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Thesis (doctoral)--Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, 1985. / Vita. Includes indexes. Bibliography: p. 357-372.

The study records thaumaturgic methods of curing and preventing illness and misfortune as practiced by curandeiros (curers, folk doctors) using an ethnographic-linguistic approach based on fieldwork in the Reconcavo area of the State of Bahia in Northeast Brazil. The Reconcavo is a fairly narrow strip of land surrounding the Bay of All the Saints with its social and economic focus at Salvador, the capital of Bahia State. The study is structured to give particular attention to an examination of the religious based on which these practices may be founded, to include condomble, a religion of African origin which became rooted in this area with the importation of slaves, principally from west Africa from the middle of the sixteenth century to the middle of the of the nineteenth; Catholicism as introduced by the Portuguese and other Iberian colonizers; indigenous religions and Spiritism. Points of similarity in curing methods that may have existed among African, Puropean and indigenous cultures represented in the Reconcavo are also examined in an attempt trace how some of these similarities may have fused in a gradual process of syncretism to produce corandeirismo as it exists in the area today. The study is concluded with an assessment of the extent to which curandeirismo is practiced in the Reconcavo and the likelihood of its survival. Proceeding from a brief historical survey of the Reconcavo and its colonization, development and economy, the writer examines the different religious currents brought by colonization and population movement, giving a resume of the main doctrines of Spiritism and an account of traditional Candomble to include an exposition of the patterns of belief on which the present Candomble de caboclo is based. He then discusses the persistence and evolution of African religion in Brazil, and the dual role of the priest and curer in African-based religion. Aspects of the curing process such as ritual beating, fumigation, bathing and symbolic purgation of evil are then examined, together with details of ritual procedure and the incantations which accompany many of them. Powders and herbs, their properties and uses are then analysed, the function and composition of amulets in preventing and curing illness is then studied, as is the use of curing prayers, a number of which are transcribed and annotated. The study is illustrated with maps and photographs. Herbs employed in the rituals discussed are listed in appendices, and there is a glossary of non-English terms.

In most African communities, the concept of disease goes beyond physical and mental pain. To many, societal imbalance, bad-luck, poverty and misery, misfortune, continuous unemployment and a host of others are treated as diseases. Despite biomedical attempts to explain and treat diseases, an ancient system of healing (traditional medicine) continues to thrive in Africa. The World Health Organization (WHO) has since recognized and encouraged governments to accept traditional medicine as an alternative healthcare; to adopt healthcare policies that will promote traditional medicine. Despite this call for recognition, most governments are still reluctant to officially incorporate traditional healing into healthcare policies. Countries which have recognized the relevance of traditional medicine face greater challenges on modalities to control and include traditional medicine into mainstream healthcare. This study is concerned with the role and contribution of African traditional medicine to healthcare, in an era of biomedicine. It provides a public and self assessment of traditional healers. The study also raises concerns on the need for healthcare policies that will enhance cooperation between traditional healing and biomedicine. Information was obtained through the use of questionnaires, in depth and face-to-face interviews with respondents. The actual field research was conducted in Qokolweni location in the King Sabatha Dalindyebo (KSD) district municipality of Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa. Findings reveal that traditional healers handle and manage complex hospital diagnosed health conditions. It also reveals that perceptions on disease aetiology influence health seeking behaviour. It is therefore necessary to understand the efforts of traditional healers in order to formulate healthcare policies that would officially involve them in the mainstream healthcare in South Africa. It is noticeable that traditional healing is not only limited to Qokolweni. It occurs mutatis mutandis else wherein the Eastern Cape and in the whole of South Africa.

