‘So Long as We Survive': Communities, Health and Culture in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Bone-throwing oracles, herb-dispensing healers, prophets in the open, prophets and apostles in mega-churches, spiritual fathers, nurses and nurse aids as well as doctors all seem to be in service of a general population seeking health services. Their methods and scope may vary but the desired end is healing and health. Physical and spiritual wellness are a thriving industry in Africa. Yet health and formal health systems often assume western connotations, neglecting the cultural and social milieu in which the ailing are situated. In addition, anthropologists, sociologists and experts from various other fields within the social sciences have explored the dynamism and richness of cultures in African communities. These have been highlighted in Zimbabwe from colonial times to the post-independence era. While offering rich analyses and discussions, the studies have tended to obfuscate the conflicts and complementarities between health and culture when viewed both in traditional, religious and ‘modern' times. In the process, perspectives in medical anthropology and sociology often stay rooted in binaries defined either as rural or urban. This paper bridges this divide by revealing that realities of health and culture are not divided along rural/urban or traditional/modern lines. Instead, using a multi-sited ethnography, the paper details how the relationship between culture and health is fluid despite setting. Urbanites and rural folk embrace various approaches to health medication in Bulawayo and Lupane and depending on the nature of the problem, place value on one approach over another. However, when considered in whole, none of the approaches is deemed superior.