Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In 2007 the National People and Parks Programme was rolled out as a platform for co-management between successful land claimants, indigenous natural resource user groups and conservation authorities. It aimed to promote social ‘transformation’ in conservation management by responding to the needs of all South Africans. This thesis engages with the efforts made by CapeNature Conservation Board and RasTafari bushdoctors in the Boland area to resolve a conflict around the illegal harvesting of indigenous medicinal flora from protected areas. An investigation into the discursive and material practices of the RasTafari bushdoctors reveal what they present as a substantially different way of being-with-nature in comparison to the historically produced dominant conception of nature. This difference cannot be understood outside the complex relations from which they emerge and allows a better understanding of the social condition for the possibility of Bossiedokters’ voices to be heard today. This thesis culminates with a critical analysis of recent dialogues between Bossiedokters and CapeNature around co-management platforms. These I argue reveal that the inequalities voiced by the healers are once again silenced by government practices ostensibly designed to uplift them. Conceptualising this conflict through the lens of ‘environmentality’ suggests its usefulness as well as its limitations in grasping contemporary South African dilemmas about transformation of nature. While RasTafari bushdoctors want to reclaim their social authority, the question remains how and whether they will be able to transform conservation practice before conservation practice transforms them. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Nasionale ‘People and Parks’ program was in 2007 aangekondig as die platform vir mede-bestuur tussen suksesvolle land eisers, inheemse natuurlike hulpbron gebruikersgroepe en natuurbewaringsowerhede. Dit het ten doel gestel om sosiale "transformasie" in natuurbewaring te bewerkstelling deur gehoor te gee aan die behoeftes van alle Suid-Afrikaners. Hierdie tesis vertolk die pogings aangewend deur CapeNature Conservation Board en RasTafari Bossiedokters in die Boland ten einde die konflik te oorkom rondom die onwettige oes van inheemse medisinale flora vaniut beskermde gebiede. Die ontleding van die diskursiewe en materiële praktyke van die RasTafari Bossiedokters openbaar hoe hul vertolking van hul unieke wyse van omgang-met-natuur staan in kontras met die dominante histories-geproduseerde opvatting van die natuur. Hierdie verskil kan nie verstaan word buite die komplekse sosiale verhoudinge waaruit dit materialiseer nie, en kan bydra tot 'n beter begrip van die sosiale toestande benodig om te verseker dat die Bossiedokters se stemme meer helder gehoor kan word. Hierdie tesis ontwikkel as 'n kritiese ontleding van onlangse dialoë tussen Bossiedokters en CapeNature soos gevoer rondom mede-bestuur platforms. Die dialoë openbaar dat aanklagtes van sosiale ongelykheid gemaak deur die Bossiedokters, bloot stilgemaak word deur die regering se strukture, ten spyte daarvan dat die strukture oënskynlik ontwerp was om hierdie ongelykhede aan te spreek. My konseptualisering van hierdie konflik as ‘n voorbeeld van 'environmentality’, toets die toepaslikheid sowel as die tekortkominge van hierdie konsep om sin te maak van kontemporêre Suid-Afrikaanse dilemmas aangaande die transformasie van die natuur. Die RasTafari Bossiedokters poog steeds om hul sosiale aansien te herwin, maar die vraag bly staan of hulle in staat sal wees en hoe hulle tewerk moet gaan ten einde natuurbewaring se praktyke te verander voordat natuurbewaringspraktyke hulle verander.

