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Vol. 15 No. 1 (2011): African Sociological Review

7 - Ambiguities in the making of an African Medicine: clinical trials of Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R.Br 1(Lessertia frutescens).

https://doi.org/10.57054/asr.v15i1.3877
Diana Gibson
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6846-603X

African Sociological Review, Vol. 15 No. 1 (2011): African Sociological Review

Abstract

This paper attends to the large and heterogenous array of people and things that come togetherin the making of a medicinal plant, Sutherlandia frutescens (lessertia frutescens) as an Af- rican medicine through clinical trials. it is a messy, contested and ambiguous process and is constantly being revised and is always open to surprises and the possibility of failure. i use Sutherlandia to introduce some of the issues that complicate the landscapes of knowledge in South Africa in relation to phytomedicines and pharmaceuticals.

Keywords

Sutherlandia frutescens trials knowledge plant medicine
Diana Gibson. (2011). 7 - Ambiguities in the making of an African Medicine: clinical trials of Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R.Br 1(Lessertia frutescens). African Sociological Review, 15(1), 124–137. https://doi.org/10.57054/asr.v15i1.3877
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Author Biography

Diana Gibson

Research in Anthropology and Sociology of Health (RASH) Department of Anthropology and Sociology,
University of the Western Cape, Cape Town E-mail: dgibson@uwc.ac.za

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