Ankh, Ujda, Seneb (Life, Strength, Health): “Let Food Be Thy Medicine,” An Epistemic Examination on the Genealogy of the Africana Holistic Health Tradition, with Preliminary Considerations in the City of Philadelphia, 1967 to the Present

Abstract

The utilization of natural elements of the earth to remedy corporeal maladies dates back to the medical systems of ancient Nile Valley culture. Given the continuity and intergenerational transmission of knowledge evident in African expressions of culture, these olden naturalistic health techniques, throughout time, have continuously been used as therapeutic modalities by posterior African cultures—both continental and Diasporic. Due to its tripartite approach to healing—of mind, body and spirit— this age-old African healing tradition has gained popularity in contemporary times and is commonly known today as the locution: holistic health. The principal objective of this intellectual project is to reveal an unbroken genealogy of a thriving Africana holistic health tradition upheld by both advocates and practitioners in the field. Notwithstanding the current state of health of Africans residing in the United States, the praxis of these ancient healing customs is extant within communities which the population is predominately African. Through considering the publication of How to Eat to Live in 1967, this study articulates a resurgence among contemporary African healers of an olden healing tradition once customary on the banks of the Nile. The proposed outlook of this work to highlight the various means of alternative health available by and for African descendants that ultimately serves as a catalyst to take matters of health into our own hands.