D. Tech. (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences)|, Vaal University of Technology. / Medicinal plants provide valuable alternative sources of drugs and drug discovery because many have been used in traditional practices for centuries to manage or treat various forms of ailments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biological activities of nine medicinal plants used by Zulus in Mabandla village, KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa to treat inflammation and to isolate selected active compounds against studied pathogens from Alepidea amatymbica and Pomaria sandersonii. The plants were selected on the basis of an ethnobotanical survey based on questionnaire response and verbal interviews that were conducted in Mabandla village with the local traditional healers and herbalists. The isolation of compounds from Alepidea amatymbica and Pomaria sandersonii was based on the bioassay based study which was carried out in this study. Bioassay guided study involving in vitro anti-inflammatory measurement using soya bean derived 15 Lipoxygenase, free radical scavenging capacity against the ABTS●+ radical cation and DPPH● radicals; antimicrobial and bioautography assays against Staphylococcus aureus, ATCC 29213, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Escherichia coli, ATCC25922, Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans and Aspergillus fumigatus were carried out using the plants extracts, fractions and pure compounds. Isolation of compounds displaying biological activity was carried out by using open column chromatography and preparative thin layer chromatography (PTLC). The compounds were characterised by use of Nuclear Magnetic resonance, (NMR) and Mass Spectrometry (MS). The DPPH sprayed TLC showed that all the nine plants contained antioxidants. Most of which were contained in polar fractions of acetone and methanol. Results of the assays displayed a range of biological activities comparable to the positive controls used for each assay. DPPH● scavenging displayed EC50 values ranging between 1.008 and 467 Kg/ml. The highest activity was observed with the methanol fraction of Berkheya setifera with an EC50 value of 1.008 Kg/ml followed by the crude extract of Gunnera perpensa with EC50 value of 1.069 Kg/ml. Carissa bispinosa hexane fraction had the lowest activity of 467.7 Kg/ml. The Pomaria sandersonii DCM extract had the highest ABTS●+ radical scavenging activity by Pomaria sandersonii DCM extract, (1.273 Kg/ml) for the ethyl acetate, (5.973 Kg/ml) while the hexane fraction from Eucomis autumnalis had the lowest activity (929.4 Kg/ml). The activity of Pomaria sandersonii extracts and fractions demonstrated that the plant contains antioxidants that react with both DPPH and ABTS radicals although higher activities were shown by ABTS as displayed by the lower EC50 values. All the crude fractions and extracts had high to moderate antibacterial activities (20-625 Kg/ml) and anti-fungal activities (20-2500 Kg /ml). Pomaria sandersonii crude and fractions had the highest antimicrobial activity compared to other plants. Some MIC values for P. sandersonii dichloromethane and ethyl acetate fractions (80 Kg/ml in each case) compared well with gentamycin (4 Kg/ml) since they showed same values against Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli and Pseudonomus aeruginosa. The dichloromethane, acetone and methanol fractions were also active (20 Kg/ml) against both Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus. Inhibition of pathogen growth demonstrated by the polar fractions of the studied plants suggested that some of the active compounds would be soluble in water. A total of seven compounds were isolated from Alepidea amatymbica and Pomaria sandersonii. We propose three were new compounds after considering literature search involving closely related research to this investigation. These were two diterpenes from Alepidea amatymbica, namely, 14-acetoxo-12-oxokaur-16-en-19-oic acid labelled as 0657 and 16-hydroxy-kaur-6-en-19-oic acid given the label 06-2 in this study. The third suspected new compound is the chalcone dimer, which is referred to as EM86 in this study from Pomaria sandersonii. EM80-2 was obtained as a mixture of the cis and trans of 2’, 4, 4,’-trihydroxychalcone or 1-(2,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-propen-1-one, from Pomaria sandersonii. The three diterpenes, 14-acetoxokaur-16-en-19-oic acid (0652), 13-hydroxy-16-kauren-19-oic acid (06B) and 14-oxokaur-16-en-19-oic acid (06431) were isolated from Alepidea amatymbica for the first time. Isolated compounds were further tested as individual compounds and results showed that 16-hydroxy-kaur-6-en-19-oic acid (06-2) had weak activity against tested bacteria and fungi with the MIC: Staphylococcus aureus (320 Kg/ml) and Candida albicans, (320 Kg/ml). On the other hand 13-hydroxy-kaur-16-en-19-oic acid (06B) was more active against, Staphylococcus aureus (160 Kg/ml) and Aspergillus fumigatus (40 Kg/ml). The yellow compound that was isolated from Pomaria sandersonii, 1-(2, 4-ihydroxyphenyl)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-propen-1-one was antimicrobial with the following MICs: Candida albicans: 80 Kg/ml; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus: 160 Kg/ml and Aspergillus fumigatus: 625 Kg/ml. There were two mixtures referred to as EM 49 and EM 77 from Pomaria sandersonii which were difficult to purify but had anti-microbial inhibitory activities worth reporting. EM49 had MIC against Candida albicans of: 160μg/ml; Pseudomonas aeruginosa: 320 Kg/ml, Escherichia coli: 80μg/ml, Enterococcus faecalis 80μg/ml, and Staphylococcus aureus: 80μg/ml and Aspergillus fumigatus: 320μg/ml. EM 77 had MIC against Escherichia coli: 80 Kg/ml and Cryptococcus neoformans: 80μg/ml. Further work on their purification need to be done since in this research we are just reporting on their high MIC activities. The medicinal plants used to treat inflammation under different disease conditions in the Zulu community of Mabandla village, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa have some relevant biological activities. The various antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities support the validity of their healing capacities that the traditional healers of the community claim to possess. Although there is evidence of good antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities by the crude extracts, the high levels of sucrose in P. prunelloides and glucose in G. perpensa should be borne in mind when using their decoctions in traditional medicine particularly by diabetic patients. In vitro results for the antioxidant, antinflammtory and antimicrobial activities carried out in this investigation illustrate that the plants can be a source of treatment and management for inflammation related conditions. These therefore justify their use in Zulu traditional medicine. However, in vivo assays should be carried out in order to completely validate claims by the traditional healers that they treat inflammation related conditions. / Vaal University of Technology

