The majority of South African citizens experience inadequate healthcare due to underfunding, mismanagement, staff shortages, and infrastructure problems. Before a healthcare system was created, the sick turned to traditional herbal healers for care. South Africa’s Zulu healers possess specialized knowledge of local plants and medicine thought to have physical and spiritual healing properties. The country’s increasing reliance on Western biomedicine has created a current concern from indigenous medicine conservationists regarding the future of this kind of knowledge. In order to assess the effects of Western medicine on traditional healing practices, I collected data on the various uses of traditional medicine, the frequency in which it is used relative to Western medicine, and how it is maintained in the community. The data identified the various uses and potential problems of Western medicine and Zulu traditional herbal practice in helping the community. The traditional herbal healers revealed close connections between the informational, spiritual, physical, and cultural components of the practice that characterize its livelihood and practice for generations to come. This information allows for a greater understanding of how culture and medicinal knowledge can be entwined together and the positive or negative effects of biomedicine interacting with traditional medicine to help solve sicknesses in not only South Africa, but potentially in our global community.

<p>This dissertation examines how human remains are circulated as material culture in contemporary Western society. It is based on an extended period of research and fieldwork carried out from September 2011 to June 2013, in addition to forensic-related research conducted from 2007 to 2010. Through interviews with individuals who handle human remains and an analysis of popular culture via social and mass media, I pose the question: How and why have the undisposed dead been made to occupy a variety of spaces in contemporary Western society; for personal use, education, sale, or veneration?</p> <p>Interviews conducted with Roman Catholic clergy confirm not only the contemporary importance and influence of human relics, but the Church’s ongoing relationship with the dismembered body. This research thus offers a counterpoint to the usual positioning of the Church as anti-science and as imposing a religious taboo toward human remains. I argue instead that the Catholic Church historically has had an important influence on the practices of anatomical dissection, and the deeply embedded Western traditions of making the undisposed dead necessary, popular and culturally acceptable.</p> <p>As an extension of my analysis of the Catholic Church’s traditions and policies around the use of human remains, I examine the institutional handling of the dead in various types of museums and compare this with how human remains are celebrated and circulated in popular culture. Lastly, I explore the work of five controversial visual artists who use human remains in their art.1 Through extensive personal interviews, conducted in their homes and studios, I demonstrate how Catholic bodies, images and symbols have profoundly inspired (rather than discouraged) these visual artists in their personal, as well as artistic narratives.</p> <p>My research shows that, contrary to the academic literature, human remains are neither imbued with fear, nor with notions of violence or taboo; neither are they deployed to symbolically encounter death. In the hands of either institutional or personal collectors, I argue that human remains are valuable commodities through which membership, identity, and knowledge are expressed in contemporary Western society.</p> <p>1 Wayne Martin Belger, Al Farrow, Andrew Krasnow, Mark Prent, Joel Peter Witkin</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

There are two independent streams of health care in South Africa: traditional healing and Western medicine. Proposals to formally integrate the two streams have been made by the World Health Organization and by the South African Department of Health. In this study, the philosophical background behind each of the two health care models is discussed, as well as literature on the possible integration of the two systems. It has not been clear if Western-trained health-care practitioners would be prepared to work with traditional healers. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine health care practitioners’ opinions, attitudes, knowledge and experiences with traditional healers, and to determine to what extent these variables would predict their intentions to work with these healers. A Within-Stage Mixed Model design was used, and data were collected using a selfdeveloped questionnaire. A total of 319 health care practitioners from State hospitals and clinics in Gauteng and Limpopo provinces participated in the study. The results of the study revealed significant differences between groups of health care practitioners in terms of their opinions, attitudes, experiences and intentions to work with traditional healers. Psychiatric nurses and psychiatrists showed more positive opinions, more positive attitudes, more knowledge and more willingness to work with traditional healers than do general nurses and physicians. Psychiatric and general nurses also had more experiences with traditional healing than did psychiatrists and physicians. The results also revealed that attitudes, knowledge, opinions and experiences predict Western health care practitioners’ intentions to work with traditional healers, with attitudes being the strongest and experiences the weakest predictors. Health care practitioners’ views of traditional healing were contradictory and ambivalent in many instances. This implies that integration of the two health care systems will be complex, that the current potential to integrate the systems is weak and that such integration can only be realised with considerable effort from all stakeholders. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Studies in medical anthropology and health sociology have shown the intensification of exchanges between Chinese and Western medicine. However, there is a lack of literature exploring this phenomenon from the human communication perspective. To fill this gap, this study aims to analyze patterns and processes taking place during the interaction between Chinese and Western medicine by inquiring into professional identity of the Chinese medical practitioners. To implement this goal, a qualitative exploratory research was conducted in the Yusheng Chinese Medical Clinic, employing the methods of participant observation and interviewing. Drawing on the communication theory of identity and applying positioning as an analytical tool, it was found that professional ideology, adherence to Chinese medical theory, and sociohistorical situatedness were the most salient factors determining positional shifts in the discourses with Western medicine. In some discursive practices, the relationship between the two medical systems was dichotomized. In other ones, it was perceived in terms of partnership or even unification. Accordingly, the complex and dynamic picture of professional identity was captured. The shift from emphases on being a good physician to being a good Chinese medical physician, as well as discrepancies between perceived professional self and enacted professional self, were observed. Based on the findings, this study calls for the discussions on the relevance of the yin-yang mode in interpreting the interaction between Chinese and Western medicine in the context of globalization.

