Rethinking medicinal plants and plant medicines
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Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
National Inquiry Services Centre
Abstract
Because plants are perceived as sessile and immobile, they are often represented as objects or
things in current literature. In this paper, I explore variations and shifts in research and literature
since 2000 that reconsider the ways that plant-related ideas, expertise and practices intersect in
multiple associations related to medicinal plants. I argue that, in their relationship with humans,
plants have histories, are mobile and can also bring about political and other effects. I use
ethnographic material from Namibia and the Western Cape of South Africa to review medicinal
plants, by focusing on human-plant relations and the incorporation of plants as non-human
subjects with non-intentional agency.
Description
Keywords
Agency, Interdisciplinary, Knowledge, Medicinal plants, Non-human
Citation
Gibson, D. (2018). Rethinking medicinal plants and plant medicines. Anthropology Southern Africa, 41(1), 1�14. https://doi.org/10.1080/23323256.2017.1415154