Page 29 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 31

Food Health

The contributions of African healers are

often overlooked, and the economic and
intellectual benefits of their discoveries are
rarely shared with them. Today, there’s a

growing movement to decolonize botanical
naming and to give proper recognition to
those who first discovered these plants’
medicinal properties—often at the cost of
their lives and livelihoods, without any

recognition or reward.

Editorial note: This is a very useful question

the author has asked and we need to look
into it. How is it that the knowledge of
ancient Africans is deemed inferior while
we celebrate those who either stole or
borrowed the knowledge from them as true

and superior? It has never made sense. Same
thing with the naming of places in Africa
after European invaders, as if the Africans

living in those places did not have names
for their environments before the white man
came. We need new narratives.

attracted global attention because of its
alkaloid content, especially reserpine,
which became one of the first drugs used
to treat hypertension and psychiatric

disorders. Despite this, the plant was named
“Rauwolfia” after a German botanist,
Leonhard Rauwolf, who documented
medicinal plants. This raises a serious

question: why is the plant named after a
European botanist when African traditional
healers had already discovered and used
its medicinal benefits long before his

documentation?

This is an example of the broader issue of
colonialism in knowledge and plant naming.

ISSUE 31 | NOVEMBER 2024 29