African American Folk Healing

Very few authors have done what Mitchem has accomplished, which is write about African American Folk tradition as a spiritual healing practice. Usually when authors write about African American folk practices it is hyped up with all sorts of sensational myths, which causes many to few practitioners of any Afro-Diaspora tradition to be inhuman, cannibalistic devil worshipers. Mitchem explores all of the influences of African American spirituality, which contrary to popular is not just composed of Christianity, but is a gumbo of various influences. Because of her presentation, she gives the reader an inside look as to why African American spirituality is composed of Christian influences as well as influences from the Nation of Islam, Kamitic tradition, Afro-Caribbean traditions, and even intellectual mental sciences, but for whatever reason returns back to incorporate African American rootwork or hoodoo tradition. I really liked this book because it helped me to see that I was not alone in my spiritual quest. And, that there were others that had gone through similar experiences, which they could not logically explain before finding peace in something that was culturally relevant. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to understanding the spiritual aspects of what Tayannah McQuillar calls African American shamanism (Rootwork).

I love African American Folk History, and this book does not disappoint.

good read

I loved this book and it will remain on my top 10 list...I will have to find her and invite her to do a seminar...she hit the herb right on the flower, everytime!

African American culture is a rich source that can be tapped to acquire and develop an in depth analysis and understanding of the philosophy that undergirds the thinking of African people in the United States and throughout the Diaspora. In the book African American Folk Healing (AAFH) by Stephanie Mitchem, she attempts to uncover the thinking that gave rise to the traditional medicinal practices that were first used by African Americans during the enslavement era and continues to be practiced in various forms even today by practioneers of African based religions in the United States, such as Voodoo, Hoodoo, Santeria and Yoruba. She argues that most of the traditional medical practices first used by enslaved Africans are still in use today. For instance, Mitchem points out that beginning in the 1960's, many African Americans committed themselves to reconnect to the ideas and beliefs advocated and practiced by their ancestors. In many ways this book is not unlike those that have been written about African traditional religion. The main difference lies in the fact that this information is about a particular aspect of African culture that was established in the Americas by African men and women in the seventieth century who were enslaved by the Europeans. AAFH is a collection of stories gathered by the author that seeks to convey how African Americans retained, however fragmented, specific African cultural retentions that were passed down from their enslaved ancestors from one generation to the next. The author consulted the Slave Narratives of the 1930's, Folk Archives of the 1970's, interviews from healing professionals and active participation, to conduct this important study. These sacred stories that have their origin in traditional West African pharmacology, undergirds the foundation of what the author refers to as an African centered "holistic epistemology." (p.53) This African centered cognitive cultural form, argues the author, has served as a powerful response to the dehumanization that was first experienced by enslaved Africans in the United States. This holistic approach to understanding mind, body and spirit, is what Mitchem describes as "culturally based wisdom," (p.7) and is designed to establish a new discourse in which African Americans are given a voice to respond to the world from a perspective that is representative of their holistic view of the cosmos. This holistic view of the world is quite different from the western binary paradigm that views things in isolation. African cosmology, on the other hand, sees the cosmos and all its inhabitants as inner-connected. In other words, there is no difference between the physical and the spiritual world; all is one. Mitchem refers to this relationship as "black epistemology." This holistic approach to understanding the world views human beings and nature as directly related. "Long before western medicine the fact, African traditional healers stressed that interpersonal relations affected people's health." (p.35) According to Mitchem, this holistic approach to healing is culturally centered and necessary for the survival of African Americans. Since African Americans have historically been either ignored by the main- stream medical community or in some cases experimented upon, it is important that their voices be heard. These misrepresentations of blackness were not simple aberrations but the entire white world participated in the dehumanization of African people as reflected in the following: "Questions of the humanity of black bodies drew from a potent combination of philosophies from Jean Jacques Rousseau to John Locke; were infused with European beliefs buoyed by the growth of nationalism and the practices of capitalism; reinforced by development of theories of evolution; and blessed by the placement of Science and Reason as the new, improved, verifiable gods of modern thinking." (p.42) Mitchem explains her rational for conducting this study into African American folk healing by quoting Zora Neale Hurston. "Whoever controls the images of a people or a culture is crucial to domination and identity of that people or culture. The images of blacks have been largely shaped, controlled, and nourished by beliefs about blackness within the dominant cultures of Europe and America." (p.44) In part, the aim of this book is to establish a new way of thinking about African Americans and the healing practices that continue to be used throughout the black community. Again, Mitchem quotes Elliott Skinner, author of the article "Hegemonic Paradigms of the African World" to lend greater credence to her rationale for the study. "African peoples must eliminate the contradictions of seeing themselves through the eyes of others." (p.41) Only then will "black bodies" escape the fate of being "read" from "white cultural perspectives." To a large extent, Mitchem