Name: Akin–Otiko, Akinmayowa

Affiliation: Institute of African Studies: University of Ibadan,

Nigeria
Area of research interest: African traditional medicine
Contact: otiko9boy@yahoo.com
+234 803 041 9667

Topic: The corrupting power of the “other meaning” and its

effect on herbal practice among the Yoruba.
A paper presented at the Conference on culture and society in
Post-Colonial Nigeria in Honour of Ulli Beier, University of
Ibadan. November 28th-30th, 2011.

Names have meanings for the African mind. They are

expressions of the nature and the relationship that exists between
the object named and Africans. Things are therefore named,
because of the meaning that these names communicate. But with
the emergence of foreign religions and cultures, the nature of the
objects and the relationship that had existed between the objects
and the African were ignored and thereby imposing and making
these names acquired “other meanings”. These “other meanings”
have corrupted what was known as the original meaning, and in
many instances, have obliterated completely the original
meaning.
This paper will attempt to focus on two objectives: first, it will
examine some original names of medicinal herbs in view of the
nature and the relationship that had existed between these herbs
and the Yoruba, this will be compared with what I refer to as
their “other meaning”, (the meaning that have been imposed on
them because of the influence of foreign religions and cultures)
to see how the “other meaning” has corrupted the original, in a

1
way that the original meaning is now seen as either fetish or
magical. Second, attempt will be made to examine the effect of
the corruption of the original meaning in view of the bias
exhibited towards African traditional medicine.
Key concepts: Corrupt; Natural meaning; Other meaning and
power.

2
Introduction
When we name our herbs, we reflect our experience, we
announce their ability and we declare their purpose; but when
they listen to us, they hear fetish expressions, unscientific
declarations and unreliable claims. This summarizes this paper.

Once, a group of students studying African traditional medicine

had an encounter with a herbal practitioner who innocently
claimed that there are natural èpo (tree bark) and ewé (herbs)
that have natural powers that can dispose a patient to benefit
from the potency of herbs. This is based on the belief that it is
possible for ajogun (malignant spirits) to prevent patients from
benefiting from the potency of herbs. As soon as this claim was
made, these students reacted, expressing disbelief in the
possibility of natural egbò and ewé chasing away ajogun,
without any incantation.
The students asked the herbalist if there were incantations to go
with these èpo (tree bark) and ewé (herbs) for the powers to
become active. These students asked this question because they
thought that there must be some incantations said for these
herbal materials to have such powers as have been attributed to
them. This for me shows that they (the students) were already

3
operating within the paradigm of the ‘other meaning’ which is
different from the ‘natural meaning’ from which the herbalist
was operating. This paper examines the sources of ‘natural
meaning’; the sources of the ‘other meaning’ and the implication
of the ‘other meaning’ for the practice of traditional medicine.
Particular attention will be given to Èpo òbò (Spondianthis
prussii), Ewée máfowókan omoò mi (Solanum dasphyllum) and
Ewée Àjé ò bale (Croton zambesicus). This topic was chosen for
this conference because of Ulli Beier’s interest in Africa, and in
a special way, his love for medicinal plants as noted by Pierre
Fatumibi Verger. (Verger, 1995:13)

Sources of ‘natural meaning’

For the sake of this work, ‘natural meaning’ refers to those
meanings that are attributed to herbs because of the experiences
of the people as depicted in legends or the observations that
have been made about the herbs given the physical nature of the
herbs. ‘Natural meaning’ explains the nature of the herbal
materials that these herbs contain, bringing to the fore the
usefulness of the herbs. These are the elements are those that
come up with the ‘other meaning’ are not in touch with.

