Modernization of Health Practices in East Central :: essays research papers

The colonization of the western world brought on many changes for the indigenous throng of Africa in every way of life. The Christian missionaries accomplished much much than just introducing their religion. They also exposed and converted Africans to western values and friendly beliefs. Health cargon practices were one of the things greatly influenced by the colonization. In my paper, I am focusing on the practices of the east central vicinity of Africa, including the regions of Nigeria and (???). This region has common Bantu-speaking ancestors and commonalties among medicines and practices. The impact of the western world is easily recognizable be do of the radical differences in thought between the Europeans and the Africans. At the time of colonization, European health care centered around science and reason. Most Africans, on the other go past, believed in more abstract, spiritual explanations for disease and illness. Religious practitioners had a big part in the healing process. The infiltration of western ideas sparked apparent changes and many times produced a combination of traditional healing on with western ideas. There were changes in health care practices even originally the time of colonization and I will also give a brief history of this change to emphasize the fact that religion and practices are never stagnant. Brief history of people in East of import regionAfrican healing practices traditionally have strong ties with religion. They abode an emphasis on holistic healing and believe in a mind-body connection. Divination is one technique that is often used to find the cause of a particular illness. "Since all human problems such as infertility, illness, and chafe in hunting, are ascribed to moral conflicts within the human community, the diviners task is to shit acts of immorality which have provoked the vengeance of the ancestors, and to reveal the destructive hand of witches and sorcerers." (Ray, 104). A diviner searches a persons past to find something that may be ascribed to the works of an outside source. They want to find the source of the problem forwards simply treating the symptoms. They also believe that once the source is found, a honoring can be performed that may lead to the reversal of its effect. There is a strong belief that the cause of illness is in the mind, so when the preaching is foscused there, improvement in physical ailments may be seen. "Because illness and goal are seen to be rooted in immoral acts, the diviners role