Not in my hospital: Karimojong indigenous healing and biomedicine

This article presents data collected over 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork in 2006–2007 on the interactions between users of Karimojong indigenous medicine and biomedicine. The Karimojong agropastoralists live in northeast Uganda and rely on local healers to treat illness, bless pending cattle raids, and maintain the spiritual health of communities. Indigenous practice has incorporated various biomedical insights, but the Western-based health sector has not as readily welcomed Karimojong local healing as a viable therapeutic strategy forcing some healers to covertly work in hospitals and clinics. Their work underscores their importance to community well-being and as advocates of holistic healthcare; without them, biomedical health centers will not fully answer to the patients' needs.