Kruiedokters, Plants and Molecules: Relations of Power, Wind, and Matter in Namaqualand
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Kruiedokters, plants and molecules: relations of power, wind, and matter in Namaqualand Joshua B. Cohen (CHNJOS009) Thesis Presented for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Anthropology Section, School of African and Gender Studies, Anthropology and Linguistics UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN February 2015 University of Cape Town 1 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town Acknowledgements A heartfelt and appreciative thank you to every single person in the Kamiesberg (and those encountered on fieldwork trips further afield) who gave me the time of day, who shared cups of tea, wine, beer, stories, anecdotes, laughs and arguments. All those who afforded me time out of their lives to speak with me, to help me understand in some way the realities described in this thesis. I recognise that many people in the Kamiesberg actively deny the reality of many of the ‘magical’ forces and practices detailed in this thesis. On the otherhand, these are very real presences in the lives of other people in the area whom I have come to know. Because of this, I want to stress that I am only expressing my understanding of these realities from the perspective of some people in the Kamiesberg. In particular, I want to thank “Koos”, a kruiedokter (literally ‘herb doctor’) who welcomed me into his home, who treated me like a huiskind (home child) and spent so many, many hours teaching me about herbs, about his work, and who allowed me to sit in on so many of his consultations. Thanks also to his patients who opened, with trust, their problems to my interested presence. To Koos’ wife, his sons, his daughters, his son-in-law, his cheeky grandchild, a thank you for your incredible hospitality, humour, and care – especially when I was sick and unable. Without Marianna Lot’s help this thesis could not have been. She afforded me crucial introductions to people who ended up being central to the arguments made in these pages. If these pages contain any insight, there is no doubt that Marianna’s intimate relationship to kruiedokter worlds played a key role in guiding me towards them. The early stages of research were not easy, but I always knew I could walk over to Marianna’s house and find a warm (and often lively!) place where I would be welcome and often counted in on the (food) ‘pot’, whatever that pot contained. A deep thank you to Marianna and all of her Paulshoek and Vredendal family. A great many, warm thanks to “John”, another Kamiesberg kruiedokter who sat with me for hours and offered invaluable insight into the theory behind his work. To Piet and Ansie Claasen, to Johanna and Damon Jass, to Anna Willems: I will never forget the friendship and hospitality, and conversations and practical lessons in everyday massage and medicine. Thank you so much Vonkie and Troitjie Claasen, my neighbours in Paulshoek, who welcomed me to stay with them at their stock post and taught me a great deal about life outside of the village. My supervisor Lesley Green deserves special thanks for cultivating in me a feeling for challenging and unbound thought, for helping me find all-important funding, enabling me to hammer this thesis into wieldy form, and for inviting me to take up doctoral studies in the first place. My co-supervisor David Gammon, an organic chemist at the University of Cape Town’s department of Chemistry, was always 2 ready to test his own disciplinary boundaries. Though we may not have known precisely where they were headed at the time, our long conversations ranging over science, evidence and magic had a profound impact on my thinking. I am grateful for that opportunity and privilege. A grand thanks to Timm Hofmann for allowing me free and unrestricted access to his house in Paulshoek, and for the many acts of kindness and generosity he extended to me and has extended to Paulshoek residents over the years: the respect people there have for Timm aided my own research no end. Thanks so much Nicola Wheat and Amelia Hilgart for allowing me to follow their work, and for putting up with my bizarre, anthropologist’s questions. My admiration for the artful science of their work has only been increased by these experiences. René Devisch, who advised me on this project, offered brilliant comments on chapter two, and attentive and assuring care when I strayed all too close to the forces of harmful magic. Thanks also to Helen Verran and Tim Ingold who gave me useful and encouraging comments on various parts of this thesis. To my non-Kamiesberg family and friends: a thank you for putting up with