Julie Laplante’s Healing Roots: Anthropology in Life and Medicine is available for review.

“Umhlonyane, also known as Artemisia afra, is one of the oldest and best-documented indigenous medicines in South Africa. This bush, which grows wild throughout the sub-Saharan region, smells and tastes like “medicine,” thus easily making its way into people’s lives and becoming the choice of everyday healing for Xhosa healer-diviners and Rastafarian herbalists. This “natural” remedy has recently sparked curiosity as scientists search for new molecules against a tuberculosis pandemic while hoping to recognize indigenous medicine. Laplante follows umhlonyane on its trails and trials of becoming a biopharmaceutical — from the “open air” to controlled environments — learning from the plant and from the people who use it with hopes in healing.” http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=LaplanteHealing

Those with interest and expertise in this area and who would like to contribute a review on the title to The Reading Room are invited to contact the editor [columba.quigley@btinternet.com] for further details.