Abstract
Western medicine views the mind and the body as separate entities that require different approaches of healing, and was introduced in South Africa in the 17th century after the first permanent European settlers established themselves in the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.
Both Traditional and Western medical practitioners provided healthcare services to the South African population during the 17th and 18th centuries until the 19th century when traditional healers became marginalised. Laws such as the Witchcraft Suppression Act of 1957 and the Witchcraft Suppression Amendment Act of 1970 were put in place by the Apartheid government to disallow traditional healers from practicing.
Since then, Western medicine has been the prevalent choice when it comes to healthcare, leaving Traditional medicinal practices to shoulder a legacy of negative, inferior and mistrustful connotations. The choice of the word ‘witchcraft’ was used to mislead people by suggesting that all alternative medicine and its practitioners were only capable of performing evil and harmful acts. Unfortunately, witchcraft (Traditional medicine) has commonly been defined as a set of actions, practices and behaviours that black Africans perform to cause bodily harm (Bailey, 2003). By this definition, the term witchcraft can then also apply to Western medicine as some of the prescribed medication has detrimental side effects.
According to Jonathan Hill (2002 : 16), “Referring to the abstraction of the user, Rob Imrie writes that architects commonly ignore bodily diversity because they conceive the body as a machine and, consequently, as passive. He notes that such a conception is not particular to architects. For example, it is equally evident in Western science and medicine”. Traditional medicine has a more holistic approach and sees the mind and body as inter-related parts of a whole (Mdanda, 2010). The World Health Organisation (1976:8) defines traditional medicine/healing as, “the sum total of all knowledge and practices, whether explicable or not, used in diagnosing, preventing or eliminating a physical, mental or social disequilibrium and which rely exclusively on past experience and observation handed down from generation to generation, verbally or in writing”.
This major design project approaches the notion of ‘healing’ at multiple scales (the body, community, nation etc).Through autoethnographic experience of traditional healing rituals, the research explores the methods of traditional healers and their potential influence on new restorative space-making methods for architectural and education pedagogies, which not only encourage changes in how we approach the healing of physical bodies but also bodies of thinking: the perception and approach to holistic healing. Lefebvre (1991:363) states that, “The restoration of the body means, first and foremost, the restoration of the sensory-sensual - speech, of the voice, of smell, of hearing. In short, of the non-visual”. These are ways of thinking that he believed should be incorporated into designing spaces that are body-diverse. It is more than just symptom and medicine; it is about treating the root cause.
Theatre and performance will be used as a strategy to develop this major design project. These restoration approaches will be explored using juxtaposition/comparative exercises, a range of 3D models, he exploration of theatres and/of performance. According to Rachel Patterson (actingstudiochicago.com), “Theatre helps us to see a different perspective from our own. We’re shown humanity, psychology, motivations, conflict and resolution. Theatre promotes us to give power to truth, to take risks and to advocate for new and diverse voices”. This will be done as a response to some of the theatrical qualities (some absurd) that Western ideologies of health often have. Claire Hooker and Hans Pols (2002: 1) state that, “For many of us, what we know about health, medicine and disease has come to us through the media. Public health officials have often aimed to mimic the way the media entices the public by presenting health information in ways that are entertaining.” This project will consist of the charting of autoethnographic experiences (as a person who is of a bloodline of traditional healers known as Abathandazi) and locating this within the two fields of medicine. A series of interviews will be conducted with relevant practitioners and recorded according to FHDC protocols.
The Museum of Operating Theatre(s) will consist of pop-up interactive performative installations that will be located on multiple sites within the context of Maboneng in Johannesburg. This site has been chosen because of its cultural diversity which still encounters evident divisions amongst the people who reside there. A case of this can be seen in the Kwa Mai Mai Traditional Market which is seen as more of a cultural hub for IsiZulu speaking individuals specifically. These installations will be influenced by traditional healing methods and interact with the body’s senses in order to promote holistic healing. The installations could possibly be real interventions that would be inserted into these sites, but will remain purely speculative in the context of this project. The project seeks to unpack and approach healing at multiple scales (the body, community, nation etc). This will be a partially pedagogical space which will not only encourage a change in how we approach the healing of the physical body but also the body of thinking; how people perceive and approach healing as a whole.