Pendant des milliers d’années, la médecine chinoise jouit d’une notoriété importante. Cependant, après la première guerre de l’opium en 1840 et avant la promulgation de la Constitution de 1982, cette médecine locale a vécu une phase de lente décadence. Ce changement est dû à la mutation radicale de la société chinoise et à la confrontation avec la culture et de la médecine occidentales de l’époque. Dans le but de remédier à la situation délicate du moment et de pallier les difficultés sanitaires du pays, les pouvoirs politiques successifs ont tenté d’installer différents systèmes de santé systématisés, modernisés, voire occidentalisés : soit en privilégiant la médecine occidentale, parfois même avec une intention d’abolir la médecine chinoise, soit en stimulant une collaboration entre les deux médecines. En s’appuyant sur cette histoire de la rencontre et de la cohabitation souvent heurtée des médecines chinoise traditionnelle et occidentale moderne, ainsi que sur les particularités de chaque médecine, il parait judicieux de vouloir procéder à une collaboration des deux médecines avec plus de profondeur, afin de mieux gérer la santé publique. En effet, cette collaboration aurait le mérite de perfectionner le système de santé, de stimuler l’activité médicale, d’alléger les dépenses de santé et enfin d’améliorer la santé et le bien-être de la population. Bien entendu, aujourd’hui, améliorer la situation d’existence et de développement de la médecine traditionnelle est une obligation pressante / For millennia, Chinese medicine has been of some renown. However, during the period going from the first opium war of 1840 to the promulgation of the constitution of 1982, this medicine has slowly declined. This change is mainly due to the radical mutation of Chinese society on its whole, and to its increasing confrontation with western culture and medicine. Successive political regimes have tried to set up diverse health systems, which they modernized or westernized, in order to remedy the delicate health situation and relieve some burden from existing institutions. They either openly supported Western medicine, even to the point of wanting to abolish its Chinese counterpart, or tried to stimulate some form of collaboration between the two medicines. Based on this history of clashes and forced cohabitation, and on the specific aspects of each of them, it seems a sound goal to proceed to a deeper collaboration between these two medicines, to help and manage public health more efficiently. Indeed, this collaboration could in itself better the current health system, would stimulate medical activity, could reduce healthcare costs and finally should improve global health and wellbeing of the Chinese population. But of course, it is first and foremost a pressing duty to enhance the current status of existence and state of development of Chinese traditional medicine

This study can be described as a journey into the discourse of ‘sangomahood’. It focuses on the narrative of a female sangoma in South Africa and how she experiences her ‘sangomahood’ and gives meaning to it in her specific cultural context. By qualitatively exploring her narrative an attempt was made to understand and illuminate the experiences informing her ‘sangomahood’. This journey starts with an introduction to the two discourses of health namely the dominant, scientific discourse of Western medicine and the alternative discourse of traditional healing. In this part of the journey the historical, anthropological and sociological perspectives on medicine are discussed, as well as the different views of Western medicine and traditional healing pertaining to healers, practices, illness and patients. The methodology and context of the research are then explained. Narrative analysis is used to explore the themes in the sangoma’s narration. The sangoma’s narrative is then introduced by means of five letters that I, as the researcher, write to her. In these letters I also reflect on the difference between her experience and mine, as well as the impact of her narrative on me as a psychologist trained in the Western perspective. This journey was undertaken to create a greater understanding of the culture and experience of ‘sangomahood’. This research also intends to make psychologists aware that the telling of a narrative is never a neutral process and that their clients’ stories always have a certain impact on them, as listeners. Each individual experience is shaped through time, by a specific cultural context which becomes the lens through which people experience and shape the world. / Dissertation (MA (Counselling Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Psychology / unrestricted