4
Names of plants/herbs for the Yoruba enjoy a verbal link with
the expected medicinal or magical action. These verbal links
help the practitioner to memorize the knowledge transmitted by
oral traditions. This has been noted not to be particular to
Yoruba traditional medicine, countless remedies from around
the world were originally extracted from plants based on the
knowledge of their names. (Verger, 1995:14, 17)
Verger in his book, Ewé: The use of plants in Yoruba society,
noted this link and classified the way the Yoruba use and name
plants into six categories in reflecting either the use or the ability
of the plants. The first formulae are medicinal remedies (oògùn),
these tallies to some extent with similar ideas in western
medicine. The second formulae is based on remedies relating to
pregnancy and birth (ìbímo as Verger called it, I call it ìgbèbí).
The third formulae are for magical works; this he said is in
relation to the worshipping of Yoruba deities (òrìsà). The fourth
formulae are for beneficent works (àwúre). The fifth formulae,
is for evil works (àbìlù) and the sixth formulae is for protective
works (ìdáàbòbò). These classifications as noted earlier, were
possible because of either the names these herbs have been
given or the uses to which they can be put.

5
This classification, it must be noted is not easy because one
plant can serve in more than one category, for example Ewé
afòràn, can be used to make people forget a case in court. For
the person using it, it serves as àwúre (beneficent work) while
for the person on which it was used, it will be àbìlù (evil work).
(Verger, 1995:17) The nature or potency of herbs may also be
enhanced or reduced by mixing or making a concoction of more
than one herb, such that “a plant can acquire a variety of
attributes dependent upon its relationship with another plant.
Thus, a plant ascribed a virtue with one set, will be ascribed a
completely different one with another set.” (Verger, 1995:19)

Oral tradition as a source of ‘natural meaning’

Oral tradition is one of the sources of history that has helped
generations to transmit information across epochs, it refers to the
transmition of cultural material through vocal utterance, the
recording of personal memories and histories of those who
experienced historical eras and events, and this can be done
through story telling. (Vansina, 1985) Oral tradition has helped
in the discovery of the history of the origin and settlement

6
pattern of some pre-colonial states and kingdoms in Africa.
(Biya and Kurmi, 2009:411)
The Yoruba people especially the health care practitioners find
oral tradition a vital means of tracing and keep history. Oral
tradition has it that “the first man to practice the art of healing in
the Yoruba-speaking parts of Nigeria was Òrúnmìlà, who was
endowed with this knowledge by God. Òrúnmìlà had a younger
brother Òsanyìn who gained knowledge of medicinal herb
through assisting his elder brother to compound drugs.”
(Sofowora, 2008:13) For the Yoruba traditional health care
practitioners, legends have it that “the ancient people used to be
able to talk to the other element of nature. Just as it has been told
in many other cultures that ancient people were able to talk to
the river to open for them to pass or provide more water for
agriculture for the people.” (Ologundudu, 2008:37) Legends like
this have helped in tracing the sources of some herbs to Ifá
corpus as we have in the case of Èpo òbò.
There are chapters and verses in Ifá corpus that show how nature
communicates with man. Whereby egbò (roots), èpo (barks),
ewé (herbs) etc. announce their potency with their outward
appearance; the direct or indirect encounters that humans have

7
with them; and the observable relationships that exist between
particular egbò (roots), èpo (barks), ewé (herbs) etc. and the
other elements in nature that are found around them, etc. For the
Yoruba people, it is not difficult to draw a link between the
name of a plant and the plants qualities, what is not certain is
whether the plants receive their names because of their virtues or
it is because of their names that certain characteristics have been
attributed to them.
It is easier to go with the view that the nature or the quality of
plants provides the basis for their names. In Yoruba traditional
health care, to give a name is to express a level of knowledge or
familiarity with the object that is being named. Egbò (roots), èpo
(barks), ewé (herbs) etc. are given names to express their
purposes and nature, diseases are also given names to enable
diagnosis and treatment. Diseases that are difficult to diagnose
also have a class or group name (amódi) to describe them as
‘difficult to diagnose’.
Given the value of oral tradition, the Yoruba people do not find
it difficult to accept the contents of legends, ofò (incantations)
etc. as information about the action expected from each of the
plants used in the formulae. Along with legends and oral

8
tradition, Yoruba people also have methods of identifying and
naming of plants, by taking into account the nature of the plant
to be used, such as the odour, texture, reaction to touch,
sensation felt when touched, attitude of animals and plants
towards the plant to be named, and in preparing concoctions,
plants are collected or selected because “they are bitter or sweet,
red or black, hard or slimy, or that they posses some other
quality, perhaps identifiable in a piece of poetry.” (Warren,
Buckley and Ayandokun, 1973: ii) Oral tradition has been found
to be a very important source of the qualities of ingredients for
medicine and many of the qualities described in oral traditions
are found to be accurate.

