Grandfathers, Google, and Dreams: Medical Pluralism, Globalization, and New Healing Encounters in Ghana

Medical Anthropology: Cross Cultural Studies in Health and Illness

Volumn 32, Issue 3, 2013, Pages 247-265

  Hampshire, Kate R ^a   Owusu, Samuel Asiedu ^b  

^a DURHAM UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST   (Ghana)

Author keywords

globalization; hybridization; therapeutic assemblages; traditional healers; traditional medicine; West Africa

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; FEMALE; GHANA; HUMAN; INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION; INTERNET; MALE; MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY; TRADITIONAL MEDICINE;

ANTHROPOLOGY, MEDICAL; CULTURAL DIVERSITY; FEMALE; GHANA; HUMANS; INTERNATIONALITY; INTERNET; MALE; MEDICINE, TRADITIONAL;

EID: 84876034414     PISSN: 01459740     EISSN: 15455882     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2012.692740     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. Barimah, K. and E. Van Teijlingen 2008 The use of traditional medicine by Ghanaians in Canada. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 8: 30.
2. Bryman, A. 2012 Social Research Methods., 4th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3. Charmaz, K. 2006 Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide to Qualitative Analysis. London: Sage.
4. Clifford, J. 1986 Introduction: Partial truths. In Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. J. Clifford and G. Marcus, eds. Pp. 1-26. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
5. Dixon, A. 2008 Regulating Complementary Medical Practitioners: Case Studies. http://kingsfund.koha-ptfs.eu/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=39675.
6. Etkin, N. L., P. J. Ross, and I. Muazzamu 1990 The indigenization of pharmaceuticals: Therapeutic transitions in rural Hausaland. Social Science & Medicine 30 (8): 919-928.
7. Feierman, E. K. 1981 Alternative medical services in rural Tanzania: A physician's view. Social Science & Medicine 15B (3): 399-404.
8. Fox, K. 2011 Africa's mobile economic revolution. The Observer, July 24. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/24/mobile-phones-africa-microfinance-farming.
9. Gessler, M. C., D. E. Msuya, M. H. H. Nkunya, A. Schär, M. Henrich, and M. Tanner 1995 Traditional healers in Tanzania: Sociocultural profile and three short portraits. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 48 (3): 145-160.
10. GhanaWeb2011Mobile phone penetration in Ghana now 80.5 per cent. GhanaWeb, October 21. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=222098.
11. Glaser, B. and A. Strauss 1967 The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine.
12. Green, E. C. 1988 Can collaborative programs between biomedical and African indigenous health practitioners succeed? Social Science & Medicine 27 (11): 1125-1130.
13. Hampshire, K. R., G. Porter, S. A. Owusu, A. Tanle, and A. Abane 2011 Out of the reach of children? Young people's health-seeking agency in Africa's newly-emerging therapeutic landscapes. Social Science & Medicine 73 (5): 702-710.
14. Helman, C. G. 2007 Culture, Health and Illness., 5th edition. London: Arnold.
15. Hsu, E. 2002 "The medicine from China has rapid effects": Chinese medicine patients in Tanzania. Anthropology & Medicine 9 (3): 291-313.
16. Janes, C. R. 1995 The transformations of Tibetan Medicine. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 9 (1): 6-39.
17. Khan, S. 2006 Systems of medicine and nationalist discourse in India: Towards "new horizons" in medical anthropology and history. Social Science & Medicine 62 (11): 2786-2797.
18. Krause, K. 2008 Transnational therapy networks among Ghanaians in London. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 34 (2): 235-251.
19. Lambert, H. 2012 Medical pluralism and medical marginality: Bone doctors and the selective legitimation of therapeutic expertise in India. Social Science & Medicine 74 (7): 1029-1036.
20. Landy, D. 1974 Role adaptation: Traditional curers under the impact of Western medicine. American Ethnologist 1 (1): 103-127.
21. Langwick, S. 2008 Articulate(d) bodies: Traditional medicine in a Tanzanian Hospital. American Ethnologist 35 (3): 428-439.
22. Langwick, S. 2010 From non-aligned medicines to market-based herbals: China's relationship to the shifting politics of traditional medicine in Tanzania. Medical Anthropology 29 (1): 15-43.
