The sangoma and the md : the clash of western medical science and traditional medicine in South Africa

Abstract

The clash between traditional methods of healing and Western medical science in places like South Africa requires that we ask questions like "What is health?" "What does healing mean?" and "What is science?" This paper will first outline the presuppositions contained in the approach of Western medical science towards health and healing, and contrast it with the radically different vision of human being that emerges from some traditional South African medical practices. The author contends that the contemporary move towards the recognition of alternative medicine is concurrent with a shift in Western thinking on the nature of science, healing and human being. Some ideas on how the sangoma and the MD can work together, rather than against each other, are explored.