Afro-indigenous Approaches to Pandemic Control and the Struggle for Decoloniality in Africa

Titelangaben

Iwuoha, Victor:
Afro-indigenous Approaches to Pandemic Control and the Struggle for Decoloniality in Africa.
In: Society. Bd. 61 (2024) Heft 5 . - S. 516-533.
ISSN 1936-4725
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-024-01032-1

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Abstract

Should African countries be dependent on imported pandemic policies that are unworkable at the local level? This study delves into the under-researched contradictions in the adoption of foreign pandemic protocols and African peoples’ alternative reliance on Afro-indigenous approaches to pandemic control. The study interrogates imported pandemic control regimes such as free movement restrictions, lockdowns, crowdpolicing, and social distancing policies, and their applicability in Africa. From insights on the COVID-19 real-life experiences, this study challenges Western pandemic measures adopted by African governments for being locally insensitive to the African environment and for perpetuating vaccine inequity. The study rejects Afro-pessimist pandemic narratives and highlights the growing reliance on Afro-indigenous approaches to pandemic control, including the use of traditional/herbal medicines. A mix of global and local alternatives, or pandemic “glocalization,” with rich contents of Africa’s scientific and local knowledge-based contributions, is imperative for pandemic decoloniality and freedom.