Beschreibung
Although it rarely receives the attention it deserves from
anthropologists, medical herbalism is perhaps the most
widespread and most ancient form of therapy. This book
describes in detail one such herbalist tradition, that found
in southern Malawi. Offering the first comprehensive
examination of medical herbalism in Malawi, this study
combines anthropological and botanical insights into medical
herbalism.
The book is divided into two parts: the first outlines the
ethnographic context of the herbalist tradition with
discussion of Chewa ethnobotany and the local classification
of plants; the various categories of medicine that are
expressed in the local culture; the nature and scope of folk
herbalism, its practitioners and its relation to
biomedicine; local conceptions of disease; and beliefs
relating to witchcraft and divination. The second part,
which incorporates the researches of a Malawian chemist, Dr
Jerome Msonthi, contains detailed information on over 500
Malawian plants with notes on their local names,
distribution, botanical descriptions and various medicinal
uses.
Brian Morris is Reader in Anthropology at
Goldsmiths College, University of London, and has spent many
years working and researching in Malawi. He has written a
number of books on the anthropology of religion and the
self, which are widely used as teaching texts, as well as
Epiphyric Orchids of Malawi (1970) and Common
Mushrooms of Malawi (1987).
Jerome Msonthi, who collaborated in the provision of data
incorporated in Part Two, is Dean of Science at Chancellor
College, University of Malawi. He has a life-long interest
in the medicinal plants of Malawi, and has published many
scientific papers in the field of phyto-chemistry.