Saudi society is undergoing dramatic social transformation, brought about by rapid industrialisation and massive urbanisation. In this period of haste, home environments have experienced significant changes. There was a strong temptation by architects to pick Western houses designs off-the-shelf and by occupants to furnish their houses with modern imported furniture. A surplus economy made such 'shopping' possible. But while the Saudi society was transforming it would be an over simplification to term it `Westernising'. The new home environment leads us to question: how does modern furniture relate to the present-day Saudi family? Does modern furniture hinder or support Saudis' cultural values and identity? The aim of this study is to identify the influence of the use and meaning of modern furniture on the home environment in Jeddah. The study examines the home environment as a system within which constituents communicate continuously to reach different stages of compatibility. People communicate to furniture by using it and shaping its form, and furniture communicates to people by conveying how it is used and what it stands for (meaning). A model of nine stages has been developed to identify the possible relationships between form, use and meaning. The model is then used to analyse r, the relationship between occupants and furniture in both the traditional and contemporary home environment. The methodology of the study is qualitative. The data collection includes in-depth interviews with older women who lived in the traditional houses of Jeddah and housewives in contemporary houses, house floor plans, site and museums visits, a literature review, statistical data of furniture and appliances imported to Saudi Arabia, and other data related to social changes in Saudi Arabia. It has been found that traditional furniture was highly compatible with use, values and occupants' expression of identity. Modern furniture was introduced mainly for its meaning function and was incompatible with cultural values. Because cultural values have resisted change, some traditional furniture is still used and new local furniture was developed. This has led to an increase in the number of rooms, as some are used to express identity while others are used to maintain activities driven by traditional values.

Although it is more than 100 years since Robert Koch discovered the tubercle bacillus, and more than 40 years since effective chemotherapy became available, the incidence of tuberculosis is increasing in much of the developing world and has recently re-emerged as a public health problem in industrialized countries. This problem is compounded by the increase in host susceptibility to tuberculosis caused by co-infection with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and the emergence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains that are resistant to the front-line drugs. These factors highlight the urgent need for development of new drug classes to counter the threat posed by tuberculosis. The purpose of the present study was to develop a mouse model for Mycobacterium tuberculosis with the aim of determining the antimycobacterial activity of medicinal plants used by traditional doctors to treat tuberculosis in South Africa. Furthermore, the toxic effects of these medicinal plants in uninfected mice were determined. A field trip to the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Free State provinces was undertaken and medicinal plants used by traditional doctors to treat tuberculosis or its symptoms were collected, identified and examined for their therapeutic effects against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, determined using the mouse model. In addition, the effects of medicinal plants on the production of cytokines and granuloma formation in infected mice were examined. Six-to-ten week old C57BL/6 mice were infected with 107 viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv strain by an aerosol exposure model. Bacterial growth was monitored by sacrificing infected but untreated mice at day 1, week 2 and week 4. Treatment with medicinal plant extracts was started 2 weeks after infection and continued for 2 weeks. An INH-RIF combination was used as positive controls. The bacterial load in infected but untreated mice increased by 1 log unit each week for 2 to 3 weeks. Bacterial loads were not detected in INH-RIF treated mice after 2 weeks of treatment. Treatment of mice with high doses of plant extracts was toxic. None of the tested medicinal plant extracts showed any activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The production of IL-12 at week 4 was suppressed/ decreased when plant extract A was given at different concentrations. The bacterial loads in the lungs of the plant extract A treated mice was higher than that of the untreated mice (p < 0.005). Histological analysis of the lungs also revealed a high number of bacilli and increased size of the formed granuloma. In conclusion, the selected plant extracts obtained by water extraction exhibited no anti-tuberculosis activity in the laboratory mouse model for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Furthermore, it was also shown that some plant extracts suppressed the production of IL-12, which plays an important role in the host's defense against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, further work is required to test if treatment for longer periods exhibits antituberculous activity.

