Retracing the history of the spread of
modern medicine in the former Kingdom of Dahomey, now
the Republic of Bénin (sub-Saharan Western Africa), aims
to provide a peculiar perspective of colonial domination
that, as well known, has dramatically passed through the
form of controlling bodies that is not wrong to define as
"biopolitical". The aim of the essay is attempting to show
how the gesture aimed at trampling the cultural identity
of the people of Benin. Passing through the denial of
traditional therapeutic culture - which is disregarded, as
to this day the primary medical reference remains that
of traditional medicine - re-proposes itself in forms that
are apparently opposites in the attempt, only theoretical,
of contemporary politics to recover and defend the local
therapeutic tradition, conjecturing hypothetical forms of
peaceful and equal coexistence between traditional and
modern medicine. The angle of intercultural bioethics, far
from the long-standing multiculturalism, will allow us to
have a glimpse into the emerging ethical-political dilemmas
regarding this issue, as well as underline how the defense
of therapeutic traditions, ascribable to the right of cultural
identity, represents a form of guarantee of the human and
of his rights. A true "white man's burden", to consider
responsibly in the perspective of an inclusive citizenship,
on which in today's times it’s urgent to reflect upo