Experiences as sources of ‘natural meaning’

‘Natural meaning’ has suffered due to lack of delineation by
Africans themselves and observers have not paid attention to
‘natural meaning’ which are results of experiences and are
expected to be self explanatory. This has led to African
traditional health care being labeled as ‘not scientific’. Like
every scientific procedure, “there is the continual interaction of
observation and theory” (Barbour 1998:17) “early man

9
deliberately selected specific plants materials for the treatment
of his ailments since man had the ability to rationalize rather
than to rely on instinct as do animals.” The choice was certainly
not based on knowledge of the plant’s constituents but on the
observations made and possible verifications of conclusions or
theories. The problem with the experience of African traditional
health care providers is described in Sofowora’s claim that
“early man lived in fear, and in order to allay this fear, he
indulged in mystical and religious rituals. Thus, it could well be
that the initial selection of plant material for medicinal purposes
was influenced by religious thoughts and its collection was
accompanied by a magic ritual.” (Sofowora, 2008:14)
This work considers these experiences as formidable sources of
‘natural meaning’ whether they are religious or not. Experiences
of Africans indicate their belief “that there are specific energies
in most matters that can be invoked.” (Ologundudu, 2008:37)
Herbalist claim that herbs communicate their ability to them and
others that use herbs especially hunters, this is because hunters
encounter some herbs in the dead of the night when these herbs
are most potent.

10
These encounters form some kind of sources of names or
descriptions given to egbò (roots), èpo (barks), ewé (herbs) etc.
for the purpose of health care. There are times also, that without
asking, these elements in nature decide to speak to ordinary
humans, and give insight about their God given purpose and
ability with regard to health care.
The ‘natural meaning’ used in herbal medicine are conclusions
arrived at based on experiences. It has been noted that “early
man could have gained some scientific knowledge by watching
the effects produced by various plants when eaten by domestic
animals. Even today, some herbalists try out remedies on
domestic animals, especially when testing for toxicity.”
(Sofowora, 2008:14)
Hunters have been identified as useful sources of herbal care,
because they watch and learn from the activities of animals.
Their observations include, watching of animals trying to get
healed after being shot by a hunter, or observe animals around
the homes trying to sustain life and care for their young. These
experiences teach them herbs that can be used as antidotes or
first aid care. It was once recounted by a hunter that he learnt the
usefulness of ewé àìrómobí/àrómo gbómopòn (Ficus thonningii

11
Blume) as aid to women in labour by watching the interaction
between a male and a female deer. It was said that the female
deer had difficulty with labour, when the male deer noticed this,
it wondered around it for some time, then wondered off, picked
up ewé abíwéré and came back with it in its mouth, the female
picked the leaf from the male, chewed it, and not too long after
it chewed it, the hunter recounted that the deer had an easy
delivery. Today, this leaf is being used by birth attendants for
difficult cases and the result has been outstanding.
These experiences come to play in the naming of and
descriptions of plants’ characteristics or potency, for example
ewé abíwéré literally means leaf for easy birth. For the Yoruba
health care practitioner, there is no doubt in his mind as to the
efficacy of the ewé abíwéré, and he does not bother to examine
the constituent of this herb before using or recommending it for
use. These experiences help to promote the use of these herbs
and they also serve as evidence base handed down from one
generation of health care providers to the next.
There are also claims of experiences flowing from inspiration
and revelation in trance, dreams and some others get messages
from children or even the patients who are themselves gifted in

