Tamara Luthy

University of Hawaii, Anthropology, Graduate Student

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I am a PhD candidate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, recipient of an MS in ethnobotany from the same insitution, who maintains keen interest in post-colonial feminist spiritual ecologies, with particular foci on women's folk ethnobotanical knowledge within transnational Hindu and Roman Catholic communities.

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Peter Mills

University of Hawaii

Teora S Morris

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Valerie Shaindlin

Noelani Goodyear-Ka'opua

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Ronald Williams Jr.

David Duffy

University of Hawaii at Manoa

James Shimabukuro

University of Hawaii

Natalie Kurashima

Kamehameha Schools

Mark D McCoy

Florida State University

chris swenson

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

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t.l.curriculum.vitae.11.15.2018.pdf

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“'Few people know that Krishna was the first environmentalist': Religiously motivated conservation as a response to pilgrimage pressures in Vrindavan, India.”

In Political ecology of tourism: Community, power and the environment. Mostafanezhad, M, Norum, ... more

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Of African Potatoes and Antiretrovirals: Phytomedicines, Meaning and the AIDS Epidemic in South Africa

Plant based medicines, or phytomedicines, have been styled by some healers, manufacturers and pol... more Plant based medicines, or phytomedicines, have been styled by some healers, manufacturers and politicians as " traditional " treatments for HIV/AIDS in South Africa and elsewhere. However, many of these phytomedicines have also undergone the novel process, which I term pharmaceuticalization, of scientific testing for toxicity and efficacy, adherence to regulatory bodies, standardization and packaging for mass consumption. These phytomedicines, when derived from the pharmacopeia of indigenous healers, retain traces of " traditional " domains of knowledge, while those who market them simultaneously attempt to appeal to the " modern " concepts of verifiability and scientific demonstration of efficacy. Borrowing from both ancient sources of knowledge to create novel remedies for a relatively new disease, phytomedicines represent the uneven merging and convergence of African science and Western science in the post-Apartheid state. Though these phytomedicines are neither wholly " pharmaceuticalized " nor wholly traditional in form, public discourses surrounding plant-based treatments for HIV/AIDS in South Africa characterize phytomedicines as " traditional " medicines. While some of the public discourse seems to be polarizing and suggestive of incommensurable differences between " traditional African knowledge " and " Western science, " in reality these debates about plant based medicines show the extent to which " traditional " elements of South African society are being actively reconstructed for contemporary needs. I argue plant based medicines unique sites for the claims about identity and meaning for parties experiencing the post-colonial condition. ________________________________________________________________________ Paula Treichler (1999) argues that AIDS is more than an epidemic disease; it is an epidemic of signification. This is particularly evident in South Africa, home to the greatest number of HIV positive people on earth, with an estimated 5 million infected individuals. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the meaning of " traditional " medicines in the context of disputes over effective treatment for HIV/AIDS in post-Apartheid South Africa. In contemporary South Africa, the word " traditionality " is used in a variety of ways, both to assert an ancient and indigenous heritage evoking " African " science, and as a negative term to suggest backwardness and superstition (Boonzaier and Spiegel 2008). The concept of traditionality is also deeply entwined with identity politics. During the tenure of former President Thabo Mbeki, the discussion of the efficacy of plant-based medicines derived from the pharmacopeia of indigenous healers became

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t.l.curriculum.vitae.11.15.2018.pdf

My CV

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“'Few people know that Krishna was the first environmentalist': Religiously motivated conservation as a response to pilgrimage pressures in Vrindavan, India.”

In Political ecology of tourism: Community, power and the environment. Mostafanezhad, M, Norum, ... more

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Of African Potatoes and Antiretrovirals: Phytomedicines, Meaning and the AIDS Epidemic in South Africa

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Tamara Luthy

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