Healing Knowledge in Atlantic Africa

Medical Encounters, 1500–1850

Bibliographic Data

ID19917567
AuthorsKalle Kananoja (0000-0002-8301-0372, University of Oulu, corresponding author)
Year2021
Publication date2021-02-28
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueHealing Knowledge in Atlantic Africa (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/9781108868020
OpenAlexW3167539191
Open LibraryOL34772779M
ISBN9781108868020
LanguageEN
Citations received11

In this ambitious analysis of medical encounters in Central and West Africa during the era of the Atlantic slave trade, Kalle Kananoja focuses on African and European perceptions of health, disease and healing. Arguing that the period was characterised by continuous knowledge exchange, he shows that indigenous natural medicine was used by locals and non-Africans alike. The mobility and circulation of healing techniques and materials was an important feature of the early modern Black Atlantic world. African healing specialists not only crossed the Atlantic to the Americas, but also moved within and between African regions to offer their services. At times, patients, Europeans included, travelled relatively long distances in Africa to receive treatment. Highlighting cross-cultural medical exchanges, Kananoja shows that local African knowledge was central to shaping responses to illness, providing a fresh, global perspective on African medicine and vernacular science in the early modern world

Ancient history · Atlantic World · Cultural exchange · Ethnology · Geography · Indigenous · Natural history · Political science · Traditional knowledge · Vernacular · African cultural and philosophical studies · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Ecology · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Medicine · Médecine · Medical · Traditional medicine

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Open DOIOpen Access