Soc Sci Med. 1991 ; 33(2): 167-75.

Tswana medicine in interaction with biomedicine.

Haram L.

Centre for Developing Studies, University of Bergen, Norway.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to describe Tswana medicine as a system of thought and to show how traditional medical roles are acted out in the encounter with Western biomedicine. I want to draw attention to the contrast between the intellectual systems of African traditional thought and Western science as applied to health and illness (medicine). I do not argue that biomedicine is more open and adaptable to change than folk medicine, or vice versa. Rather, I want to show that both integration ('openness'), as well as rejection ('closeness'), occur when Tswana medicine meets biomedicine. How do the Botswana make sense of a new body of knowledge and ideas of contagion in a context of medical pluralism? How are medical roles adapted to the situation of medical pluralism and the predicaments that flow from such a situation. In conclusion I will briefly discuss some of the elements that may determine the future outcome of the integrative health policy: Is it possible to obtain mutual understanding and cooperation among the various practitioners--in the context of medical pluralism--when their knowledge is built on such different medical explanations and modes of though as those of biomedicine and folk medicine?