write this book to tell the story of African Americans from a humanistic perspective. For she is certain that if their story is not properly told from an insider's perspective, then others may continue to write about people of African descent as the exotic other. Because of the historical legacy of slavery and the medical communities involvement in the Eugenics projects and the Tuskegee Experiment, many African Americans have come to distrust American medicine and in the process have relied upon forms of healing that have their main roots grounded in the traditional medicinal practices of West Africa. This books attempts to establish why African Americans have retained such healing traditions like Hoodoo and even at a time when modern medicine seems to offer so much more. First, Mitchem argues that African Americans have remained faithful to many traditional healing practices passed down to them, ignoring mainstream medicines because of the history of western medicine that is indeed tainted by the same sickness of racism that infected most of America from its very inception. Thus, African Americans were forced to develop and reconnect to traditional healing methods and modalities that they understood and could control. Unlike western medicine, Mitchem points out that African traditional medicine is holistic and seeks to address not only the symptoms, but, the primary focus in traditional healing treats illnesses by addressing every aspect of the person. For instance, if one is experiencing a headache, before an herb or other modalities are used to treat the condition other questions must first be explored. For example, the practioneer of African medicine may ask the client what kind of relationship they have with their spouse or other family members. Since traditional medicine is holistic in nature and seeks to address the total being, ones activities must be in harmony with all things in existence including other humans, plants, animals and other entities. Mitchem describes this relationship as "embodied spirituality." (p.85) This embodied spirituality is a kind of awareness or spiritual consciousness that heightens ones insight concerning the unity of the body, soul, and that one's past is connected to the present and future. In other words, reality is not made up of a series of events occurring one after the other but is happening simultaneously. Thus the African concept of time and reality is quite different from what we are taught about time and reality in the West. This vastly different concept of "African" time, even affects the African view of death, which is why the veneration of the ancestors is very important. For death does not mean the end of life but simply is a transition to another sphere of reality where life continues. Mitchem provides the reader with a thorough analysis of the holistic nature of AAFH but errors in one important point. That is, connecting the roots of AAFH with slavery is a grave mistake. Its roots are firmly planted within the soil of Africa. The enslavement era was a horrendous event that brought Africans together from different cultural groups, who upon finding themselves enslaved, were forced to rely upon their primal cosmology to make sense out of a world that seemed to conspire against them. The enslaved Africans in North America and throughout the Americas did borrow healing modalities and ideas from the indigenous and poor whites, which she describes as "culture hybridity." (pp.163, 154, 150, 86, 70) However, the origin of AAFH was created by men and women who were familiar with the various healing practices that were operating throughout West Africa for thousands of years. The hybridization or syncreticism that occurred within AAFH is also not something unique to African cultural forms, but is indeed the hallmark of African traditional religion. Unlike the Abrahamic faiths, African traditional religion is not dogmatic or derived from faith propositions. African traditional religion has always been open to borrowing and incorporating ideas, deities and concepts from other traditions. (Douglas Thomas, African Traditional Religion in the Modern World). Some scholars argue that the adoption of Islam by so many Africans can also be explained as Africans not accepting a new religion, (Newell Booth, Jr., "An Approach to African Religions," in African Religions: A Symposium) but, is part of the barrowing process or what Mitchem refers to as "hybridity" that has always occurred in African traditional societies. African traditional religion has always been organic and open to incorporating new ideas, concepts and even deities. Thus, AAFH is not simply a New World invention with its deepest roots in slavery, but existed in Africa for centuries before the arrival of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Therefore, to directly link African healing and pharmacology to slavery is indeed a serious historical mistake. In part, Mitchem may have recognized this short coming and such a correction may be reflected in the following: "African American folk healing is often narrowly presented as a kind of post-Jim Crow hangover, with the implication that as soon as black people are fully acculturated into American society, they will not longer need such magical thinking." (p.5) AAFH is not simply an invention of enslaved Africans but has indeed exited in African for thousands of years. Therefore, to directly connect African pharmacology to slavery is indeed an error. Yet, to Mitchem's credit, she does recognize that AAFH has roots in Africa, but is also deeply connected to the people and experiences that are unique to America. As Mitchem makes clear: "Folk Healing reflects black cultural changes born of the civil rights, feminist, and Black Power movements. " (p.77) In this regard, AAFH is a true African cultural form, which is eclectic and always ready to change forms without disturbing the substance. Because of its ability to adapt and embrace change, AAFH, like all African cultural forms will indeed survive modernity. The future AAFH is not questionable as Mitchem seems to imply in her conclusion, but is certain to strive by incorporating new healing modalities and methods such as Reki and other New Age healing practices; thereby attracting to itself all that is good in the world and making them a part of this rich African cultural tradition. Douglas E. Thomas, Ph.D. The Obama Factor: How Barack Obama Elevated Human Consciousness

Great read! Highly recommend!