There are two independent streams of health care in South Africa: traditional healing and Western medicine. Proposals to formally integrate the two streams have been made by the World Health Organization and by the South African Department of Health. In this study, the philosophical background behind each of the two health care models is discussed, as well as literature on the possible integration of the two systems. It has not been clear if Western-trained health-care practitioners would be prepared to work with traditional healers. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine health care practitioners’ opinions, attitudes, knowledge and experiences with traditional healers, and to determine to what extent these variables would predict their intentions to work with these healers. A Within-Stage Mixed Model design was used, and data were collected using a selfdeveloped questionnaire. A total of 319 health care practitioners from State hospitals and clinics in Gauteng and Limpopo provinces participated in the study. The results of the study revealed significant differences between groups of health care practitioners in terms of their opinions, attitudes, experiences and intentions to work with traditional healers. Psychiatric nurses and psychiatrists showed more positive opinions, more positive attitudes, more knowledge and more willingness to work with traditional healers than do general nurses and physicians. Psychiatric and general nurses also had more experiences with traditional healing than did psychiatrists and physicians. The results also revealed that attitudes, knowledge, opinions and experiences predict Western health care practitioners’ intentions to work with traditional healers, with attitudes being the strongest and experiences the weakest predictors. Health care practitioners’ views of traditional healing were contradictory and ambivalent in many instances. This implies that integration of the two health care systems will be complex, that the current potential to integrate the systems is weak and that such integration can only be realised with considerable effort from all stakeholders. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Alors que des stratégies ont été développées par les pouvoirs publiques qui officiaient à Dakar depuis les années 1920 pour contenir l’évolution de la tuberculose, maladie sociale alors identifiée comme constituant un obstacle aux projets socio-politiques et économique de la France en Afrique de l’ouest, cette maladie continuait en 2019, environ 40 ans après la décolonisation du Sénégal, à figurer parmi les préoccupations des autorités sanitaires de la ville. Se posent dès lors plusieurs questions: pourquoi, en dépit de l’existence d’un vaccin antituberculeux depuis les années 1920 et malgré la découverte de médicaments spécifiques au cours des années 1940-1950, la tuberculose continue de défier les plans mis en œuvre à Dakar pour contenir son évolution? Quels ont été les moyens mobilisés pour stopper son évolution? La lutte contre la tuberculose à Dakar impliquait-elle une action sur les facteurs qui favorisaient l’extension de la maladie? Serait-ce l’exécution des mesures antituberculeuses qui était défaillante? L’hypothèse qui sous-tend cette thèse est que la lutte contre la tuberculose ne constituait pas une priorité pour les autorités sanitaires de Dakar mais aussi que l’inadéquation des différentes mesures préventives et curatives opposées à cette maladie explique les limites de l’action jusque-là entreprise et, par conséquent, sa persistance dans cette ville. À travers une évaluation de l’organisation et de l’exécution des différentes mesures qui ont été prises depuis 1924, ce travail de recherche tente de faire la lumière sur les facteurs explicatifs de la persistance de la tuberculose à Dakar jusqu’en 1969 et d’identifier des continuités, et pas seulement des ruptures, entre la période coloniale et nationale pour mieux saisir la place actuelle de la maladie infectieuse au pays. Ce travail envisage aussi de voir en référence à quels savoirs et à quelles pratiques ont été opérés les choix concernant les mesures à opposer à la tuberculose. Il cherche également à étudier les modalités d’exécution des différentes mesures arrêtées pour stopper le développement de cette maladie afin de saisir les distances entre les intentions et les gestes posés. Pour évaluer l’incidence des différents plans de lutte mis en œuvre contre la tuberculose à Dakar dans la durée choisie, une attention est enfin portée à leur réception ainsi que les attitudes qu’elles ont suscitées chez la population dakaroise. / While strategies had been developed by the public authorities that had been operating in Dakar since the 1920s to contain the spread of tuberculosis, a social disease then identified as an obstacle to France's socio-political and economic projects in Dakar and West Africa, in 2019, some 40 years after Senegal's decolonization, the disease continued to be a concern for the city's health authorities. This raises several questions: Why, despite the manufacture of an anti-tuberculosis vaccine since the 1920s and the discovery of specific drugs in the 1940s and 1950s, tuberculosis continues to defy the plans implemented in Dakar to contain its spread? What has been done to halt its spread? Did the fight against tuberculosis in Dakar also involve action on the factors that contributed to the spread of the disease? Was it the implementation of TB control measures that was failing? The hypothesis underlying this thesis is that the fight against tuberculosis was not a priority for Dakar health authorities, but also that the inadequacy of the various preventive and curative measures against this disease explains the limits of the action taken so far and, consequently, the persistence of tuberculosis in this city. Through an evaluation of the organization and execution of the various measures taken since 1924, this thesis attempts to shed light on the factors explaining the persistence of tuberculosis in Dakar until 1969 and to identify continuities, and not only breaks, between the colonial and national periods in order to better understand the current place of the infectious disease in the country. It also envisages seeing with reference to what knowledge and practices were maked choices concerning measures to combat tuberculosis and seeks to study the modalities of implementation of the various measures adopted to halt the development of this disease in order to grasp distances between intentions and actions taken. In order to assess the impact of the various plans to combat tuberculosis in Dakar over the chosen period, attention is also paid to their reception and the attitudes that they have aroused among the population of Dakar.

