FROM WHITE BEADS TO WHITE WORDS: SYMBOLS AND LANGUAGE IN THE MARKETING OF XHOSA TRADITIONAL HEALERS

Abstract

<jats:p>Much research has been conducted on African traditional healers generally (Arden 1996; Chidester 1996; Chakanza 2006; Reeder 2011), and Xhosa diviners and herbalists specifically (Hammond-Tooke 1989; Hirst 1997, 2005), but none of this work focuses on their particular public discourse. Some researchers (Tyrrell 1976; Broster &amp; Bourn 1982) describe outward symbols and publicly knowable signs of their identity, but do not analyse the implicit meanings of these symbols. In order to reach a more nuanced understanding of how Xhosa diviners and herbalists traditionally used to market themselves to their public (how they made themselves publically known), this paper draws on information from documented investigations into diviners and herbalists in South Africa; a description of their current marketing strategies is drawn from our own research and inquiries. We argue that Xhosa herbalists and diviners are key players in negotiating the socio-cultural aspects of their respective societies, and changes in the way they communicate their services highlight a shift in the South African linguistic and symbolic landscape. Diviners and healers now use current key symbols (including English and Western symbols) with a concurrent loss of Xhosa cultural expressions and symbols, which are only retained to reference non-secular (i.e. spiritual) or organic (i.e. natural) forms of healing.</jats:p>