Dr. Anna Waldstein, a founding member of GSEJ, is to give a staff seminar on 7 November. This is an in-person only event. All are welcome.
Time: Thursday 7 Nov at 4.15pm
Venue: CESR2
Speaker: Dr. Anna Waldstein
Title: The Biopolitics of Rastafari Healing: Health Sovereignty for a Hostile Environment
Abstract:
Through racist policies rooted in colonialism, the United Kingdom has created a ‘hostile environment’ for immigrants, which has had particularly distressing impacts on the African Caribbean diaspora. Health sovereignty (i.e., the assertion of rights to culturally and ecologically appropriate medicines and the ability of communities to structure their own health care) is an important biopolitical goal of the Rastafari movement. This paper examines how health sovereignty is enacted by Rastafari herbalists in south London and the contributions these healers make to health in the UK, particularly that of disenfranchised migrants. Using ethnographic data that were collected with the guidance of a Rastafari research assistant, I will show how herbal medicines (e.g., bitters, roots tonics and cannabis) are used by healers and their clientele to achieve key political and spiritual aims of the movement, as well as personal healing.