by erhan

 

This content was originally printed as an article in Wort Journal Issue One (Autumn ’23). It is made available here as a community resource.

erhan writes “ultimately, this reading list is by no means definitive, and I hope that people can add to it as time goes on.” In line with these wishes, we have created a community-compiled extended reading list to complement this first one, to which you can submit your own recommendations.

To cite: erhan, ‘Radical Herbalism Reading List’ in Wort, 1 (Ceredigion, Cymru: self-published, 2023), << https://wortjournal.com/radical-herbalism-reading-list/>>

The art of herbalism is founded on the art of justice. Being a radical herbalist connects us to our ancestors, our relations, kindred spirits, health, and existence.

– Claudia Manchanda

 

In Latin, ‘rad’ means root: in this article ‘radical herbalism’ will mean addressing the root causes of ill health. It is about getting to the root of health by addressing all aspects of healing.[1] On the one hand, understanding the social, political, spiritual and environmental context that causes ill health and suffering, be it on an individual, collective or global scale. On the other hand, taking a holistic approach to healthcare by treating mind, body and spirit as part of the wider context. Ultimately, true holistic care requires our understanding as to how health is affected by capitalism and the structures of oppression it entails – how this affects everything, from the function of people’s biological systems and psycho-emotional well-being, to who has access to healthcare and the quality of the healthcare provided.

The aim of this reading list is to give some resources to support the cultivation of a holistic perspective that can help us strive towards a much needed radical herbalism. A herbalism that not only seeks to heal people, but recognises that it is essential to go beyond an anthropocentric world-view and heal and support the earth and all beings, as well as directly seeking to actively resist and challenge oppressive systems that perpetuate suffering and ill health.

 

Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.

 

– Robin Wall Kimmerer

 

These resources offer radical perspectives on a number of different topics that can contribute to realising a deeply holistic approach to healing. The list is born out of a number of conversations with people studying herbal medicine at various institutions in the ‘United Kingdom’, who feel there is a lack of discussion or literature on these topics, severely hampering a truly holistic approach to herbalism.[2] These conversations are entwined with the author’s direct experiences of some herbalists and herbal institutions facilitating a herbal culture that flits between virtue signalling and, at the same time, upholding oppressive and ‘normalising’ language/discourse/ systems that promote trans exclusion, racism, classism, and ableism, amongst many other forms of oppression. All in all, contributing more to a world dominated by Instagram handles, buzzwords and ego rather than truly holistic healthcare. This list is an attempt to correct some of this blind spot and stress that health and healthcare is political.

This reading list leans heavily towards work created by marginalised people who tend to be left off our reading lists, in turn giving us a multitude of perspectives and highlighting how politics affects health and healthcare, as the emphasis placed on particular resources rooted in privilege can obscure these political aspects. It also draws a substantial number of resources from Turtle Island because there is a huge amount of writing on radical herbalism and healthcare over there.[3] Ideally we would have a large body of work to draw on from over here, but the lack thereof became apparent as the list developed and thus the inclusion of resources specific to Turtle Island became essential. Although the context is very different, and the histories of colonial capitalism and the paths taken to begin to deconstruct this differ, it is important to remember that it grew from the same seed, and we can therefore learn from the processes occurring over there and borrow some of the tools and insights to help create a more radical herbal culture here. Ultimately, this reading list is by no means definitive, and I hope that people can add to it as time goes on.

Finally, a word on the structure. The list has been sub-divided to enable people to find texts that relate to a particular topic, but it should be noted that all these areas intersect and should not be seen in isolation.

DISCLAIMERS – I am not against biomedicine and believe that it, too, can form a crucial part in a more holistic form of care. However, for healthcare to be truly holistic, the dominance of the bio-medical model needs to be understood and challenged. Only then can it be deconstructed and reintegrated alongside radical visions of healthcare. Additionally, these resources are here to inspire and generate conversation. Some offer valuable insight on particular subjects but lack intersectionality or radicality. Inclusion does not indicate unqualified endorsement and readers are reminded to approach texts critically.

 

Key Reading

These are some of the main resources that inspired the creation of this list and helped foster ideas of what radical herbalism could look like:

 

Alternative Histories of Western Medicine

Globally there are many different approaches to healing and health, each of which have been shaped by culture, history and language. These histories go back further than any text book cares to mention. Colonialism built the medical industrial complex that predominates today through “violent means of cultural suppression, erasure and exploitation”.[6] Patriarchy enables white male physicians to dominate and define the practice of medicine, often at the cost of herbal knowledge passed down through oral traditions by women, queers and people of colour.[7] “Many cultures found themselves driven underground, their historical contributions denied, and their cultural context erased and commercialised.”[8] Moreover, many people were removed from land where they could access plant medicines and food.[9] Land removal is a deliberate policy that has resulted in disproportionate dependence on medical experts, pharmaceutical companies and state-based systems for organising care.

Furthermore, white male physicians typically use themselves as the normative standard and standard that is not universal is regularly treated as such, and the conclusions drawn from this historically used people considered disposable as research subjects.[10]

This is problematic because a standard that is not universal is regularly treated as such, and the conculsions drawn from this standard are universally applied universally in the form of biomedicine.[11] An example of this is the racial bias in pulse oximetry (a test to measure blood oxygen levels),[12] with hypoxaemia – a condition requiring urgent response – identified less frequently in those with more melanin in their skin, thus severely impacting the quality of care received within this grouping.[13] It also raises the question of whether we can trust the conclusions reached through oppressive and often violent research methodologies.

Some of these issues and alternative histories are detailed in:

 

Decolonising Medicine

According to Thirusha Naidu, biomedicine is a direct product of colonialism “because the science that underpins modern medicine emerged from Western knowledge structures based on a history of colonialism.”[15] With this in mind, it is also important to reflect on how these same knowledge structures have shaped and continue to shape modern Western herbal medicine. If we are to move towards a truly radical herbalism we need to challenge the thoughts, language, values and systems that derive from a colonial medical industrial complex that in turn shapes the way we live and impacts the kind of treatment we receive. Here are some resources on the topic:

 

Holistic Healing

Western biomedicine tends to treat the body and mind as separate entities. Biological systems are separated from each other, and people are seen as separate from the communities, landscapes and histories that shape them. People often find themselves passed between different departments in the healthcare system, or unable to access particular services without jumping through the correct hoops. The majority of which occurs within a capitalist framework where profit is put before people. Additionally, the professionalisation of healing and the way many doctors impart medical information often disempowers people and results in a greater disconnection from our own bodies.

Below are resources that work to reintegrate our understanding of body, mind and spirit, and re- frame healing as something which inherently involves community and an awareness of an interconnectedness between ourselves, the earth and the greater than human beings that inhabit it. A number of resources also try to highlight that it is impossible to truly heal without challenging the systems that oppress us – systems that are fundamentally at odds with continued life on earth:

 

Radical Herbalism in Practice

If we are going to talk about addressing the root causes of ill health, and treating people as part of a whole, then the way we practice herbalism is crucial. Truly holistic healing requires us to change the culture around healing – empowering people’s knowledge of health and themselves, making access to health care logistically, culturally and financially possible, and making health and healing a community rather than an individual issue. Below are some resources that could help move us in that direction: