Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Anthropology, December 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1984. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-153).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 276-289).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 289-337).

Whilst hospitals are the dominant institutions through which Western biomedical treatment is delivered, it is also argued that these institutions do not reproduce a distinct notion of a biomedical model, but instead assume different configurations, reflecting and replicating wider socio-cultural processes. In South Africa, this includes a reflection and replication of challenges arising from an eclectic therapeutic landscape in which biomedicine is but one avenue. The challenge presented is that South Africa’s dominant therapeutic cultures of African traditional medicine, said to be used by an estimated 80% of the population, and Western biomedicine, reflect two distinct, and arguably conflicting, ontological and epistemological paradigms. A recognition of this is encompassed in many hospital ethnographies exploring how biomedical professionals confront and manage the collision of these therapeutic systems within the institutional space. Whilst such studies have been carried out in a number of African country-settings, this interface of therapeutic cultures in South African hospitals has received scant attention. Using a range of interpretive research methods that include narrative, informant, and respondent interviews, this project, carried out within two public hospitals in the town of Barberton, South Africa, explores the views, experiences, and perspectives of hospitalbased biomedical professionals, and hospital-bound tuberculosis patients, on the articulation of African traditional medicine and Western biomedicine. Barberton tuberculosis hospital Using a narrative approach, an exploration of TB patient’s stories of navigating the plural therapeutic landscape is undertaken. These examine the complex navigation of a plural medical ecology, the conflict arising as a result, as well as how personal accounts reflect broader meta-narrative illness archetypes. Alongside this, is an examination of the conflict between nurses and patients within the hospital-confines that arises as a result of the interface between African traditional medicine and Western biomedicine. This is examined in the context of a TB treatment facility that reflects strong Foucaultian characteristics of institutional control, and observation of patient bodies and behaviours. Barberton general hospital Using informant and respondent interviews, an exploration of the positioning, views, and sometimes allegiances of nurses and doctors towards African traditional medicine and Western biomedicine, is undertaken. This includes an examination of the described articulation between these therapeutic cultures within the biomedical space. A particular emphasis is placed on examining the role of nurses as brokers of culture, as they mediate and broker conflict arising as these therapeutic systems collide. This study presents a complex milieu of views and positions regarding the interface between African traditional medicine and Western biomedicine. Tuberculosis patients portray convoluted and meandering health seeking journey’s between healing systems, and both nurses and tuberculosis patients, describe an institution attempting to position itself as distinctly biomedical. Whilst African traditional medicine does emerge within this hospital space, this is largely clandestine, and is actively discouraged by biomedical staff through vigilant observation and oversight that is interpreted by patients as overt, and excessive biomedical control. In the general hospital, nurses and doctors described how African traditional medicine is encountered and confronted, where it is largely viewed as clouding and complicating biomedical healing and treatment endeavours. The range of views on these ontologically distinct systems, are broad, where health professionals who reject traditional medicine, and those, mainly nurses, who use traditional medicines, work side-by-side – sometimes leading to internal conflict. An exploration of the role of nurses as culture brokers is complex, where nurses describe encountering significant conflict in mediating between patients expectations, expectations demanded by professional roles, and their cultural allegiances. This is embedded within a complex political landscape, where biomedical practitioners who position themselves against African traditional medicine, feel reluctant to voice concerns in a post-apartheid institution that prioritises cultural pluralism, and respect for personal beliefs. This project uncovers the conflict and tensions arising from the plural medical landscape within, and without Barberton’s hospitals, as well as how the stance towards therapeutic pluralism by biomedical professionals differs between these institutions depending on context.

M.A. / The general aim of this study was to explore the literature on transpersonal correlates in traditional African healing. The main aim was to create an understanding of transpersonal experiences from the stance of Transpersonal psychology and incorporate it to what is known with regard to illnesses and diseases in African belief systems. The existing literature indicates that there are differences and similarities between traditional African healing systems and Western modes of healing. Despite their differences, however it seems possible that they could operate in a complementary manner within the broader health care system.

No abstract available / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Architecture / unrestricted

