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212 Conclusion
It is the history of this uphill battle, before and on the tails of the
CBD, that I have sought to unearth. If we still have hope in the future of
African science and traditional medicine, which I do, then there are some
obvious concerns. Africanization of bioprospecting at national universi-
ties and research institutes requires critical levels of capital investment,
as well as capacity building. The cases in this book show how scientists
based in Ghana or the Republic of Congo relied on colleagues in North
America or how scientists based in Madagascar negotiated contracts with
French parties. The key issue here is to fi nd ways for such collaboration to
be in the interests of African scientists and to identify channels for fund-
ing within Africa. Frequently, researchers at African universities confessed
that they did not receive promised goods from their foreign partners.
Further, the cases in this book have shown how a national approach
to controlling plant access must acknowledge the multiplicity of priority
in drug discovery. The wide distribution of healing plants and extensive
rec ords on their uses complicates claims to national sovereignty over
herbal remedies. One response to this paradox might be to derail the
use of patents in plant drug discovery. African scientists (as well as their
Asian or Latin American counterparts) continue to seek exclusive rights
to pharmaceuticals through international patents. Policy must recognize
the proliferation of claims to priority among scientists and communities,
including patents in the global innovations arms race. As one African
scientist explained to me, “If we do not claim our own knowledge and
fi le patents, who will?”
15
Frequently, government offi cials in African countries wanted to
know the policy implications of my research and the comparative fi nd-
ings elsewhere. Economic stress has led academics in African countries to
frequently apply their scholarship through consultancies with nongov-
ernmental organizations (NGOs) and government bodies. When health
concerns are omnipresent, and economic insecurity common, it seems
myopic and unethical to conduct histories of medicine and science with-
out any societal value.
For instance, an environmental activist in Ghana presented me with
the story of an oil- bearing plant that he believed to be fi rst used in a par-
tic u lar area. In his estimation, a foreign company had learned of its value
through a Ghanaian cocoa buyer who traveled frequently to the town.
The activist asked if the company owed money to the town. The com-
pany had presented the cocoa buyer with a car, apparently to thank him
for the information, but it was now in disrepair. Turning to my analyti-
cal framework, I wondered who was fi rst to identify the oil in the plant,
was this knowledge limited to a single ethnic group, how did companies
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Conclusion 213
extract and modify the oil, and who ought to benefi t. It turned out that
colonial rec ords suggested the plant was used across West Africa and had
been relocated to German test gardens in what was then Tanganyika.
Beyond the geographic dispersal of the plant, scientists in Eu rope and
Africa had long appropriated the uses of the plant, leaving a string of
patents, publications, and NGO consultancies in their wake. We visited
the area where people were growing the plant for export, which turned
out to be a cosmopolitan mix of families from across Ghana, complicat-
ing any ethnic- based claims. The company provided glossy descriptions
of how cultivation of the plant was helping farmers across Africa. At the
Kew Herbarium, I saw posters on the wall describing the potential of this
plant. Yet, the question remained how to actually share real profi ts across
a spectrum of communities and countries. My contact emphasized the
need to press the foreign company to provide better compensation to his
town, besides any efforts to extend wealth to farmers growing the plant
in East Africa. Another possibility might be to encourage Ghanaian sci-
entists to conduct further research and fi le patents, the nationalist ap-
proach that African universities still struggle to assert in their fi ght to
control biological resources. Indeed, young people in the town told me
how they were training to be science teachers and sought better access to
technology to create their own products.
I hope that this book has demonstrated how highly personal experi-
ences can interface with timely policy questions about rights to infor-
mation and mechanisms for sharing wealth. For me this search began
in Akuapem, near my father’s hometown, in eve ning chats with rela-
tives who used medicinal plants to combat infant and maternal mortality.
Some of the healers assumed I wanted to document their practice closely,
and they showed me leaves and recipes for me to record. I looked up let-
ters of early missionaries and colonial authorities to the area, hoping
to show how traditional medicine interfaced with religious and state
regulations. I theorized that in Ghana, a discourse of toxicity shaped
how colonial and postcolonial scientists and politicians gained control
over medicinal plants. But then, when I traveled to other places I found
that the narrative of toxicity was not universal. Instead, I realized that
what interested me most was how widespread “local” knowledge really
was. I wanted to know how the recipes people shared with me mutated
into laboratory experiments and patent applications. I was curious about
how people at different socioeconomic levels had sought control over
medicinal plant medication in a bid for survival.