23. Last, M. 1981 The importance of knowing about not knowing. Social Science & Medicine 15B (3): 387-392.
24. Last, M. 1986 Introduction: The professionalization of African medicine: Ambiguities and definitions. In The Professionalisation of African Medicine. M. Last and G. L. Chavunduka, eds. Pp. 1-19. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
25. Lassiter, L. 2005 The Chicago Guide to Collaborative Ethnography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
26. Lock, M. 1990 Rationalization of Japanese herbal medicine: The hegemony of orchestrated pluralism. Human Organization 49 (1): 41-47.
27. Manuh, T. 1998 Ghanaians, Ghanaian Canadians, and Asantes: Citizenship and Identity Among Migrants in Toronto. Africa Today 45 (3-4): 481-494.
28. Marsland, R. 2007 The modern traditional healer: Locating "hybridity" in modern traditional medicine, Southern Tanzania. Journal of Southern African Studies 33 (4): 751-765.
29. McCaskie, T. C.2008Akwantemfi-"In mid-journey": An Asante shrine today and its clients. Journal of Religion in Africa38(1):57-80.
30. McMillen, H. 2004 The adapting healer: Pioneering through shifting epidemiological and sociocultural landscapes. Social Science & Medicine 59 (5): 889-902.
31. Meyer, B. 1998 "Make a complete break with the past": Memory and post-colonial modernity in Ghanaian Pentacostalist Discourse. Journal of Religion in Africa 28 (3): 316-349.
32. Nwagwu, W. E. 2007 The Internet as a source of reproductive health information among adolescent girls in an urban city in Nigeria. BMC Public Health 7: 354.
33. Oppong, A. C. K. 1989 Healers in transition. Social Science & Medicine 28 (6): 605-612.
34. Parkin, D. 1995 Latticed knowledge: Eradication and dispersal of the unpalatable in Islam, medicine and anthropological theory. In Counterworks: Maintaining the Diversity of Knowledge. R. Fardon, ed. Pp. 143-163. London, New York: Routledge.
35. Pool, R. 1994 Dialogue and the Interpretation of Illness. Oxford Providence, RI: Berg.
36. Reyes-Garcia, V. 2011 The relevance of traditional knowledge systems for ethnopharmacological research: Theoretical and methodological contributions. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 6: 32.
37. Riach, K. 2009 Exploring participant-centred reflexivity in the research interview. Sociology 43 (2): 356-370.
38. Robertson, R. 1995 Glocalization-Time-space and homogeneity-heterogeneity. In Global Modernities. M. Featherstone, S. Lash, and R. Robertson, eds. Pp. 25-44. London: Sage.
39. Strauss, A. L. and J. M. Corbin 1990 Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory., 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
40. Tabi, M. M., M. Powell, and D. Hodnicki 2006 Use of traditional healers and modern medicine in Ghana. International Nursing Review 53 (1): 52-58.
41. Thomas, F. 2010 Transnational health and treatment networks: Meaning, value and place in health seeking amongst southern African migrants in London. Health and Place 16 (3): 606-612.
42. Tsey, K. 1997 Traditional medicine in contemporary Ghana: A public policy analysis. Social Science & Medicine 45 (7): 1065-1074.
43. Twumasi, P. A. 1979 A social history of the Ghanaian pluralistic medical system. Social Science & Medicine 13B (4): 349-356.
44. Twumasi, P. A. and D. M. Warren 1986 The professionalization of indigenous medicine: A comparative study of Ghana and Zambia. In The Professionalisation of African Medicine. M. Last and G. L. Chavunduka, eds. Pp. 117-135. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
45. Wahlberg, A. 2008 Pathways to plausibility: When herbs become pills. Biosocieties 3 (1): 37-56.
46. World Health Organization 2001 Legal Status of Traditional Medicine and Complementary/Alternative Medicine: A Worldwide Review. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2001/WHO_EDM_TRM_2001.2.pdf.
47. World Health Organization. 2005 WHO Global Atlas of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Kobe, Japan: Author.
48. We wish to acknowledge the substantial contribution that the four healers (Dr. Sahara, Dr. Sammy, Dr. Nsemka, and Dr. Andoh) made to this study, not only in providing the ethnography, but also for their intellectual and analytical input, which was important in shaping the development of this article. While we (the authors) remain ultimately responsible for the interpretation presented here, its production was a collaborative effort.