12
African traditional health care methods. Ancestors are also
believed to teach their descendants especially those that are in
the line of traditional health care. Some traditional practitioners
claim that “when in a trance, it is possible to be taught the
properties of herbs by the spirit of an ancestor who practiced
herbalism.” (Sofowora, 2008:15) More than the ancestors, there
are also some spiritual beings that are privy to higher
knowledge, and so if one encounters such a creature in the dead
of night it can be a useful source of original information of
herbal cures. (Makhubu, 1978; Elewude, 1980)
Nature for the Yoruba traditional health care providers teaches
individuals about the potency and nature of herbs, these
individual and communal experiences come together when
Yoruba people want to name these egbò (roots), èpo (barks),
ewé (herbs) etc. since two individuals or two communities may
have different experiences of the same plant, the plant may end
up having two different names. For example Ocimum
gratissimum is called efinrin ajase as well as efinrin gidi.
Naming a thing for the Yoruba people is a very serious affair. It
may be the naming of human beings, egbò (roots), èpo (barks),
ewé (herbs), divinities, etc. this is because, it is believed that

13
orúko níí ro ni (a thing/person’s name drives the thing/person).
It is also believed that experiences give context to names as was
found in the case of ewé abíwéré. The above discussed sources
form the background for the consideration of the ‘natural
meaning’ of Èpo òbò (Spondianthis prussii), Ewée máfowókan
omoò mi (Solanum dasphyllum) and Ewée Àjé ò bale (Croton
zambesicus).

Sources of ‘natural meaning’ of Èpo òbò (Spondianthis

prussii)
Èpo òbò is the back of òbò tree the name is not self explanatory
but the legend that explains how it became potent is found in the
Ifá corpus. It is known as poison for witches. It is believed that
witches abhor this and so flee from it.
According to a narrative from Èjì-ogbè (Ifá literary corpus), Èpo
òbò it is regarded as the èèwò ajogun ibi (taboo for malignant
spirits). According to Ifasesan Ojekunle1, Àjé Arómókùn gave
birth to Òbò (at this time, a human being) three times. Òbò was
to be a powerful child that will overthrow Àjé Arómókùn and so,

1
Ifasesan Ojekunle is a babaláwo and a priest at the Ose-méjì temple in Ibadan. He was interviewed for this
research on the 13th of September, 2011.

14
after each of the first two births, Àjé Arómókùn killed and ate
Òbò. After the third conception, Òbò went to Olódùmarè, asking
to be allowed to come to the world through another means, but
Olódùmarè insisted that he was to come to the world through
Àjé Arómókùn the mother. This time Olódùmarè inserted three
àpáàdì (pieces of broken pots) into the body of Òbò, when Àjé
Arómókùn gave birth to him and saw the àpáàdì on the body,
she ran to get something to pull out the àpáàdì from Òbò’s body
so she can eat him up again, but before she got back, Òbò had
escaped and departed for a distant place.
Òbò grew old and married two wives. These wives were traders
and so one day they went to sell their wares in Ojà èjìgbòmekùn
(èjìgbòmekùn market) as they were selling, Àjé Arómókùn came
pricing their chicken at some ridiculous price, Òbò’s wives
refused to sell to her and so she wanted to take the chicken by
force, Òbò’s wives refused her and abused her without knowing
whom they were dealing with.
Àjé Arómókùn got angry and left with a promise to return. As
soon as she left, the other women in the market advised Òbò’s
wives to leave the market if they wanted to remain alive, and
then told Òbò’s wives how wicked Àjé Arómókùn was. This

15
made Òbò’s wives leave the market in a hurry with their wares
but forgot their stools in the market. When Àjé Arómókùn got
back, she did not meet them in the market, so she commanded
the stools to lead her to the house of Òbò’s wives.
When the wives got home, Òbò was surprised to see them return
home early without selling all that they took to the market. Upon
enquiry, they narrated their experience and Òbò immediately
knew that it was Àjé Arómókùn his mother whom they
encountered. He immediately told them to leave the house
because he was sure that Àjé Arómókùn would find them, the
wives left, but before Òbò could leave the house, Àjé Arómókùn
arrived and saw Òbò.
Àjé Arómókùn was happy because she thought this was an
opportunity for her to kill Òbò, she has always known that Òbò
would overthrow her one day, and so she wanted to kill him to
prevent that from happening. This time again, Òbò escaped and
ran for his life. Àjé Arómókùn went after Òbò, at the crossing of
a bridge where Èsù was resting, Òbò crossed without stepping
on Èsù, but Àjé Arómókùn stepped on Èsù’s head without
knowing and still continued after Òbò. Èsù was surprised at
what happened to him, seeing that Àjé Arómókùn was still after

