Penicillin, battery acid and sacrifice: Cures and causes in Nyole medicine

Susan Reynolds Whyte

Social Science & Medicine, 1982, vol. 16, issue 23, 2055-2064

Abstract: The existence of therapeutic alternatives, a very widespread feature of medical systems, is to be distinguished from medical pluralism, which characterizes situations where orthodoxy and power accrue to one group of medical professionals. Local African medical systems are dynamic and inclusive and this is the basis for the ready incorporation of Western biomedical elements. Analysis of the medical perceptions, treatments and practitioners of the Nyole of Eastern Uganda reveals that new divination techniques and exotic sorcery medicines have been absorbed as well. Some of the recent changes in Nyole medicine may be indicative of a growing medical individualism. Explanations and treatments directed toward the social and ritual situation of the sufferer still bear the greatest ideological weight.

Date: 1982
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