per person than Natal).
103. Alexander mentions in his court case that there are only four people in Durban with inyanga licences, PAR, 1/DDN, 1/1/1/2/2; 1931 numbers from miscellaneous paper in NAD, CNC, 50A, February 1931; population figures from P. Maylam and I. Edwards, The People's City (Pietermaritzburg, 1996), p. 16.
104. What constitutes 'European medicines' is another topic unto itself, as ideas of medical borrowing did not just flow one way.
105. Union of South Africa, Natal Code of Native Law (Pietermaritzburg, 1932), pp. 24-5.
106. Undersecretary for Native Affairs to CNC, Natal, 11 July 1921, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 2; 'Restrictions on Herbalists', Natal Mercury, 2 August 1939.
107. CNC, Natal to SNA, Pretoria, 30 September 1938, CAD, GES, 1787, 25/30K; Ngcobo to Minister of Native Affairs, 2 March 1931, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 3; CNC, Natal to SNA. 9 May 1931, CAD, NTS, 9301,1/376, p. 3.
108. Stafford, Principles of Native Law, p. 205.
109. This committee was formed in 1931. The African Chemist and Druggist, X, no. 107 (1931), 24. Unfortunately the Minutes from 1923 to 1937 are missing from the Natal Pharmaceutical Society. The minutes from 1937 to 1945, however, show a very active African and European healers committee.
110. Ngcobo to Minister of Native Affairs, 2 March 1931, 25/30E, GES, 1784.
111. Kwa Ndlulamiti pamphlet CAD, NTS, 9303, 8/376.
112. 'Natives Have Own "Medical" Body', Sunday Times, 10 April 1938.
113. Ibid.; ' "Native Medical Association" '; Acutt and Worthington to Native Commissioner, Weenen, 2 June 1938, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 3; Alister to Post Commander, Weenen, 11 May 1938, CAD, NTS, 9301,1/376, p. 3.
114. Dube to CNC, 7 October 1938, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 3; Cele to Minister of Native Affairs, 12 February 1931, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 3; SNA to Alport, 22 December 1941, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 3; 'Restrictions on Herbalists', Natal Mercury, 2 August 1939.
115. For a fuller discussion of the African élite, see S. Marks, The Ambiguities of Dependence in South Africa (Baltimore, 1986).
116. 'Natives Have Own "Medical" Body'.
117. Alister to Post Commander, South African Police, Weenen, 11 May 1938, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 3.
118. Ngcobo to Minister of Native Affairs, Cape Town, 2 March 1931, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 3.
119. Mazibuko and Ngcobo to CNC, Natal, 20 April 1931, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 3.
120. 'Natives Have Own "Medical" Body'.
121. Ibid.
122. In areas outside of Natal, the Dingaka Association (1928-c. 1960) based in the Transvaal organized male and female healers.
123. ' "Native Medical Association" '.
124. 'Note' from CNC, CNC 43/25; Dube to CNC, 7 October 1938, CAD, NTS, 9301, 1/376, p. 3.