The adapting healer: pioneering through shifting epidemiological and sociocultural landscapes

While it is true that healers selectively adopt and/or refashion aspects of biomedicine, the influence is not unidirectional with information flowing exclusively from hospitals into the workplaces of healers. This article examines healers in Tanga, Tanzania to explore the reciprocal relations between practitioners of indigenous medicine and biomedicine. An abbreviated ethnography of one healer in coastal Tanzania is used to illustrate some of the relevant influences and possible adaptations of contemporary healers. His experiences illuminate how multiple factors, especially sociocultural changes, biomedicine, AIDS, and related research(ers) can influence healers’ adaptations. In his case, biomedical health workers from a non-profit HIV organization call upon him not only to act as a liaison between their services and the community, but more importantly, to provide treatment for opportunistic infections and counseling for patients and to participate in biomedical and scientific projects. Reflecting on his experiences as a healer who has negotiated a position that straddles the world of biomedicine and the world of healers facilitates examination of important issues affecting healers today, including their relationship to biomedical health workers, bioprospectors, governments, non-profit organizations, and professional organizations of healers. Although the healer featured in this article is a pioneer in his own town, there are other examples in Africa where healers and biomedical practitioners are interacting. Therefore, he may represent a trend in healer adaptation.