What I believe ties all these readings together is the connection between god and power and the Swahili concept of medicine or "Dawa," and the "wound" that the Swahili, Zulu, and Ugandan peoples ' sought to treat with godly medicine. This was especially apparent in the Curing their Ills chapter "The Great Dispensary in the Sky: Missionary Medicine." In all the readings, it is evident that medicine is associated with power, and healing is innately spiritual. It is most evident in the susceptibility of Tanganyika and the South African coast to the two-pronged acculturation of missionary medicine. I believe the readings make an argument that directly moves the discussion of medicine from the physical realm to the metaphysical realm while leaving the complex implications of these relations to our own judgments.
This unique relationship found in many African cultures is what Europeans exploited entering South Africa and Tanganyika according …show more content…
The many physical and chronic wounds black bodies faced in Uganda gained new metaphysical meaning as an opportunity to convert Ugandans to Christianity. Their disease was their gateway to the western world and vice versa for the missionaries. But, this new meaning, these new wounds were brought about by the inherently racist clinical approach missionary medicine brought to the topic of treating Black bodies. This mutualism depicted by missionaries between all that is evil, unclean, and diseased and the black body, gave the Ugandan 's wounds new meaning, it diminished if not destroyed the practice of alternative medicines in the area and gave missionaries and slavers alike a sort of jihad-like mission to colonize the African interior. Medicine for the European wasn 't only about curing the body but the Africans ' inherently savage and natal
This unique relationship found in many African cultures is what Europeans exploited entering South Africa and Tanganyika according …show more content…
The many physical and chronic wounds black bodies faced in Uganda gained new metaphysical meaning as an opportunity to convert Ugandans to Christianity. Their disease was their gateway to the western world and vice versa for the missionaries. But, this new meaning, these new wounds were brought about by the inherently racist clinical approach missionary medicine brought to the topic of treating Black bodies. This mutualism depicted by missionaries between all that is evil, unclean, and diseased and the black body, gave the Ugandan 's wounds new meaning, it diminished if not destroyed the practice of alternative medicines in the area and gave missionaries and slavers alike a sort of jihad-like mission to colonize the African interior. Medicine for the European wasn 't only about curing the body but the Africans ' inherently savage and natal