This thesis focusses on the medical culture of the Ovambo peoples of southern Angola and northern Namibia, a group who have been little-researched anthropologically. Because health and affliction are such poignant human concerns, the study of a society's medical culture can tell us much about their social and cultural organisation in general. It is for this reason that Ovambo medical culture has been examined in relation to the wider socio-cultural background, rather than in isolation; especially since Ovambo evidence has shown that concern about health and affliction is not confined to the physical and spiritual wellbeing of individuals, but extends to include harmonious social relations, environmental and economic prosperity, and political stability.
A holistic analytical approach has been adopted, whereby all aspects of the medical culture are considered (insofar as the data allow), as opposed to only certain aspects. Ovambo beliefs and practises relating to health and health maintenance are therefore discussed, as well as external (i.e. European) medical influences. Particular attention has been paid to Ovambo use of plants as medicines, as well as to their prophylactic and propitiatory measures, since these are areas of ethnomedical research that are identified as being under-researched. Focussing upon these areas has also highlighted the significance of material culture in the Ovambo medical domain, and the value of museum collections of ethnography in this regard.
I would like to extend a warm thank you to Tony Powell-Cotton for her enthusiasm, encouragement and advice, and to the curator and staff of the Powell-Cotton Museum for permitting me unrestricted access to Diana and Tony's 1936-7 Angola field material. To my two supervisors, Roy Ellen and John Jervis (both of the University of Kent, Canterbury) I am deeply indebted. Without their constant encouragement and support throughout my period of research, this thesis would not yet have been completed. Their editing comments and suggestions regarding the manuscript have proved particularly invaluable. I am also grateful to my supervisors and to Jan Horn, for their assistance with the final preparation of the thesis for submission.
I wish to thank the staff of the following institutions for their co-operation and assistance: the Science Library, S.O.A.S. Library, the University of Kent at Canterbury Library, the Research Department and Library of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, the Sociedade de Geografica Historico Ultramarino (Lisbon), the Archives Generales de la Congregation du Saint Esprit (Paris), the National Museum of Finland (Helsinki and Orimattila), and the library and ethnographic museum of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (Helsinki).
I have very much appreciated help in various ways from the following: Marta Salokoski, Vappu Kivela, Raili Seppala, Richard Moorsom, Gervase Clarence-Smith, Patricia Hayes, David Birmingham, Father Joseph Carrard, Ana Isabel Afonso, Erastus and Magdalena Shamena, Anka Cheetham, Randolph Vigne, Freda-Nela Williams, Seismograph Service Co. Ltd. (Oman), Janet Bagg and Nick Ryan. Reproduction of the photographs is by kind permission of the Powell-Cotton Museum, which reserves full copyright. Plates 1-15 are reproductions from original negatives, taken by D. and A. Powell-Cotton in 1936-7. Plates 16-38 of Ovambo materia medica from the Powell-Cotton 1936-7 Angola Collection, were taken by Ron Townsend. The half-tone prints were produced by Len H.P. Morris. The maps were produced by Mark Peach.
For financial support during my period of research, I am grateful to the Economic and Social Research Council, the Powell-Cotton Museum, and the Radcliffe-Brown Memorial Fund.
Last, but not least, a very special thank you to my husband Simon for his patience and moral support throughout, and for planning welcome Cornish and Scottish breaks when the going got tough.
CHAPTER ONE:The Ovambo in Context
CHAPTER TWO:Health and Illness in Ovamboland
CHAPTER THREE:Spirits of the East and of the West
CHAPTER FOUR:Indigenous Specialists
CHAPTER FIVE:Materia Medica
CHAPTER SIX:Prophylaxis and Propitiation
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Tables of Diseases for Chapter 2
Appendix 2: Kwanyama Symptomatology and Nosology; Anatomy and Physiology
Appendix 3: Ovambo Plant Nomenclature and Classification
Appendix 4: Ovambo Medicinal Plants and Materia Medica Powell-Cotton Angola Collection 1936-7
Appendix 5: Tables of Ovambo Medicine Types for Chapter 5