Unit 2 time frame: 3 weeks
Introducing the topic:
Traditional healers in Buganda's distant past were central to maintaining collective well-being of broader communities, and often played important political roles. Their therapeutic knowledge and power was called upon to prevent or end social and environmental ills such as drought and famine, and also for curing individual ailments like disease and infertility. While the power of traditional healers was considerably weakened by early British colonial policies, healers and herbalists continue to exist and serve their communities in a number of ways. This unit seeks to understand both the historical and cultural importance of traditional healing, and kind of practices, substances, and locations that are associated with traditional healing in Buganda today.
For vocabulary and activities related to general health and parts of the body, see page 96 of the manual.
Basic traditional healing vocabulary:
The words for medicine, healing, and healer all have the root -ganga: As an abstract noun medicine is obuganga. As a verb "to heal" the root gives okuganga. When transformed into noun class 1 and 2, "a healer" is an omuganga.
Traditional healers often gained their therapeutic power and knowledge through spirit-possession, or mbandwa. Spirits are called lubaale.
Ideas about health are linked to happiness, life, and longevity and derive from the root -lamu. Hence the common greeting "obulamu?" which roughly translates to "How's life?" However, obulamu means "good health, life; well-being."
Healers often had the ability to see into the future and communicate with the spiritual realm: kulanga "prophecy (in words) the future."
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What you will need: Mpalanyi, S.E.K., Nnaku Teba Y’omu. Kampala: East African Literature Bureau, 1977.
Weekly breakdown:
Week 1: “Traditional” vs. “Modern”
Reading: Begin Nnaku Teba Y’omu (Nobody suffers alone)
Assignments: 1) Read 30-45 minutes every other day. 2) Write down any new health and healing vocabulary that comes up in the book and make flashcards on Quizlet. 3) Practice with flashcards every other day (days you do not read). 4) Begin short paper describing how “traditional” and “modern” medicine are constructed in the book.
Activity: Read through Dr. Albert Cook’s Luganda-English Medical dictionary and phrase book (1908). How does he translate/define traditional therapeutic vocabulary in English?
Week 2: Healing and Feeling
Reading: Continue Nnaku Teba Y’omu.
Assignments: 1) Read 30-45 minutes every other day. 2) Practice with flashcards every other day (days you do not read). 3) Why are relationships important to well-being in the book? What are the consequences of loneliness? How do love, lust and intimacy affect the health of the main character? What is the relationship between emotion, health, and illness in the book? 4) Work on paper and add emotional information that relates to “traditional” vs. “modern” medicine.
Week 3: Spiritual Dimensions of Health and Healing
Reading: Finish Nnaku Teba Y’omu.
Assignments: 1) Read 30-45 minutes every other day. 2) Practice with flashcards every other day (days you do not read). 3) What role does spirituality play in health and healing ideologies and practices in the book? 4) Finish paper.