Medicine in Igbo Culture

How was medicine significant to post-colonial Igbo culture?

Medicine in post-colonial Igbo culture because the Igbo believe that medicine is one of the most important beliefs in society. For example, the Igbo have two main components of health or healing. Ndu which means life and Ogwugwo which means healing or health care.

Dibia were the medical practitioners in Igbo culture. Although in post-colonial several more types of Dibia's were introduced. Such as Dibia ara- doctor for the insane and Dibia Aja- priest or doctor of sacrafice.

In conclusion medicine in post-colonial Igbo culture was important because it was altered slightly due to colonialism such as the different type of doctors. Especially the doctors for the insane because before colonialism there was no doctors for the mentally unstable.

Depicts what a Dibia mask looks like.

Conclusion

Before colonialism the Igbo people believed that spiritual and physical were interconnected. The Igbo people used roots and herbs o make their medicine. This was significant to their lives, seeing that they had a god dedicated to healing people and they had a social status specifically for healers. After colonialism, they rituals did not change and they still used herbs and roots. They did seek help from christian missionaries and used western medicine at times. With colonialism came more doctors for the medical insane which did not exist prior.

Work Cited

http://umunumo.com/igbomedicine.html

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/igbo-medicine-and-culture-the-concept-of-dibia-and-dibia-representations-in-igbo-society-of-nigeria.htm

http://www.sedosmission.org/sedosarticles/documents/mbiere-healthandhealing.pdf

What was the significance of Igbo medicine prior to colonialism?

This is rather obvious. Medicine is an important part of Igbo culture for more than one reason. The name for a medical leader is Dibia or healer. The role of Dibia is passed down through the family of the Dibia. This Dibiaused the spirits and their God to heal. Dibia was also a high role in the society with a lot of knowledge.

Other than Dibia, there were medicinal herbs around their villages. These herbs were essential, even if you were not a Dibia.

In the book Things Fall Apart people harvest yams for enjoyment as well as a technique of herbal healing

How do people of the Igbo culture become healers?

Here in the United States it takes a minimum of 12 years to practice medicine. In the Igbo culture, one is born into the profession, and inheriting the ability and knowledge to become a "healer". In becoming you it requires,discipline, ambition, determination, time and resources.

Ekwe Oba:

a yam born seat (ekwe). Its purpose is to represent a mans world associated with yams for males (oke) and cocoa yams for females (nne) Altogether agwe yam is made for men and women as a gender overall. Agwu shrine is a force, inherriting healer, patient and the entire community for culturally determined good health and a normal life.

Medicine in Igbo Culture

How did the style of Igbo medicine change with the arrival colonialism?

The Igbo people believe in both herbal and spiritual healing. Connecting through god, and discovering where the illness came from. They call their "doctors" healers or dibia which are of the same meaning. Colonialism did NOT change the tradition and practices of the igbo people but did influence them to gain help from christian missionaries and use western medicine for some help aside from the herbal and spiritual healing.

Erin Spurgeon, Angelina Elizondo, Noah Lopez, and Aphiniti Crupper

Who are Igbo healers?

What was medicine like prior to colonialism?

An Igbo healer is meant to be knowledgeable in the history of his or her community and neighbors, as well as have deep ancient and modern history of the Igbo in general. He or she will be able to tell what symbols are associated with religion; as well as social, economic and political ideas and practices of the Igbo in comparison with that of Igbo neighbors. Secrets of the ancientness of the Igbo society will be related to his shrine and therefore represent a reality in the pristine and present symbolic archive of the society. True healers embody a deep Igbo medical history as a part of their training repertoires and representations. In essence, the burden of proof of being a healer lies deeply in one’s relationship to the medicine deity – agwu.

• The Igbo people believed that spiritual and physical health were interconnected.
• Various types of healers that treated natural and/or spiritual afflictions.
• Healers often sacrificed animals to the gods in attempt to diagnose and treat an illness.

• In the book Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo uses an herbal steam treatment to help his daughter, Ezinma.

• Used an abundance of herbs and roots, which healers had extensive knowledge of.
• Healers would often call out to spirits before treatment to ensure that they would not anger them.
• Viewed insanity as the worst type of illness, and usually thought it to be a punishment from a chi (personal god).