Change and Continuity in Konkomba Medical Culture: A Historical Perspective of an Indigenous People in Northern Ghana

Abstract

Medicine (n-nyork) has been one of meaning laden words faced by scholars. This subject has attracted much attention from scholars, but the social aspect of health tied to people’s medical culture has been neglected. The paper examines the reasons and the context within which the medical culture of the Konkomba ensured social equilibrium and well-being. It further examines key medicines and healers that constituted the corpus of the Konkomba health system. Information was sourced from oral interviews, archival and secondary sources. The work focuses on the historiography of indigenous medicine in Ghana, in particular, and Africa in general. In conclusion, it analyses the impact of the Western understanding of medicine indicating that n-nyork (medicine) and ngbanpuan (health) were more holistic within the Konkomba conceptualisation. In that sense, the adoption and non-adaptation of the western view of health has led to more undesirable health situation in the twentieth century. That notwithstanding, the medical culture of the Konkomba still constitute an integral aspect of their medication.