The parallel stories from different settings— Ghana, Madagascar,
South Africa, Cameroon, and the Republic of Congo— remind us that
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214 Conclusion
traditional medicine is at times widely distributed across societies and at
other times esoteric and highly guarded. The stories show us that botani-
cal knowledge has crossed borders through colonial maneuverings, and
that nationalist regimes are desperate to secure data for their own uses.
The different stories I have told indicate that it may be almost impossible
to prove who discovered something, even as we validate patents, and even
harder to prove who owns traditional knowledge, even as we seek to
provide profi ts more broadly. It is my hope that these cases will provide
fodder for further research and debate as the search for healing plants
continues into the future.
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215
AC KNOW LEDG MENTS
Many people contributed to the research that led to this book. Above all,
I thank the many individuals in Ghana, South Africa, and Madagascar
who allowed me to spend time speaking with them about our shared
interests in plant medicine. Most wished to be remembered by their real
names, which appear in the list of of Persons Consulted at the back of
this book.
This project began with a conversation I had with the late Ghanaian
physician Oku Ampofo in Ghana in August 1997. I am grateful to my
fi rst African history professor at Harvard University, the late Leroy Vail,
who made invaluable comments on my initial attempt at a biographical
essay on Ampofo, and to Fiona Hill, the undergraduate fellowships advi-
sor in Cabot Hall who helped me write a successful Fulbright proposal to
learn more. When I returned to Harvard, Mario Biagioli introduced me
to debates around intellectual property rights, providing me with wel-
come inspiration. I thank my mentors for their support and encourage-
ment as I traveled much uncharted territory to synthesize one of the fi rst
studies of the history of science in postcolonial Africa. Allan M. Brandt
and Bridie Andrews expertly guided me through the history of medicine
literature, while Emmanuel Akyeampong and Anthony Appiah taught
me to better appreciate the nuances of Ghanaian history, culture, and
philosophy.
I fi rst described my plans to expand my earlier work to consider other
cases from around Africa to the fellowships committee of the Harvard
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216 Ac know ledg ments
Academy for International and Area Studies. It is fortunate that they be-
lieved in me, and I thank the director Jorge I. Dominguez for his mentor-
ship and support during my two- year fellowship there. I benefi ted greatly
from interactions with se nior scholars Robert Bates and Roger Owens as
well as with ju nior scholars, including Lisa Blaydes, Rebecca Hardin,
Nahomi Ichino, Devra Coren Moehler, Harris Mylonas, Suresh Naidu,
and Jun Uchida. I thank Emmanuel Akyeampong, Rosemary Coombe,
Calestous Juma, Randall Packard, Charles Rosenberg, John Swann, and
Larry Winnie for participating in an early review of my draft manuscript
at the Academy.
I also thank colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, for
providing me with my fi rst academic appointment and a lovely offi ce
in which to think and write. I appreciated David Hollinger’s willing-
ness to craft a space for me in both African History and the History of
Science. My book is stronger given the conversations I have had with
those in the history department who share my interest in Africana stud-
ies, science, medicine, and education, including Mark Brilliant, Cathryn
Carson, Thomas Dandelet, Tabitha Kanogo, Thomas Laqueur, Jack Lesch,
Waldo Martin, Maria Mavroudi, Massimo Mazzotti, Michael Nylan, Mark
Petersen, Tyler Stovall, and Wen- hsin Yeh.
I thank colleagues in the Bay Area for their warm welcome into com-
munities of science studies scholars and historians of medicine. At the
University of California, San Francisco, I have learned much from Brian
Dolan, Dorothy Porter, and Elizabeth Watkins, and their students who
made the journey across the Bay to my seminar on the world history of
drugs. At Berkeley, the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and So-
ciety stretched me to consider themes in environmental studies, gender,
and law. I especially thank Cori Hayden, Alastair Iles, Charis Thompson,
and David Winickoff for their helpful suggestions on my work. Jenna
Burrell shares my passion for science and culture in Ghana. I also thank
Gilian Hart, Denise Herd, Daniel Hoffman, Amy Kapczynski, Carolyn
Merchant, Hélène Mialet, Nancy Peluso, Paul Rabinow, Angelica Stacy,
Kim TallBear, and Michael Wintroub for their encouragement.
As a transplant to California, I have appreciated the warmth and hos-
pitality of colleagues who share my interest in Africa and the Diaspora.