16
Òbò, he got angry and made Òbò turn into a big tree and
commanded Àjé Arómókùn to bite the tree, as soon as Àjé
Arómókùn bit the tree, she died. The same thing happened to all
the followers of Àjé Arómókùn that day. With this narrative, one
can claim knowledge of how Òbò got its natural ability as èèwò
(taboo) for the witches.
Osán ba Osán
Ore nba Ore,
Anamu ni ti oga
Tían tían rere, ni won sin òkú ìgbín
This was how the Àjé (witches) came to know that they must
never taste èpo òbò. This gave èpo òbò the natural power to
repel and prevent the attack of witches or ajogun. Knowledge of
this helps with the acceptance and use of èpo òbò without any
form of incantation.
Ewée máfowókan omoò mi (Solanum dasphyllum)
This literarily means don’t touch my child. The stem and leaves
of this plant have spikes/thorns on them. This plant also bears
fruits that look like regular garden egg. It is this fruit that
Yoruba refer to as the omo (child) of this plant, so the nature of
the plant gave the name máfowókan omoò mi

17
Máfowókan omoò mi (Egéle funfun) there is Egéle pupa which
does the same thing as Egéle funfun. This is usually mistaken for
bòbó àwòdì because it looks like Egéle funfun. Here I am
discussing Egéle funfun that is also called, Ewée máfowókan
omoò mi.
There is no legend about it, but the nature and features give it
the power to fight ajogun.
Egéle funfun looks like garden egg. Máfowókan omoò mi
literally means don’t touch my child. This plant has thorns all
over the stems and leaves and so makes it difficult to pluck the
fruit. This is what earned it the name máfowókan omoò mi.
much as it looks like garden egg, it is poisonous. And so because
it is poisonous, it means that ajogun cannot eat or attack it, and
because it protects its fruits from human attack, it is believed to
have the natural power to protect whosoever uses it against the
attack of ajogun.

Ewée Àjé ò bale (Croton zambesicus)

This name describes the natural potentials of this plant and has
been seen and related to as such. This name also naturally

18
portrays the functions of this herbal plant, such that they can be
applied to the needs that are expected of them.
This plant does not have thorns and it has a lovely smell, but if it
is tasted it gets the whole mouth sour and funny, it is neither
bitter nor sweet, but cannot be eaten ordinarily, even though it is
sometimes used for medicinal purposes.
It is observed that as a plant, birds never perch on it, and so birds
never feed on the fruit even though the smell is lovely. It is
believed that since the plants have some repelling power
inherent in it, to repel birds that are usually inhabited by
witches, making it possible for it to ward off ajogun.
According to Maclean (1971) “half the Ibadan healers stated that
they were able to cure diseases due to witchcraft, and certain
soap, containing the witch pant àjé òfòle, was often quoted as a
protective.” (Maclean, 1971:81)

These three plants are used as their names and legends about
them signify, they provide natural protection from external
attacks as best expressed in the nature of ewée máfowókan
omoò mi.

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Sources of ‘other meaning’
The period of colonization of Africa lasted for less than a
century which may b considered, a brief moment in the history
of Africa, but brief as this was, it signified “a new historical
form and the possibility of radically new types of discourses on
African traditions and cultures.” (Mudimbe, 1988:1) With the
awareness of this reality and for the purpose of this paper, ‘other
meaning’ refers to the meaning that evolves from the application
of the interpretative paradigm that flows from the effects of
colonialism. This paradigm lacks an understanding of the
sources of ‘natural meaning’ of things that it attempts to
interpret. This gives the ‘natural meaning’ a new meaning based
on ignorance or biased understanding. With the advent of the
‘other meaning’ there is the corruption of the ‘natural meaning’
to the point that people now reject the ‘natural meaning’ as false.
One of the effects of colonialism is the new age religions, by
new age religion I refer primarily to the two major religions of
our time; Christianity and Islam. These religions have had
conflicts with different aspects of human development in the
past, as epitomized in the conflict between religion and science.
These conflicts find expression in the clashes of conservative