me through these years of PhD struggle as I Iurched, characteristically, from absolute despair, to intellectual and emotional elation, and back again – sometimes within the space of a single sentence. I shared many a calming, intellectually stimulating forest walk with my friend and colleague ‘professor’ Artwell Nhemachena. My parents Alan and Katrina, and my brother Jacob, supported me and encouraged me throughout with jokes, friendly insults and love. By my side for more than four years of this ordeal/creative- intellectual process has been my companion, Rose, whose love, care, and humour have energized, inspired and humbled me. Lastly, this project would have gone nowhere without the financial support of an AW Mellon Doctoral Fellowship and the University of Cape Town’s Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Fund. I can only say that I am extremely grateful that there are those who, in this day and age of bottom-lines and profit margins, are still willing to fund the exploration of ideas. 3 Contents: Glossary of acronyms and key Afrikaans and other terms (p.6) Abstract (p.13) Introduction (p.14) South African ‘science wars’ (p.14); Traditional medicine and policy (p.17); Conceiving of a PhD project (p.19); GIBEX (p.23); Initial PhD proposal and research questions (p.24); Visiting Paulshoek (p.27); Paulshoek and the Leliefonten communal area (p.28); Socio- ecological relations that sustain life (p.32); Existing literature on Kamiesberg kruiedokters and medicinal plant use (p.33); Limits of the literature (p.35); Methodology: events, stories, senses and ethics (p.37); Research proper begins, August 2010 (p.40); Events precipitate a change of focus (p.40); The AZEF poster (p.42); Outline of the chapters (p.44). Chapter 1 (p.48) Invisible constriction: a historical outline of anthropological approaches to witchcraft and magic. Charlie’s accident (p.48); Anthropology and ‘making sense’ of magic and witchcraft (p.52); An outline of toor (p.52); 1500-early 20th Century (p.54); Khoi and Bushman magic and the European gaze 1652-1900 (p.60); Early to mid 20th century (p.62); 1950- 1970s (p.67); 1970s-present (p.69); The knowing body (p.73); Late 1980s-present (p.75); Relational ontologies (p.77); Relational objects of toor (p.78); Concept=thing approaches (p.79); My own approach: looking toward the following chapters (p.81) Chapter 2 (p.85) On the trail of bioactive compounds From one ecology to another (p.91); Back to Namaqualand, back to UCT laboratories in search of ‘factish’ compounds (p.93); Bioassay-guided fractionation (p.95); Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) (p.97); Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) (p.99); The exceptional feat of Nicola’s experimental techniques (p.101); A modes of existence perspective (p.104) 4 Chapter 3 (p.108) Cultivating krag, refreshing gees: thinking ecologies of (un)wellbeing Hansie hanged himself (p.108); Ecologies of (un)wellbeing (p.110); Cultivating krag, refreshing gees (p.112); The landscape in the medicine, the medicine in the landscape (p.114); Practice or skill? (p.118); A journey through the mountains and back again (p.119); Collecting wood, cultivating krag (p.122). Chapter 4 (p.126) ‘Hy roep jou in’ (He calls you in) Paul’s toorblikkie (p.127); Koos and his singing frogs (p.129); Wellbeing and hopes for a good, decent, and meaningful life (p.130); Relationships (p.131); Inequality, poverty, and jealousy (p.133); Poisoning relations (p.135); ‘Hy roep jou in’ (p.138); Koos’ singing frogs (p.143). Chapter 5 (p.148) ‘Toor is ‘n wind’ (Toor is a wind) The wind choking Jan (p.148); ‘Wind’ (p.149); Wind, life and health (p.150); What poison does in the body, so wind is (p.153); At Koos’ place (p.156); Koos’ confusing approach (p.157); Divination of the form and cause of affliction (159); Co-opting the ‘sheet of time’ (p.161); Back to Jan’s village, back to Koos’ place (again) (p.163); Winds and ecologies of (un)wellbeing (p.165). Conclusion (p.170) Addressing the spectre of relativism (p.175); Considering relativism again (p.180). Bibliography (p.183) 5 Glossary of acronyms and key Afrikaans and other terms AIME An Inquiry into Modes of Existence. A book (2013) and collaborative online project led by Bruno Latour. Latour’s aim is to theoretically extend the number of modes of existence practically important in the life of ‘modern’ people, in order to produce a more accurate anthropology of modernization, and from there to facilitate the possibility of diplomacy with other collectives. Beyond this, his ultimate aim is the composition of the common world, to begin the modernization project again on ‘a new footing’ (modesofexistence [AIME], n.d.) ANT Actor Network Theory.