Muti
Encyclopedia
Muti is a term for traditional medicine
Traditional medicine
Traditional medicine comprises unscientific knowledge systems that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine...

 in Southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...

 as far north as Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second deepest, after Lake Baikal in Siberia; it is also the world's longest freshwater lake...

. The word muti is derived from the Zulu
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...

 word for tree, of which the root is -thi. In Southern Africa, the word muti is in widespread use in most indigenous African languages, as well as in South African English
South African English
The term South African English is applied to the first-language dialects of English spoken by South Africans, with the L1 English variety spoken by Zimbabweans, Zambians and Namibians, being recognised as offshoots.There is some social and regional variation within South African English...

 and Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

 where it is sometimes used as a slang word for medicine in general.

Traditional medicine

African Traditional medicine
Traditional medicine
Traditional medicine comprises unscientific knowledge systems that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine...

 makes use of various natural products, many derived from trees and other plants. Botanical medicine prescribed by an inyanga
Inyanga
Inyanga is a Zulu word for a traditional herbal healer.An inyanga is a traditional South African herbalist, herb doctor, or medicine man or woman. The Southern African word inyanga is related to the Central African nganga, meaning a priest and medicine man...

 or herbal healer is generally known as muti, but the term muti also applies to other traditional medical formulations, including those that are zoological or mineral in composition.

Linguistics

This noun is of the umu / imi class, consequently the singular (tree) is rendered Umuthi and plural (trees) is Imithi. Since the pronunciation of the initial vowel of this umu / imi class of Zulu noun, is unstressed, the singular Umuthi is sometimes heard as 'Muthi'. The word is rendered as muti due to the historical effects of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

 spelling.

Colloquial use

In colloquial English and Afrikaans the word muti is often used to refer to medicines in general or medicines that have a 'miraculous' effect, e.g.
  • "Die dokter het 'muti' op die seerplek gesmeer en die volgende dag was dit heeltemal gesond." (The doctor rubbed 'muti' on the wound and the next day it was completely healed.)

  • "My dokter het vir my 'muti' verskaf vir my seer keel." ("My doctor gave me some 'muti' for my sore throat.")

"Muti killings"

Occasions of murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

 and mutilation
Mutilation
Mutilation or maiming is an act of physical injury that degrades the appearance or function of any living body, usually without causing death.- Usage :...

 associated with some traditional cultural
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

 practices, in Southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...

 are also termed Muti killings. Muti killings, more correctly known as medicine murder
Medicine murder
A Medicine murder is the killing of a human being in order to excise body parts to use as medicine. It is not human sacrifice in a religious sense because the motivation is not the death of human, but the creation of an item or items from their corpus for use in traditional healing...

, are not human sacrifice
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...

 in a religious sense, but rather involve the murder of someone in order to excise body parts
Body Parts
Body Parts may refer to:* Body Parts , starring Paul Ben-Victor and Kim Delaney* "Body Parts" , a 1996 episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine...

 for incorporation as ingredients into medicine and concoctions used in witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

.

In 2010 Muti (also known as Muthi) killings are on the rise in South Africa. Some South Africans, especially in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces, believe that the harvested body parts of children or old people will assist in them becoming rich and powerful.

"Deputy Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service, William Mpembe said...muthi murders, particularly those involving young children, seem to be on the rise in the Tshwane areas including Soshanguve, Garankua and Rietgat." - Sowetan Newspaper. 22 February 2010.

This from news24.com: "Congress of SA Students (Cosas) Soshanguve leader, Thabo Nsako, urged traditional healers at the seminar to "stop killing children for muti. "Your duty is to protect us, not to kill us. Ancestors can never [tell] you to kill people." He said Western countries saw the practice as witchcraft and wanted nothing to do with it because of practices such as muti-killings."It is your fault," he told the healers. Nduku defended traditional healers, saying they had nothing to do with killing humans or using their body parts for healing."

See also

  • Medicine murder
    Medicine murder
    A Medicine murder is the killing of a human being in order to excise body parts to use as medicine. It is not human sacrifice in a religious sense because the motivation is not the death of human, but the creation of an item or items from their corpus for use in traditional healing...

  • Sangoma
    Sangoma
    A sangoma is a practitioner of herbal medicine, divination and counselling in traditional Nguni societies of Southern Africa .The philosophy is based on a belief in ancestral spirits...

  • Inyanga
    Inyanga
    Inyanga is a Zulu word for a traditional herbal healer.An inyanga is a traditional South African herbalist, herb doctor, or medicine man or woman. The Southern African word inyanga is related to the Central African nganga, meaning a priest and medicine man...

  • Traditional medicine
    Traditional medicine
    Traditional medicine comprises unscientific knowledge systems that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine...

  • Death of Masego Kgomo
    Death of Masego Kgomo
    On December 31, 2009, in South Africa, 11-year-old Masego Kgomo was murdered in order to sell some of her body parts to a Sangoma . Five people have been charged with her kidnapping and murder. Her father is a pastor at the St Michael's Apostolic Church in Soshanguve...


External links

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