Abstract

The discourse on African Traditional Medicine has over the years been given little attention by scholars who dismissed it as either an area without serious empirical merit or as superstitions resulting from ignorance. African Traditional Medicine (TAM) represents an important aspect of the people‟s indigenous knowledge handed down from ancient times. It sustained the people‟s life in times of serious health challenges even before the advent of western education. This study therefore examines the beliefs as well as the mechanics of ritual performances and divination in TAM and its place in modern medicine. The study draws insights from the scholarly views of experts such as H. Beatie and Robin W.G. Horton and argues that traditional African beliefs, especially those relating to African medicine, are representations of accumulated experiences in matters of wellbeing and illness. It adopted the participant observation method as the theoretical framework to enable us obtain adequate information from the society and interpret it with regard to the metaphor of ancestor-spirit-anger on the people and the ritual efficacy in ameliorating problems. From this study, it appears the basic principle around the practices of TAM is the knowledge from experience that chronic illness can have its roots in the mind, in sustained emotional distress. Hence the need for this principle to be examined in the quest for solutions to the many intractable health challenges in contemporary Africa.