Magic, Voodoo and.bush? (article)

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1 A project report on Magic, Voodoo and.bush? (article) Written by Kristina Volkova

2 Table of contents Introduction Method Evaluation of sources 3.1) Internet 3.2) Books 3.3) Articles 3.4) Documentaries 3.5) People The results Bibliography 1. Introduction The aim of this project was mainly to: Compare the view on Traditional Medicine, magic and the supernatural in the Western world with the view of it in Africa. Investigate if there is some potential hidden in African Traditional Medicine (in form of useful herbs or minerals) that can be used to improve modern medicine.

3 Discuss if it is possible for modern medicine and traditional medicine to co-exist and compliment each other. Find out what consequences may come with the integration of Traditional Medicine into modern medicine. Find out if the attitude towards Traditional Medicine in both the Western world and Africa might have a negative effect on its development. 2. Method In order to confirm the relevance of the above stated questions to the present day situation in the world, I first needed to find out all the basic facts about Tradition Medicine in general. This was easily done by a visit to the WHO website, where the statistics are well updated. By doing this I also automatically got an answer to question number 2, by following the links and references given on the website. After attaining the basic knowledge and an objective view on the topic the first stage of the research concerning the attitude towards Traditional Medicine could begin. To confirm my hypothesis on Traditional Medicine being somewhat ridiculed in the Western world, I started by interviewing doctors and reading scientific articles about the topic. The next step was to do a minor survey in the school, which involved 51 people in both the Swedish and the International Section. When analysing the answers I focused on finding patterns that could be connected to e.g gender or cultural differences. By travelling to Latvia and discussing the topic with people of different age groups and social status, I was able to find even more patterns and variances that were of interest to my research. Next was to investigate the attitude towards Traditional Medicine, in Africa. This was harder since I at that time did not have the possibility to travel there. Instead, I searched the internet for articles and reports written by journalists and scientists visiting the continent. Some books were recommended to me by the projects leaders, which also were of big help. The greatest help came however from the project leaders themselves, since they had been to Africa and could provide me with a lot of inside information. Also, Discovery channel documentaries were of great help. After organizing and summarizing the facts I had collected so far, the most crucial part of my research was at hand. I had discovered that the last three question I wanted to have answered could not be answered through any of the already written literature. The answers would have to be speculations, since they demanded a prediction of the outcome of a scenario that not yet has come to pass. With this I also realised that when it comes to speculations, they often tend to be extremely biased. In order to avoid that from happening I prepared myself for an imaginary debate on the topic, in which I would act as both the pro traditional medicine side and the anti traditional medicine side. I collected the best arguments for my cause(s) based on all the information I had been able to find. After doing this I met up with some of the people I had been talking to earlier. But this time, I pretended to be on the opposing side of whatever opinions toward traditional medicine they had. I asked them the questions I needed to find the answers to and let the people argue for their cause. I must admit that some of the encounters were not too pleasant (some people were really upset at seeing me so changed and suddenly against them). But except for appearing to be a complete fanatical lunatic, I managed to make some really interesting discoveries. I found out that the answer to the three last questions needed not be biased at all, since the opinions were more alike than I had thought. Then, at last, the final stage of the project could begin; a trip to Zambia in order to confirm all the found facts. My approach there was to discuss the topic with as many people as I

4 could, both educated and not, men and women, young and old. And without a doubt I can say that it was this trip that gave me the most valuable information. 3. Evaluation of sources I can start by stating the obvious: The truth is out there. The sad part is only that it is completely drowned in irrelevant facts Internet In the beginning of my research I mostly used the internet. I found that even if it is the fastest way of finding information, it is also the hardest way of finding information when you don t know what you are looking for. Sitting and searching for Traditional Medicine on Google took hours (and it took me weeks to figure out that it was the best search word), leaving me with hundreds of pages of information on which, if I were lucky, I would find one paragraph that was of relevance to me. Another problem was to figure out if the information I found was correct. The references are often very vague and not necessarily true. Nevertheless, Internet does allow you to find things you did not think of in the begging and can lead you on paths you find even more interesting than what you focused on from the start. It is also a goldmine if you do find the right website. Once you find a site that suits you, there will oftentimes be many links you can follow and get tons of information that you can use. It is also great when you want to find people who you can contact. There will almost always be an address to whoever made the page or in the best cases, an address to the person who has written the text you have found interesting. 3.2 Books I did not use so many books in my research. The ones I did use were recommended to me by the project leaders or other teachers. The main reason for this was that the books I was interested in were really hard to get. I did ask the library at Kungsholmen to order a couple of books but I gave up on the idea after not getting any notice for 3 months. I discovered that a lot of information can be found in the course literature, I stumbled on some great facts while studying for a Biology test. 3.3 Articles Just like books, articles were hard to find. However, I used many articles to find facts. These articles came most often from internet but could easily be traced to an organisation, newspaper or press release from which they generated. 3.4 Documentaries I was lucky enough to pick a topic that for some reason became very popular approximately when I was halfway through my research. Both the Discovery Channel and SVT (Vetenskapsmagasinet) showed documentaries which were relevant for my research. This was of great help since documentary tend to deal with a lot of facts in a fairly short amount of time but in a way which makes you remember what they were saying. 3.5 People This must be the best source of all time. You can ask people exactly what you want to know without having to listen to a bunch of information you do not need. Teachers, scientists, doctors and common people are perfect sources of information since you yourself get to choose and question the experts of the area you are interested in. This is the source I used most frequently and the source I found most giving.

5 4. Results After organising the facts, I found that I had learned more than I had expected. I also discovered that writing articles is much harder than I thought, simply because you can t go as deep into things as you would like to and you must be able to explain things without using too many words, yet in a way that is not too complicated. As I finished my project, I had answered all the questions I stated in the begging. I found out that there is a huge difference in the way people in Zambia see the world and in the way people in the west see it. The biggest difference being in what is considered to be natural and supernatural. I also discovered that there indeed must be great potential hidden in African Traditional Medicine, since the African continent is considered to be the continent with the biggest variety of medical herbs. Yet there are many problems when it comes to initiating laboratory testing of the remedies. The most important thing I learned from doing this project is however: that knowing things by reading about them is not the same thing as actually seeing it with your own eyes. Only when you have seen it can you truly say that you know what you are talking about. 5. Bibliography African herbs and healers by Peter de Smet (COMPAS Newsletter July 2000) Burning the Library of Amazonia by Richard Evans Shultes (The Sciences- March/April 1994) Kaktus lindrar hunger by Christer L Pettersson (Dagens Nyheter- 14 March 2004) Economics A Boom To Traditional Medicine in Africa by peter Barry Chowka (Natural health line) Biology Concepts & Connections, Forth edition (Campbell, Reece, Mitchell, Taylor)

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