20
forces of theological dogmatism and the opposed progressive
forces of scientific rationality. (Barbour, 1998:25)
In this paper, a consideration is given not to the clash of the
major religion with science but a combination of the forces of
these religions and science against the structure of African
traditional practice. Even though, the new-age religions have
almost the same understanding of disease causation and
remedies as found in African traditional health care system, that
is, they (the new-age religions) understand that health can be
affected by both the physical and the spiritual forces, they have
recommended their methods of responding to diseases over the
methods used in African traditional health care, because they
believe that African methods are either ineffective or fetish.
There is no regard for legends that are not found in their belief
systems, and so these religions become a source of the ‘other
meaning’.
The method of naming things as found among the Yoruba is not
strange to these neo-religions and so names are given in
accordance to the nomenclature found in the different regions
and things with names outside the frame of these religions are
perceived as either wrong or not relevant. When these religions

21
come across names or experience things that do not fit into their
frame, they give these names ‘other meaning’ by using their
paradigm to interpret it. When this is done, red flags are raised
and questions are asked as to the ‘rightness’ or ‘relevance’ of the
property that is being named.
The interpretation that flows from the ‘other meaning’ is then
transferred by the practitioners of these various religions to
everyday affair, health care included. This gives the ground to
pass judgments on ‘natural meaning’ that exists outside what is
allowed in these religions. One may say without the fear of
moving far from the target that, this was what informed the
reaction of the students and their belief that something extra
must have been said or added for these herbal properties to
become active.
Colonialism also came with the system of science as practiced
today. In the method of science as found today, there is no space
for legends and unexplained conclusions as represented in the
real life cases of Yoruba traditional health care practice. Science
as practiced today is known for details in the process of
explanation and not dreams, oral tradition and constant
conjunctions as accepted in the worldview of the Yoruba people.

22
If a thing is to be regarded as scientific, it must follow the
paradigm of the colonialist, such that naturally potent plants that
do not fit into this method, were given garments with fetish
connotation, medicine was seen as pagan religion; cultural
beliefs were seen as diabolic; the religion of the Africans was
seen as paganism, and worse of all, it was not even considered
as a religion simply because it was thought that the practice of
religion was too high for the mind of the African.
For Mudimbe, (1988) this colonial structure creates a dichotomy
that has been referred to as “europocentricism” resulting in
opposing paradigms: tradition versus modern; oral versus
written and printed; agrarian and customary communities versus
urban and industrialized civilization; subsistence economies
versus highly productive economies and all of these structures
come up with the ‘other meaning’.
Implication of ‘other meaning’ for the practice of African
traditional medicine
We live in a world where the dominant ideology determines
what is right and what is wrong, even at the risk of either
damaging or obliterating history. The first glaring effect of
‘other meaning’ is a rejection of ‘natural meaning’ when in fact,

23
natural meaning should be a source of inquiry into the claims
made by these names and legends that back them, thereby
creating hypothesis for science and not a subject for religious
discussion.
With the turn of the table and the dominance of ‘other meaning’
over ‘natural meaning’; what was once upon a time a dominant
ideology has grown timid in the face of criticism; it is visibly
and largely not sure of itself, it has been force to become a
reactionary field where it functions only in response to questions
and attempts to regain its past glory; and one may say that
African traditional medicine would have gone into extinction,
but for the fact that it still works when the courageous one use it.
This ill-informed war against ‘natural meaning’ is depriving
African traditional medicine the developmental investments that
it should be enjoying.
The ‘other meaning’ has fueled the battle between the Western
and African health care paradigms, it has reduced the chances of
progressive dialogue; it is turning a ‘gold mine’ (natural
meaning) into what I call ‘a theatre for comedy and display of
laughable conjectures that are not fit for scientific procedures’.

