Biotraffic : Medicines and Environmental Governance in the Afterlives of Apartheid.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morris, Christopher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Botanical drug industry--South Africa--Ciskei.

Botanical drug industry.

Geraniums--Economic aspects--South Africa--Ciskei.

Geraniums.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (262 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2024.

Summary:

Biotraffic explores the complex world of biological resource trade. It takes readers inside the contemporary Ciskei region of South Africa, a once-notorious apartheid "homeland" turned extractive hub for wild medicinal plants. Drawing from in-depth ethnographic and archival research, Christopher Morris examines the region's trade in Pelargonium sidoides, a plant once contested as a tuberculosis treatment in early twentieth-century Europe and now an internationally marketed remedy for the common cold. The story of this trade links past and present, encapsulating a larger tale about colonial legacies and their intersection with global environmental governance ambitions. It also teems with a diverse cast of actors, from plant harvesters and pharmaceutical companies to activist NGOs and the chiefs who have become business partners with multinational drug firms. The book's analysis extends beyond considering merely the extraction and commercialization of plant resources and offers a critical examination of how demand for therapeutics intertwines with broader struggles over land and political power in South Africa. Biotraffic illuminates how a distance-defying trade is reshaping the sociopolitical landscape of a region--a region grappling with apartheid's afterlives and the challenges of environmental and economic justice.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Prologue: Two Weddings and a Funeral

Introduction

Interlude: "My Boy, You Are in for It" (1897)

1. Patent Problems

Interlude: A "Secret Remedy" (1901-1909)

2. A "Homeland's" Harvest

Interlude: "Mountains of Prejudice" (1909-1914)

3. On Expansional Belonging and Ethnic Capture

Interlude: "The Doom of 150,000 People" (1915-1953)

4. Waiting

Interlude: The Red List (1920-2024)

5. Royal Pharmaceuticals

Conclusion: Old Boundaries, New Extractions

Notes

References

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780520404038

0520404033

OCLC:

1453194431