In the United States alone, there were 25.8 million people suffering from diabetes in 2010. The prevalence of diabetes is expected to markedly increase worldwide over the next 30 years, an estimated 2.8% in 2000 and 4.4% in 2030. For individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), treatment is essential to control adverse effects such as hypertension and diabetic neuropathy. The focus of this study is to examine various approaches to maintain and improve the lifestyle of individuals suffering from T2DM. A comparative approach has been used to evaluate the differences in the treatment of T2DM with the use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medicine. In Western society, pharmaceuticals are commonly used as a treatment method to manage hyperglycemia, along with life-style modifications. Furthermore, TCM views the human body and its functioning in a holistic way, stating that no single body part or symptom can be understood apart from its relation to a whole. Herbal medications and other treatments in TCM are targeted to treat underlying medical complaints that resulted in symptoms, instead of treating one specific manifestation. Data collection has been gathered through Qualitative over the phone interviews with patients suffering from T2DM, as well as TCM physicians. Interviews were conducted on patients that were diagnosed with T2DM (fasting plasma glucose levels of 126 or greater and HbAlc levels [greater than] 8%), and had continued treatment longer than three months prior to interviews. Collection of chart notes containing glucose levels, levels of pain, lifestyle changes, and vital signs were also used. A total of 21 patients from a family practice were interviewed, answering 23 constructed questions based on treatment of choice (TCM or western) and their personal input on treatment satisfaction. Patients varied in age, ethnicities, and gender, ranging from 39-70 years of age. Two traditional Chinese medicine physicians were also interviewed. Interviews with TCM physicians elaborated on course of treatment and steps taken to diagnose T2DM. Furthermore, prescription medications were also charted and documented to further analyze with secondary data. Upon completing the interviews, the data stated 21 patients (total population questioned) had not experienced alternative medicine and were exposed only to western medicine as treatment. A major concern for most patients were the pharmaceutical side effects, and 85.1% of patients stated they would be interested in an alternative treatment. Due to insufficient sources and knowledge on TCM treatment, 14.2% of patients stated they were satisfied with their western medicine treatment of choice and would not change treatment. The research's objective was to evaluate the differences in treatment of T2DM. Data collected supported the objective and showed the lack of sources to alternative treatments aside from western medicine. The researcher informed and educated interviewees about literature review on traditional Chinese medicine about alternative treatments available to treat T2DM.

Ce travail questionne les contraintes et les déclencheurs des pratiques du cosmétique en Chine et la conception du corps des Chinois. Il s'agit, d'une part, d'analyser diachroniquement les effets de générations influencés par les produits cosmétiques disponibles sur le marché et les normes sociales en vigueur quant aux soins du corps à différentes époques. Il s’agit, d'autre part, de mettre en évidence les effets de cycle de vie et de les considérer comme autant de déclencheurs, de leviers, influant sur la pratique des soins du corps et du maquillage. Enfin, il s'agit, synchroniquement, de suivre l'itinéraire des produits cosmétiques chez les femmes de milieu aisé : depuis la prise d'information avant l'achat, la mobilité, l'acquisition, l'usage et le rangement jusqu'au devenir du produit. Dans un deuxième temps, l'enquête menée auprès de dermatologues exerçant la médecine traditionnelle chinoise et la médecine moderne occidentale a d’abord pour but d’examiner si les dermatologues sont des prescripteurs de produits cosmétiques en Chine, puis d’approfondir l’analyse de la conception du corps et de la maladie chez les médecins exerçant la médecine traditionnelle. Ce travail nous permet de comprendre que les femmes chinoises réinterprètent les produits cosmétiques modernes et occidentaux selon leurs propres conceptions, quotidiennes et chinoises, du corps. / This work questions the constraints and triggers of cosmetic practices in China and Chinese people body conception. It consists in, firstly, studying diachronically the effects of generations that are influenced by cosmetic products on the market and the social norms of body care at different times. Secondly, the effects of life cycle are analyzed as triggers, levers, important to body care and makeup practices. Finally, synchronously, it aims to follow the itinerary of cosmetics in wealthy women families: from the information before the purchase decision, mobility, acquisition, use, storage to the fate of the product. In the next step, the survey with dermatologists of traditional Chinese medicine and modern Western medicine help to check if dermatologists are prescribers of cosmetics in China and dig further analyze the conception of the body and disease among the doctors applying traditional Chinese medicine. This work allows us to understand that Chinese women reinterpret the modern Western cosmetics by their Chinese body conception in everyday life.