Archival Significance
Written by Michael Gelfand, whose other works are held elsewhere in this Archive, with a foreword by Roy Welensky, whose own Federation memoir is held alongside it, this study examines the social and medical role of traditional healers in Rhodesian society from Gelfand’s perspective as a physician-ethnographer.
Institutional Context
Published by Harvill Press, London, printed by Collins Clear-Type Press.
Content Summary
Examines the social role and practice of traditional healers in Rhodesian society, drawing on Gelfand’s medical and ethnographic fieldwork.
Research Utility
Useful alongside Gelfand’s other works in this Archive for researchers tracing how his interpretation of Shona medical and religious practice developed across his career. Read critically, given his position as an outside medical observer rather than a member of the communities he studied.
Abantu Archives Note
Held in-house.