This thesis investigated the integration of pharmacological and phytochemical data of medicinal plants from the Cree of Eeyou Istchee in Northern Quebec. Data from these 17 plant extracts were assessed for patterns of biological activity and chemical signals that could be explained by taxonomic or plant organ groupings. The Squamish medicinal plant Oplopanax horridus (Sm.) Miq. was also assessed for enzyme inhibition activity across multiple extracts and for bioactive compounds using an untargeted metabolomics approach. A comprehensive data set was assembled documenting the relative activities on the 17 plant extracts in 69 cell-free and cell-based bioassays covering activity on glucohomeostasis, effects of hyperglycemia, and capacity for enzyme inhibition. Multivariate analysis suggests that the leaf part extracts are particularly associated with antioxidant and antiglycation activities, while another discrete group of extracts associate strongly with other sets of glucohomeostasis assays. The activity of extracts on enzyme inhibition appears to be the factor most strongly driving the majority of activity patterns, likely because extracts that interact strongly with more metabolic enzymes will have more effects on other targets in the body. The phytochemical profiles of the Cree medicinal plants were assessed in two ways. First, spectroscopic and chromatographic data for the plant extracts was compared to a database of phytochemical standards using a proprietary Waters software, UNIFI, to match known signals of chemical standards to unidentified peaks in the plant extracts. Second, similarly collected spectroscopic data for the Cree plant extracts was processed using the software MZMine for multivariate analysis in R, revealing the chemical diversity of the bark extracts in relation to the fruit and leaf extracts. Additionally, marker signals were determined for major sample groupings, and the capacity for this analytical approach to be used to tentatively identify unique compounds was demonstrated. Through bioassay guided fractionation of the O. horridus inner bark extract using the CYP 3A4 inhibition assay, the DCM subfraction midway through the non-polar elution on open column chromatography was determined to be the most potent. This fraction contained 10 major peaks on HPLC-DAD analysis. The hot water extract was found to have negligible activity on CYP 3A4 inhibition. Together, this research provides the first integrated look at the pharmacological and phytochemical data from across the Cree anti-diabetic medicinal plants in a statistical way, as well as providing a first look at O. horridus for inclusion in the anti-diabetes project.

A mini thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree Master of Music (Performance) in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 1997. / In this study my intention it to look and explore the history and development of mbhaqanga music. Mbhaqanga music will be examined from several perspectives. Firstly, the historical aspect and its development 'would be scrutinized. An attempt would be made to discover internal musical components which combine to produce the sound that is recognized as mbhaqanga. This tradition would be examined in its social, political and cultural context. Several people have contributed to the birth of mbhaqanga music. It would be vital to look at the role of musicians, influence of other musical styles, other influences (political, social, economical, ete), dynamics, characteristic, nature and performance of this style. Umbhaqanga music is one of the African popular musical style that is said to have emerged during the 1940's and evolved in various forms. In addition to this style other styles include isicathamiya, maskanda music and other mushrooming styles. This.study intends to examine the changes which have occurred in this tradition. In the African society music is lillked to social and community life. Changes that have occurred in the life pattern of African society manifest in music. Mbhaqanga music as part of the African tradition has undergone some changes. These changes were often caused and influenced by the circumstances of the time. The purpose of this study is: 1. To examine some performance principles and techniques involved in the creation and presentation of mbhaqanga music. 2. To outline the socio-cultural changes that has affected this music.

This dissertation is a collection of poems preceded by a critical preface. The preface considers the major changes within the elegy from the traditional English elegy—the touchstone poems for this genre being Milton's "Lycidas," Shelley's "Adonais," and Tennyson's "In Memoriam"—to the contemporary elegy and argues that many of these changes showcase contemporary elegists' active refusal and reversal of the time-honored traditions of the form. The preface is divided into an introduction and three sections, each of which recognizes and explores one significant alteration—or reversal—to the conventions of the form as established by early English elegists. The first discusses the traditional elegiac tradition of consolation in which the speaker, after displaying a series of emotions in reaction to the death of a loved one, ultimately finds comfort in the knowledge that the deceased lives eternally in heaven. This convention is contrasted with a common contemporary rhetorical movement in which the speaker not only lacks comfort by the end of the poem, but often refuses any kind of consolation, preferring instead to continue his grief. The second recognizes and explores the traditional elegiac tradition in which the speaker, listing the virtues of the beloved, replaces the real, historical person with a symbol which represents what society has lost due to this death. This convention is contrasted against a common contemporary theme in which the speaker, in an attempt to evoke authenticity, portrays the deceased subject not as a romanticized symbol, but as a real human being. The final section discusses the definition of the traditional elegy as a reaction to the literal death of a loved one and contrasts this with the more fluid contemporary understanding of the elegy as a poem about loss—either a literal or metaphorical death—and a poem which need not display conventional aspects of mourning but rather a wide variety of responses to the problem of loss.

Bibliography: leaves 231-241. / This thesis is an attempt to find out how much justified the missionaries and some local authors are in identifying Molimo with their Christian God (Sky-Divinity). A critical analysis of various Basotho cultural elements and what the early Basotho told the missionaries reveal that Molimo as an ultimate object of worship in the traditional religion of the Southern Sotho, is Water-Divinity, namely, Water Snake and not a celestial being or Sky-Divinity.