The Integration of Traditional and Biomedicine in South Africa
A 2008 Draft Policy on African Traditional Medicine calls for the use of ‘evidenced-based public health and epidemiological approach, supported by laboratory-based investigations’ which will allow for “a high standard of scientific excellence in African Traditional Medicine research…” The next year, when doing research for my dissertation almost all the traditional healers I interviewed told me it was not possible to scientifically prove their medicine because without the spiritual world, muthi (medicine) just does not work. How these two seeming inconsistent concepts of medicine, as spiritual and scientific, have been constituted and spatialized in a colonial and post-colonial context is the basis of my current research.
Other research projects include those on afforestation projects in South Africa, and human impacts on national parks in the US Southwest.
I spend most of my time these days teaching at the University of Arizona in the School of Geography, and also teach one online course at Pima Community College.
My side projects are many and include traveling wherever I can for whatever reason just to learn a bit more about the place. I have also developed an interest in food politics, which has not yet turned into a research project, but someday… In my spare time I give map quizzes to my two young daughters, Cora and Marietta. In addition, my husband and I are attempting to visit all the wine regions in the world, although that is a slow process. In the meantime we are tasting the wine from said regions to determine where to go next. I usually also find time to feed, pet, and play with my cats Loki, Athena, and Atlas.
local bananas? In New Orleans? Probably not.
Stellenbosch wine region in South Africa
My personal project of documenting interesting signs around Africa (with help from my husband Corey)