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elen Cristina Dias de Moura.pdf: 14367435 bytes, checksum: 3905831d41ec47422fdaea5ac09515dc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The dissertation Between Ramos and Prayers: blessing practice in São Luiz do Paraitinga, from 1950 to 2008 is the result of a two year research performed in the city of São Luiz do Paraitinga on blessing ritual. Our goal was to study this popular form of cure to check the transmission resources, the ruptures and the continuities in the ritual along time and the relation established among faith healers and the local priests. By following the everyday routine of Catholic communities in cities of little and average size, we verify the men and women effective participation involved in religious practices of not official blessings. They are faith healers, people with a special power, able to control the forces able to cause physical, emotional and spiritual unbalances. By means of blessings, they guarantee the operation of the wished normality, breaking itself with the threatening unbalance of the existence. In spite of being to the process margin of the institutionalized religion, faith healers occupy highlight role and enjoy of certain authority in their communities. By talking about blessing ritual, we intend to contribute for the manifestations comprehension of the popular culture in a contemporary context. It is a research on the people and their manifestations, that is, of common people that bring in the everyday experiences an adaptation context to the lived reality. Concerning methodology, we employ magician's and priest concepts developed by Weber (1999), and of religious field, formulated by Bourdieu (2007), to explain the relation established among faith healers and the local priests. The information collection was made by means of the field research with some city inhabitants, besides priests and faith healers. To analyze the interviews content, we used the resources offered by the content analysis method / A dissertação Entre Ramos e Rezas: o ritual de benzeção em São Luiz do Paraitinga, de 1950 a 2008 é o resultado de dois anos de pesquisa realizada na cidade paulista de São Luiz do Paraitinga sobre o ritual de benzeção. Nosso objetivo foi estudar essa forma popular de cura para verificarmos os recursos de transmissão do dom, as rupturas e as continuidades no ritual ao longo do tempo e a relação estabelecida entre os(as) benzedeiros(as) e os padres locais. Ao acompanharmos o cotidiano de comunidades católicas em cidades de pequeno e médio porte, verificamos a efetiva participação de homens e mulheres envolvidos em práticas religiosas de bênçãos não oficiais. São os(as) benzedeiros(as), pessoas portadoras de um poder especial, capazes de controlar as forças desencadeadoras de desequilíbrios físicos, emocionais e espirituais. Por meio de benzimentos, garantem o funcionamento da normalidade desejada, rompendo-se com o desequilíbrio ameaçador da existência. Apesar de estarem à margem do processo da religião institucionalizada, os(as) benzedeiros(as) ocupam papel de destaque e desfrutam de certa autoridade em suas comunidades. Ao abordamos o ritual de benzeção, pretendemos contribuir para a compreensão das manifestações da cultura popular num contexto contemporâneo. Trata-se de uma pesquisa sobre o povo e suas manifestações, isto é, de pessoas comuns que trazem nas experiências cotidianas um contexto de adaptação à realidade vivida. No que diz respeito à metodologia, empregamos os conceitos de mago e sacerdote, desenvolvidos por Weber (1999), e de campo religioso, formulado por Bourdieu (2007), para explicarmos a relação estabelecida entre os agentes da benzeção e os padres locais. A coleta de informações foi feita por meio da pesquisa de campo com alguns moradores da cidade, além de padres e benzedeiros(as). Para analisar o conteúdo das entrevistas, utilizamos os recursos oferecidos pelo método de análise de conteúdo

