Documentation Strategies of Indigeneous Health Knowledge of Selected Vhomaine in the Vhembe District Municipality, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

The strategies that are currently used by Vhomaine to record their healing activities, practices and their interactions with clients are still highly contested and not yet fully understood, documented and researched. The study therefore aimed to investigate the possibility of the development of a culture-congruent, indigenous practitioner-oriented documentation strategies of Indigenous Health Knowledge (IHK) of selected Vhomaine in the Vhembe district municipality, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Qualitative research methodology was adopted. Semi-structured interviews and participant observation were used as data collection instruments. A non-probability, purposive sampling technique was preferred to select eleven Vhomaine of whom eight were ‘Madzolokwe,’ or ‘Madzembelekete’ translated as the greatest healers and four are herbalists. Data was analyzed through the usage of thematic analysis. The findings of the study revealed that there is still a disconnection between Western forms of documentation which entail recording, filing and storage and the healing practices of Vhomaine which is done without recording and filing. Such documentation would most probably be possible to some categories of Vhomaine such as herbalists and unlikely to others such as diviners. This disconnect is proven by the throwing of incised bone tablets (thangu) that, with the assistance of the ancestors or the living-dead could make predictions about the client without referring to the stored files. There is still a strong belief amongst Vhomaine, the diviners, that they are content with the different traditional healing practices which they use to retrieve information from their clients such as calling on ancestors for guidance, using snuff (fola) and malombo dance. In this regard, documenting clients’ records and processes may mean including the interpretation of thangu, which according to Vhomaine, may come with relational challenges with the ancestors. The study therefore proposed that there should be a general consensus between biomedical and traditional health practitioners for a collaborative project to determine ways in which Vhomaine can be trained to document their healing strategies in a way that would be congruent to their healing activities and interactions with their clients.