My thanks to Kwame Braun, Lane Clark, Catherine Cole, Mariane Ferme,
Trevor Getz, Amma Ghartey- Tagoe Kootin, Percy Hintzen, Allyson Hobbs,
Stephan Miescher, Mahasin Mujahid, Ugo Nwokeji, Leigh Raiford, and
many others for providing intellectual community.
This project depended on generous support from the Institute of
International Education the Fulbright Foundation, the Ford Foundation,
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Ac know ledg ments 217
and the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology. At
Harvard, I received grants from the Radcliffe Institute, Sheldon Travel-
ing Fund, Weatherhead Center for International and Area Studies, and
Jennifer Cole Fund of the Center for African Studies. Further funding to
travel to the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Madagascar came from
F. Warren Hellman through a fellowship for ju nior faculty at Berkeley.
I have conducted interviews in Ghana since 1997 and incurred in-
numerable debts. I especially thank Osofo K. Quarm of the Ghana Eth-
nomedical Foundation, Daniel Acquaye of Agribusiness in Sustainable
Development in African Plant Products, and Kofi Adusei and Peter Arhin
of the Ministry of Health for providing a wealth of experience and access
to research reports and contacts. I thank the staff at the Ghana Public
Rec ords and Archives Administration offi ces, for their tireless efforts
to help me unearth archival evidence. My gratitude goes to Solomon
Ansah, Gustav Komalga, Ralph Kuagbenu, and Barbara Wulff for their as-
sistance translating interviews. A number of scientists provided me with
important insights and documents. I thank K. Francis Oppong- Boachie
and Archibald Sittie, successive directors of the Center for Scientifi c Re-
search into Plant Medicine; Ivan Addae- Mensah, chemist and former
vice- chancellor at the University of Ghana; and David Ofori- Adjei, for-
mer director of the Noguchi Memorial Medical Research Institute. My
thanks goes as well to Anthony Normeshie and other leaders of the
Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine.
The research in South Africa would not have been possible without
the support of Vinesh Maharaj, Tshidi Moroka, Sibusiso Sibisi, and their
colleagues at the Council for Scientifi c and Industrial Research in Pre-
toria. I also thank Shurnell Andersson, Thembelihle Malatji, and Jade
Sasser for their assistance coordinating visits to Johannesburg and Cape
Town. I am grateful to Sonya Anderson for the opportunity to share my
research at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.
In Madagascar, I thank Jean Joseph Andriamanalintsoa, Lucie Rako-
tomalala, Hélène Ralimanana, and Isabelle Ramonta for their advice and
support. For their assistance with coordinating interviews, I thank Chris-
topher Golden, Elvie Razanami, and Charles Donné Zafi dahy.
My appreciation goes to Craig Brough, Stuart Cable, Michele Losse,
and their colleagues at the Herbarium, Library, and Archives of the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew in the United Kingdom. I thank generous staff at
the Public Record Offi ce, Commonwealth Library at Oxford, Archives of
the School of Oriental and African Studies, Wellcome Trust Library and
Archives, London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and Mu-
seum of Natural History Archives. Patricia Kervick at the Archives of the
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218 Ac know ledg ments
Peabody Museum and staff at the Economic Botany Library at Harvard
were extremely helpful. I am grateful to the staff of the Interlibrary Loan
Ser vices at Berkeley.
Many people offered their thoughts at early pre sen ta tions I gave on
my research. For the opportunity to participate in formative conferences
at the University of Edinburgh, Wellcome Institute in London, Bryn Mawr
College, and Yale Law School, I thank Lawrence Dristas, Hal Cook, Paula
Viterbo, and Ethan Katz, respectively. Jean Allman, Warwick Anderson,
David Barnes, Adam Biggs, Daniela Bleichmar, Stephen Casper, Pratik
Chakrabarti, Steven Feierman, Duana Fullwiley, Tamara Giles- Vernick,
Evelyn Hammonds, Kenji Ito, Sheila Jasanoff, Dennis Laumann, Julie Liv-
ingstone, Gregg Mitman, Alondra Nelson, Naomi Rogers, Londa Schiebin-
ger, Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Abha Sur, Helen Tilley, Eric Worby, and many
others provided important feedback at annual meetings of the African
Studies Association, American Association for the History of Medicine,
History of Science Society, and Society for the Social Studies of Science.