24
The effects of ‘other meaning’ run contrary to the commitment
of WHO in the search for holistic health care. It ignores the
definition of traditional medicine as “the sum total of the
knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs,
and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether
explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in
the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical
and mental illness.” (WHO, 1978, 1991, & 2005)
This has led to the neglect of potent herbs for both physical and
metaphysical purposes. For the Yoruba, herbs are used in health
care for both physical and the metaphysical purposes. For
physical care, vegetable, animal and mineral substances which
include parts of plants such as roots, stem, leaves, flowers, bark,
etc. or a combination of any of these are used. And for
metaphysical reasons, there are some herbs and parts of tree that
have qualities that can aid and help in health care without the
addition of any incantation.2
The concept of the ‘other meaning’ has gradually led to the
rejection of vital herbs because many believe that African
2
Ifasesan Ojekunle is a babaláwo and a priest at the Ose-méjì temple in Ibadan. He was interviewed for this
research on the 13th of September, 2011.

25
traditional health care practice lacks the procedure and method
of collection and identification of ethnomedical plants for the
purpose of ascertaining the efficacy of their curative claims,
simply because the “success of this exercise depends largely on
the quality and proper scientific identification of these plants.”
(Akinsulire, 2006:25)
With the colonial influence, it is difficult if not impossible to
consider Yoruba traditional health care independent of religion.
Osunwole, (1989:223) noted that for the Yoruba, traditional
healing was the only form of therapy for a long period before the
Western method of health care came with colonialism, and these
traditional healers were also the popular religious priests whose
medical knowledge was largely based on religious beliefs and
practices. Since these traditional healthcare practitioners were
also priests in their own right, it became difficult for foreign
observers to separate health care from the practice of religion
and so herbalism was seen as fetish practices.
This type of interpretation has made patronage of the African
traditional health care clandestine and unpopular, not because
there are no evidences to justify the patronages, but because the
people who have these experiences are afraid of stigma that

26
come with colonial structures. The neo-religions have gained so
much followership and have influence the paradigm of
evaluation such that anybody seen or found associating with
tradition is interpreted as being fetish in his/her ways, this has
kept many away from talking about their healing encounters
with traditional medicine.

Conclusion
A consideration of the nature of the sources of ‘natural meaning’
places them some distance away from what science will regard
as viable conclusion, but this observation will also be valid for
the ‘other meaning’ that reject ‘natural meaning’ based on the
influence of religion. This is because science does not validate
conclusions that are based on faith.
This distance has resulted in lack of development that African
traditional medicine suffers, government do not want to support
what has been interpreted as unscientific. Since the government
is not so involved, the number of quake practitioners are on the
increase and they are more conspicuous than the well trained
practitioners.

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The beauty of a simple name is lost and corrupted by the
influence of colonialism and its attendant consequences because
of the introduction of ‘other meaning’ that uses a different
language that has no equivalents of the ‘natural meaning’ or
names. Colonialism has replaced the natural meanings with new
names (English and botanical) that do not express the natural
potentials, making it difficult to appreciate the fact that what is
now referred to as discoveries, were already existing in the
names that were known by the African traditional health care
practitioners before the corrupting influences of the ‘other
meaning’.
With the evolution of the methods of anthropology, it is
becoming very clear that the context of a given culture is
essential to the interpretation and appreciation of every aspect of
human existence. There should not be an imposition of a
foreign culture and foreign categories with little or no regard for
what existed before the introduction.
It is time for us as Africans to begin to think within our box and
outside the box that was brought to us and ask the questions that
the colonialist could not ask; find out what is good and what is
bad in the practice of African traditional medicine. This will

28
take the practice beyond the level of emotion, it will help to
keep whatever is good and meaningful and let go of what is not
good. This attempt must go beyond sentiment so that we don’t
hold onto what needs to be changed and change what needs to
be held onto.
It is important to note here that it belongs to no paradigm that is
founded on revelation to evaluate other paradigms that are
similarly founded on revelation as genuine or not. The best that
can be done is to evaluate the purpose, means and methods of
practice. This lends strength to my use of mythology in
explaining the natural potency that Èpo òbò (Spondianthis
prussii), Ewée máfowókan omoò mi (Solanum dasphyllum)
and Ewée Àjé ò bale (Croton zambesicus) have. This paper is to
stir scholars to become curious about ‘natural meaning’ and to
find out if the interpretations correspond to reality.

Conference on culture and society in Post-Colonial Nigeria in

Honour of Ulli Beier (Nov 28-30, 2011)

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