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Allied J Med Res 2017
Volume 1 Issue 2
Herbal Medicine 2017
September 01-02, 2017 London, UK
3
rd
International Conference and Expo on
Herbal & Alternative Medicine
Page 52
Reclaiming indigenous healing legacies
Karen Rose
Sacred Vibes Apothecary, Brooklyn New York
T
he work of partnering with community members and
healers to co-create and reimagine syncretic models
of care, which adapt the ritualistic modes of healing from
home countries, and respond to the differing cultural
practices; Reclaiming Indigenous Healing Practices. In
2017, immigration and access to healthcare are two of the
biggest challenges we’ll face as a people. Often families
migrate to new lands and abandon ancestral medicines
to assimilate. In this process, accessibility to traditional
plant medicines, community healers, and support is lost.
Surviving the Western medical industrial complex has
proven challenging to many immigrant families. Distrust of
medical practitioners, lack of cultural competency among
practitioners, and poor cross-cultural communication
contribute to the difficulty immigrants face navigating
healthcare systems. Practitioners often use language that
disenfranchises patients seeking care. Many indigenous
healing traditions have been shared orally; a system of
knowledge-sharing devalued in the West. Additionally,
many Western practitioners have colonized many of
our traditions and exploited indigenous resources and
modalities, yet are often unwilling to engage in a reciprocal
knowledge exchange with immigrant practitioners. This
devaluation and appropriation of immigrants’ traditional
practices result in further marginalization. Many immigrant
grandmothers who provide their family and communities
with life-saving ancestral medicine. These medicine
holders are also the artists of their community: facilitating
ritual, storytelling, healing songs, and laying of hands
to maintain their community’s health, in mind, body and
spirit. They hold the wisdom from their home countries,
where many practiced as midwives, spiritual healers, and
medicine women.
sacredvibeshealing@gmail.comAllied J Med Res 2017