Since our early days at Harvard, I have benefi ted tremendously from
conversations with Jimena Canales, Deborah Coen, Barrington Edwards,
Jason Glenn, Jeremy Greene, Orit Halpern, David S. Jones, Nicholas King,
Deborah Levine, Daniel Margocsy, John Mathew, Mara Mills, Sharrona
Pearl, Alisha Rankin, Hanna Shell, Elly Truitt, and many others.
The material in chapter 3 fi rst appeared in the journal Social History of
Medicine published by Oxford University Press in 2008 as “Bioprospect-
ing and Resistance: Transforming Poisoned Arrows into Strophanthin
Pills in Colonial Gold Coast, 1885–1922,” vol. 21, no. 2, pages 269–290.
I wish to thank my editor at the University of Chicago Press, Karen
Merikangas Darling, for her early support of this project. Audra Wolfe
provided invaluable feedback. Kevin Koy and Mark O’Connor at Berke-
ley’s Geospatial Facility prepared the wonderful maps. At Harvard and
Berkeley, I enjoyed working with student assistants to compile the geo-
graphic data, including Erica Lee, Diana Gergel, Jonathan Cole, Will
Moine, Anouska Bhattacharyya, and Coral Martin. I thank Deborah Kerlo-
gen, Ellen Thompson, Kathleen Hoover, and Clare Putnam for their ad-
ministrative support at Berkeley and Harvard.
For their warm hospitality in Ghana over the years, my gratitude
goes to Elizabeth Ohene and George Ofosu- Amaah and their families,
Gloria Mensah, Agnes and Afua Ampofo, Timothy and Emily Barnes,
Albert and Dora Barnafo, Barbara Baeta, Laura McGough, Olaf Kula, and
Akosua Perbi. During our forays from Osu to Adukrom, I have gained
so much from my friendships with Henrietta Asare, Sandra Ahwireng,
and Ato Wilburforce. Riley Bove, Naunihal Singh, Kwame Zulu Shab-
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Ac know ledg ments 219
baz, Warigia Bowman, Dorinna Bekoe, Jonathan Roberts, Glenn Adams,
Maame Ewusi- Mensah, Ijeoma Ikoku, Tammy Brown, Mark Ardayfi o, Kofi
Anku, Regine Jean- Charles, Aba Cecile McHardy, and Chris Wheat moved
between Africa and North America with me. In London, I am forever
beholden to Alice Peters. My friends Solita Alexander, Christine Folch,
Anne Charity Hudley, and Meriel Baines Tulante, have all helped see this
project through.
My brother and sister, Dk and Masi, share my soul. My cousins, Ernest
and Sam, have kept me honest as they made their way between Ghana
and Pennsylvania. My parents, Fran and Kwadwo, have always given
me the resources to reach my potential. My husband, Koranteng Ofosu-
Amaah, weathered my frequent trips abroad and kept me digitally aware
and conversationally sated from the beginning to end of this project.
Our children Danso and Kumiwah encourage us to sustain our healing
plants for the coming generations.
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221
PERSONS CONSULTED
Regarding Plant Medicine in Ghana
Abaitey, Alfred. Pharmacologist, Pharmacology Department, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, April 3, 2003.
Abbiw, Daniel K. Ethnobotanist, University of Ghana Herbarium, Legon, October
3, 2002.
Acquaye, Daniel. Director, Agribusiness in Sustainable Development in African
Plant Products, Accra, October 15, 2002, and July 2004.
Addae- Mensah, Ivan. Former Vice- Chancellor, Biochemist, Department of Chemistry,
University of Ghana, Legon, 2002– 2003.
Addy, Marian Ewurama. Biochemist, Biochemistry Department, University of
Ghana, Legon, August 21, 2002.
Adika, Togbi. Herbalist, Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine, Accra, August
2002.
Adusei, Kofi . Former director, Traditional and Alternative Medicine, Ministry of
Health, Accra, August 13, 2002.
Agyewaa, Akosua. Food seller, market, Kwabenya, July 29, 2009.
Akajah, Sylvester. Herbalist, Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine, August 2002.
Akotoye, Hugh Komra. Chemist, Chemistry Department, University of Cape Coast,
February 5, 2003.
Ameryaw, Yaw. Chemist, Chemistry Department, University of Cape Coast, 2003.
Ampofo, Oku. Physician, cofound er Center for Scientifi c and Industrial Research,
Mampong, Akuapem, August 21, 1997, and September 4, 1997.
Armah, Chief and Family. Royal Compound, near Asankrangwa- Enchi Road,
August 2009.
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