The Biosocial Politics of Plants and People
The Biosocial Politics of Plants and People
This chapter traces people's networks of care and kin, coupled with the healing practices that these relations engender, through their various interests in fagara within Dakar's health sectors, both formal and informal, before following the plant to Paris, France, to Cotonou, Benin, to Reims, Champagne-Ardenne, and finally back to Senegal. Despite the attention that many people give to fagara, it is important to understand that its effectiveness is contingent upon social networks that render the knowledge and care derived from this traditional plant variable. This both explains why fagara is seen to “work” in Senegal, while it also accounts for the range of less successful attempts to have the plant accepted and embraced in other parts of West Africa and beyond.
Keywords: fagara, biosocial politics, social networks, healing practices, traditional plants
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