Bodies, politics, and African healing : the matter of maladies in Tanzania /

Anthropologist Langwick's fieldwork in the town of Newala in southeastern Tanzania started in 1998. Shortly after arriving, the author had the good fortune to establish an association with Binti Dadi, a Muslim woman healer, and Mzee Kalimaga, a Christian male healer. For ten months during the initial field stay in 1998-99, Langwick (Cornell) apprenticed with Binti Dadi, even being called "Binti Dadi mdogo"--little Binti Dadi. She returned to Newala for a couple of months in 2002 and 2003. She carried out her research in KiSwahili and provides a short glossary that translates and clarifies key concepts. A brief prologue sets the scene for the body of the discussion, which covers such topics as witchcraft, oracles, and native medicine; making Tanzanian traditional medicine; healers and their intimate becomings; and traditional birth attendants as institutional evocations. Part 3, "Healing Matters," explores alternative materialities, interferences and inclusions, and shifting existences, or being and not-being. There is a short conclusion on postcolonial ontological politics and a brief epilogue incorporating Langwick's newly born daughter into this "family." Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students/faculty/professionals. B. M. du Toit emeritus, University of Florida