Amaranthus is among the nutritious indigenous plant species that are gathered from the wild in the Eastern Cape to prepare a traditional meal known as ‘imifino’ or ‘isigwampa’ to supplement the necessary proteins, vitamins and minerals which are poor in maizebased meals. Amaranthus species are adapted to wild conditions unsuitable for exotic vegetables and could be cultivated but information on its fertility requirements, as sole or intercrop, is the key for its domestication and production as a leafy vegetable, particularly where manure is used. Two dry-land and one glasshouse experiments were conducted to study the effects of sheep kraal manure application rate, intercropping with maize and soil type on growth, fresh and dry matter yields, nutrient uptake and grain yield of a local Amaranthus accession that grows wild in the Eastern Cape. Sheep kraal manure rates ranging from 0 to 10 t ha-1 and an NPK {2:3:4(30) + 0.5% Zn} fertilizer as a positive control, applied at rates recommended for spinach, were tested. In the Gqumahashe experiment, where Amaranthus was grown as a sole crop, low manure rates (≤ 2.5 t ha-1) resulted in plant heights and fresh matter yields which were comparable to those in the unfertilized control, whereas higher rates (5 and 10 t ha-1) and recommended NPK fertilizer had higher levels both at 30 and 60 days after transplanting (DAT) at p < 0.05. At 30 DAT, manure application rates of ≥ 2.5 t ha-1 and the NPK fertilizer treatment, produced greater shoot dry-matter yields (29.35, 30.75 and 37.68 g plant-1) than the unfertilized control (17.11 g plant-1) at p < 0.05. Uptake of N and P in the leaves increased with increase in manure application rate with N uptake reaching a maximum (308 mg plant-1) at a manure rate of 2.5 t ha-1 which corresponded with the maximum dry matter yield. There was no effect of manure rate or fertilizer on residual soil N and Ca, whereas P, K, Mg and Zn increased. In a pot experiment with soils from Ntselamanzi and Gqumahashe Villages, manure rates ≥ 2.5 t ha-1 resulted in plant heights and fresh matter yield that compared well with the NPK fertilizer treatment in the Gqumahashe soil whereas only the 10 t ha-1 manure treatment was comparable to the NPK fertilizer treatment in the Ntselamanzi soil. Only treatments with ≥ 5 t ha-1 manure had stem girth (1.00 and 1.07 cm) that compared well to NPK fertilizer (1.03 cm) in the Ntselamanzi soil whereas in the Gqumahashe soil, all manure levels compared well to NPK fertilizer (1.02 cm). However, no significant difference was observed in plant height and stem girth and fresh matter due to soil type. In both soils, the 1.3-10 t ha-1 manure treatments had dry leaf weight comparable to plants fertilized with NPK fertilizer (3.72 g plant-1 for the Ntselamanzi soil and 3.65 g plant-1 for the Gqumahashe soil) and were bigger than the unfertilized control (2.2 g plant-1 for the Ntselamanzi soil and 1.38 g plant-1 for the Gqumahashe soil) at p < 0.05. Uptake of N, P and K increased as result of manure application but nonetheless, it was less when compared to plants fertilized with NPK fertilizer in both soils. In a field intercropping experiment carried out at Ntselamanzi, growth and yield of sole and intercropped Amaranthus plants grown with manure improved when compared to the unfertilized control and compared well to NPK fertilizer. At 30 days after transplanting (DAT), both sole and intercropped plants grown with ≥ 2.5 t ha-1 manure had fresh and dry matter yield comparable to plants fertilized with NPK fertilizer. At 60 DAT, intercropped plants grown with all manure levels had bigger fresh matter yield when compared to unfertilized control (836.0 g plant-1) whereas for sole cropped plants only those grown with ≥ 2.5 t ha-1 compared to NPK fertilizer (1467.7 g plant-1) at p < 0.05. Uptake of N, P, K, Ca and Mg increased with increase in manure application in both sole and intercropped Amaranthus. Whereas Amaranthus did not suffer from the competition in the intercrop, maize biomass and grain yield were severely reduced with the effects being evident after 60 DAT. Based on results of this study, it is therefore suggested that, if Amaranthus is to be intercropped with maize under dry land conditions of the Central Region of the Eastern Cape, sheep manure should at least be applied at rate of ≥ 2.5 t ha-1 and Amaranthus be harvested at 30 DAT.

Please read the abstract in the dissertation Copyright 2002, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Rakuambo, NC 2002, The traditional use of medicinal plants to treat erectile dysfunction and the isolation of their bioactive compounds, MSc dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03122012-172112 / > E12/4/140/gm / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Plant Science / unrestricted

Hypoxis (commonly known as African potato, Ilabatheka, Inkomfe, sterretjie or yellow starflowers and also as monna wa maledu or thitidi) is a genus of the family Hypoxidaceae. The rootstocks of Hypoxis species, particularly H. hemerocallidea, are well-known to be used in traditional medicine for the treatment of different ailments, such as urinary tract infection, epilepsy, prostate cancer and onset diabetes. Several visits have been made to the Faraday Medicinal Market and Abey Bailey Nature Reserve in Johannesburg to determine the availability of Hypoxis plant materials. From these visits, it was discovered that different Hypoxis species are harvested and sold as the same plant commonly referred to as the African potato, and the treatment with these plants might be questionable as the secondary metabolites might differ. This was proven when a number of rootstocks bought from the medicinal market grew into plants showing distinct morphological differences when planted at the Agricultural Research Council (Roodeplaat, Pretoria). It is possible that the plants sold are used as the substitutes for the commonly main plant, which is H. hemerocallidea and a reality is that many of the problems related to the quality of medicinal plants are based on the substitution of the declared plants and when the substitution occurs the quality of the plants becomes compromised leading to the risks of public health. It is however, not known whether the substitution is done deliberately or unintentionally since the outward morphology of Hypoxis species are not the same except their bright yellow flowers. The similarity within these species is on their underground rootstock. The dosage and toxicity of plant preparations is extremely important and, therefore adulteration is a concern where plant preparations are taken orally and the information about the plants used not being accurate. The aim of this study was to compare the secondary metabolite content of four Hypoxis species namely, H. acuminata, H. hemerocallidea, H. iridifolia and H. rigidula Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) were used to analyze the secondary metabolite content of the plant extracts. Differences were also noted as one green compound was observed only in H. acuminata and H. rigidula. The HPLC results showed major differences in retention time in fresh material. The antibacterial activity of extracts of all four Hypoxis species showed similar results, although the activity differed amongst the microorganisms. The species showed high level of antioxidant activity that increased with increasing concentration in all four Hypoxis species. The species also showed no toxicity when tested in vitro on Vero cells however, they seemed to be toxic to cancer cells (Hela cells) but with a higher concentration. Hypoxoside was isolated and identified as the purple colour band on the TLC fingerprint and was confirmed in all the species. It might be possible to replace or substitute different Hypoxis species for H. hemerocallidea for medicinal use as the chromatograms of the other three species correlate well with the chromatograms of H. hemerocallidea after storage. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Plant Science / unrestricted