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-01-30T11:55:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Maria de Souza.pdf: 1913379 bytes, checksum: 2937a6b378d8ccf197ad8f359395e8c4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-30T11:55:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Maria de Souza.pdf: 1913379 bytes, checksum: 2937a6b378d8ccf197ad8f359395e8c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The objective of this research is to understand how the population composed of Africans and Afros Brazilians in Desterro (SC), especially the women, healers, mourners and healers who used the ancestral knowledge, for the practices of healing between 1844 and 1889 in Desterro (SC). This period, when posture codes, the terms of well-being in communion with the hygienist's medical gaze, and the desire to modernize by local political elites were in vogue, with the intention of controlling the poor populations and, consequently, the called healing practices developed by populations of African origin. The empire and the beginning of the Republic, with their ideals of modernization, hygiene and the fight against insalubrity, based on the absolute knowledge of medicine, also tried to regulate the practices called "witchcraft." The numerous works that approach the theme of healers and healers in Santa Catarina, with few exceptions, mainly focus on white women who are believed to be Azorean descendants. The African presence and its healing practices related to patient care appear in the background. We used as main source of research, announcements of local newspapers, inventory, trades and correspondence exchanged between the administration of the province of Santa Catarina and the empire, linked to the practices of healing and prayers on the island of Santa Catarina / O objetivo desta pesquisa é de que forma a população composta por africanos e afros brasileiros em Desterro (SC), especialmente as mulheres, benzedeiras, rezadeiras e curandeiras que se utilizavam dos conhecimentos ancestrais, para as práticas de cura entre 1844 a 1889 em Desterro (SC). Período este, em que estavam em voga os códigos de postura, os termos de bem viver em comunhão com o olhar médico higienista e o desejo de modernizar por parte das elites políticas locais, com a intenção de controlar as populações pobres e, consequentemente, as chamadas práticas de cura desenvolvidas pelas populações de origem africana. O Império e o início da República, com seus ideais de modernização, higienização e combate à insalubridade, pautados no saber absoluto da medicina, também tentaram regular as práticas chamadas de ″feitiçarias". Os inúmeros trabalhos que abordam a temática de curadores e benzedeiras em Santa Catarina, salvo poucas exceções, têm como enfoque principal, em sua maioria, mulheres brancas e supostamente descendentes de açorianas. A presença africana e suas práticas de cura ligadas ao atendimento aos doentes aparecem em segundo plano. Por esse motivo, esta pesquisa pretende abordar estas práticas presentes em Desterro e seus desdobramentos. Utilizamos como principal fonte de pesquisa, anúncios de jornais locais, inventário, ofícios e correspondências trocados entre a administração da província catarinense e o império, ligados às práticas de cura e rezas na ilha de Santa Catarina

The driving force behind this study is to unconventionaly state that the cultural anthropological insight of Zulu people and pastoral - theological practice of Christianity can contribute in the sadness caused by mv - AIDS. This calls for conversion, transformation and healing of the many factors that confront the society. Hence a need of ownership on issues that confront Africans as they engage in global affairs. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

This research thesis explores how healers in the Peruvian Upper Amazon experience and negotiate their roles and knowledge systems at the interface of Amazonian, Western scientific and other medical knowledge systems at the confluence of community and environmental health. Experiences of identity, practice and place feature in this research among selected healers in the region of San Martín, Peru. Relationships with nature have sustained Indigenous populations in this region, and economic pursuits of natural resources have attracted many populations to the Upper Peruvian Amazon, making it an interesting site for the analysis of healers’ experiences at the interface of different knowledge systems. An emergent objective of this thesis has been to provide what healers in the region expressed to me as a need for an experiential approach to research on local medical knowledge systems. The resulting thesis is an ethnography of my experiences learning from healers and plant teachers about intercultural health initiatives on a regional level in Peru.

