Trick or treat? Muslim Thangals, psychologisation and pragmatic realism in Northern Kerala, India

Thangals are an endogamous community in Kerala, India, of Yemeni heritage who claim direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad’s family. Due to their sacrosanct status, many thangals work as religious healers and thus are part of the informal mental health care system in Northern Kerala. Using the case of one thangal healer as an illustration of the many ritual healers in Kerala who engage the modern discourse of psychology in their practices, I argue that the psychologisation of ritual healing is part of a wider trend: the increasing rationalisation and scientification of traditional medical practices, whereby an increasing number of traditional healers negotiate science, modernity and religion and position their practice within these contested fields. Based on the analysis of this thangal’s healing practice in the local context of Northern Kerala, I further argue that in order to understand “ritual” healing, scholars should emphasise pragmatic realism more than doctrinal purity

Enhancing innovation between scientific and indigenous knowledge: pioneer NGOs in India

Abstract Background Until recently, little attention has been paid to local innovation capacity as well as management practices and institutions developed by communities and other local actors based on their traditional knowledge. This paper doesn't focus on the results of scientific research into innovation systems, but rather on how local communities, in a network of supportive partnerships, draw knowledge for others, combine it with their own knowledge and then innovate in their local practices. Innovation, as discussed in this article, is the capacity of local stakeholders to play an active role in innovative knowledge creation in order to enhance local health practices and further environmental conservation. In this article, the innovative processes through which this capacity is created and reinforced will be defined as a process of "ethnomedicine capacity". Methods The field study undertaken by the first author took place in India, in the State of Tamil Nadu, over a period of four months in 2007. The data was collected through individual interviews and focus groups and was complemented by participant observations. Results The research highlights the innovation capacity related to ethnomedical knowledge. As seen, the integration of local and scientific knowledge is crucial to ensure the practices anchor themselves in daily practices. The networks created are clearly instrumental to enhancing the innovation capacity that allows the creation, dissemination and utilization of 'traditional' knowledge. However, these networks have evolved in very different forms and have become entities that can fit into global networks. The ways in which the social capital is enhanced at the village and network levels are thus important to understand how traditional knowledge can be used as an instrument for development and innovation. Conclusion The case study analyzed highlights examples of innovation systems in a developmental context. They demonstrate that networks comprised of several actors from different levels can synergistically forge linkages between local knowledge and formal sciences and generate positive and negative impacts. The positive impact is the revitalization of perceived traditions while the negative impacts pertain to the transformation of these traditions into health commodities controlled by new elites, due to unequal power relations

Chronic Diseases in North-West Tanzania and Southern Uganda. Public Perceptions of Terminologies, Aetiologies, Symptoms and Preferred Management

Research outputs produced to support a quantitative population survey, quantitative health facility survey, focus groups and in-depth interviews performed by the projec

Rethinking medicinal plants and plant medicines

Because plants are perceived as sessile and immobile, they are often represented as objects or things in current literature. In this paper, I explore variations and shifts in research and literature since 2000 that reconsider the ways that plant-related ideas, expertise and practices intersect in multiple associations related to medicinal plants. I argue that, in their relationship with humans, plants have histories, are mobile and can also bring about political and other effects. I use ethnographic material from Namibia and the Western Cape of South Africa to review medicinal plants, by focusing on human-plant relations and the incorporation of plants as non-human subjects with non-intentional agency