PRESSURE, SPACE AND IDENTITY IN THE PRACTICE OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE IN OGBA, GOKANA, DEGEMA AND IKWERRE TRADITIONS

Abstract

Over the years, the practice of traditional medicine in Africa has undergone many stages. Until recently, this was a form of community assistance. The shaman and herbalists were duly part and parcel of the communal system where everyone was his brother’s keeper. No service provider ordinarily made money from another. To an extent, the knowledge of plants roots and herbs and their medicinal potencies were for the use of community members. In the course of time, specialists emerged in the practice and some individuals started specializing and making practice a means of livelihood. This paper focuses on the pressure, space and identity crises which confronted the practice of traditional medicine in Ogba, Gokana Ikwerre and Degema traditions. It observed that following the upgrading of traditional medicine from a community service to a professional calling, practitioners now commercialise their service thus, are faced with the challenge of space and identity. This article adopted the complementary alternative medicine theory of sickness and healing by Eskinazi (2000) as the lens of this study. It employed the historical phenomenological approach in the discussion. The work observes that the competition for space and identity has exacted enormous pressure on the practice. It concludes that the guild of traditional medicine practitioners in Ogba, Gokana Degema and Ikwerre in conjunction with their counterpart in other parts of Africa should convoke a conference to discuss the issues and challenges in the field.