This thesis is a journey into the realm of Spider Woman—the Cosmic Weaver—and explores ways in which Spider Woman figures and textile imagery became increasingly important and powerful healing metaphors in literature, during the rise of second wave feminism. Margaret Atwood's Lady Oracle, Paula Gunn Allen's The Woman Who Owned the Shadows, and Alice Walker's The Temple of My Familiar illustrate the importance of these healing metaphors in women's fiction. Framing the analysis is Mary Daly's concept for creating a gynocentric literature (Gyn/Ecology) that escapes patriarchal linguistic constraints through the process of "spooking, sparking and spinning' new words and new stories on a "loom of our own."

This thesis presents an analysis of Piaroa shamanic practices that combines elements of symbolic, psychobiological and phenomenological approaches. Theories from, and clinical findings in, neuroscience, pharmacology, psychology and psychoneuroimmunology are integrated with extended participant observation field study involving basic shamanic training to demonstrate how Piaroa shamans learn to understand and effect biopsychosocial adaptation and promote health. It is argued that Piaroa shamanism is a sophisticated means of interpreting ecological forces and emotional processes in the interests of minimising stress across related systems: self, society, ecosystem, and cosmos. Piaroa shamans should be cadres in the promotion of an ethos, the good life of tranquillity, which serves as the basis for low-stress social relations. Piaroa mythology is predicated upon human-animal-god reciprocity and provides the shaman with a series of informationprocessing templates, designed to be invoked with the use of hallucinogens, which assist him to understand inter-systemic relations. I analyse how Piaroa shamans develop the psychic skills to divine and regulate ecological relationships and emotional processes, while highlighting possible relationships among native symbolism, neurology, consciousness and the emotions. It is argued that Piaroa shamanic practices involve conditioning the mind to achieve optimal perceptive capacities that, in association with sensitive biopsychosocial study, facilitate accurate prediction and successful psychosocial prescription. A cultural neurophenomenological approach enables articulation of the psychocultural logic of ethos, epistemology, divination, sorcery, and curing, and a fuller picture of a South American indigenous society’s shamanic practices than less integrative approaches have afforded

This research thesis explores how healers in the Peruvian Upper Amazon experience and negotiate their roles and knowledge systems at the interface of Amazonian, Western scientific and other medical knowledge systems at the confluence of community and environmental health. Experiences of identity, practice and place feature in this research among selected healers in the region of San Martín, Peru. Relationships with nature have sustained Indigenous populations in this region, and economic pursuits of natural resources have attracted many populations to the Upper Peruvian Amazon, making it an interesting site for the analysis of healers’ experiences at the interface of different knowledge systems. An emergent objective of this thesis has been to provide what healers in the region expressed to me as a need for an experiential approach to research on local medical knowledge systems. The resulting thesis is an ethnography of my experiences learning from healers and plant teachers about intercultural health initiatives on a regional level in Peru.

This thesis is a journey into the realm of Spider Woman—the Cosmic Weaver—and explores ways in which Spider Woman figures and textile imagery became increasingly important and powerful healing metaphors in literature, during the rise of second wave feminism. Margaret Atwood's Lady Oracle, Paula Gunn Allen's The Woman Who Owned the Shadows, and Alice Walker's The Temple of My Familiar illustrate the importance of these healing metaphors in women's fiction. Framing the analysis is Mary Daly's concept for creating a gynocentric literature (Gyn/Ecology) that escapes patriarchal linguistic constraints through the process of "spooking, sparking and spinning' new words and new stories on a "loom of our own."