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A Triad of Perspect; A Spectrum of Truth

A Triad of Perspect; A Spectrum of Truth

The Durban University of Technology and the Faculty of Health Sciences
invites you to the first in a series of public lectures entitled:

A Triad of Perspect; A Spectrum of Truth
A trans-paradigmatic exploration of Umqalothi [Strychnos henningsii] By Dr Ashley Ross
Head of Department: Homoeopathy

Venue: The Faculty of Health Science Anatomy Lecture Venue, Gate No. 8,
Steve Biko Road, Mansfield Site Area, Ritson Campus
Date: 7 March 2012
Time: 13h00

RSVP: by 6 March 2012 to Siya at siyathuthukam@dut.ac.za

Dr Ashley Ross is a Senior Lecturer and Head of Department of Homoeopathy at DUT. In addition to teaching, Dr Ross is in private practice and engages in clinical and research supervision. This lecture arises from a particular interest in homoeopathic provings, and describes Dr Ross’ recent research that investigated the relationship of proving methodology to the scientific and traditional African understandings of medicinal plants.

Dr Ross has delivered lectures and seminars in South Africa, India and the UK, is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Complementary Medicine in Clinical Practice Journal, and was recently appointed to lead the Committee on Provings of the International League of Homoeopathic Physicians (LMHI). In addition to his having presented numerous papers, and chaired a scientific session at a number of LMHI Congresses, Dr Ross has been th invited to be a keynote speaker at the 67 LMHI Congress to be held in Nara, Japan in September 2012. He is a member of the National Board of the Homoeopathic Association of South Africa, the representative for Homoeopathy on the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA), and both Vice-Chairperson of the AHPCSA and Chairperson of its Education Committee. View the full invitation.

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A Triad of Perspect; A Spectrum of Truth

The head of the department of Homeopathy at the Durban University of Technology, Dr Ashley Ross recently delivered the first of a series of Faculty of Health Sciences public lectures on the Ritson Campus, entitled “A Triad of Perspect; A Spectrum of Truth”. The lecture arose from a particular interest in homeopathic proving, and describes Dr Ross’ recent doctoral research investigating the relationship of homoeopathic proving methodology to the scientific and traditional African understandings of medicinal plants.

Dr Ross’ research is a fascinating exploration of both traditional and scientific uses of umqalothi (Strychnos henningsii). He describes that umqalothi is traditionally used in the treatment of headaches, abdominal pain, cramps, snake bites and a range of other disease conditions. Traditional healers have also found the plant to be effective in healing umeqo (when evil and misfortune follow an individual due to their having been bewitched) as an essential muthi during ukwethwasa (the sangoma initiation rite) and in the treatment of symptoms associated with HIV.

Dr Ross’ work in homoeopathy, and his previous work with a traditional healer suggested a connection between the information arising from a homeopathic understanding and the understanding held within African traditional medicine. To find out more about the traditional understanding of umqalothi, Dr Ross embarked on a journey to Melmoth, Weenen, Harding and Durban where he interviewed eight traditional healers on such aspects as how traditional medicines are identified, tested and prepared and how they identified the need for the muthi in patients. He was interested to learn that the bitterness of the medicine was linked to its effectiveness – a direct link to strychnine, a toxic chemical known to be in the bark.

As other components of his research, Dr Ross conducted a chemical analysis of the plant in order to explain its effects in terms of chemistry and pharmacology, and also approached 32 subjects to test for the subjective and objective effects of consuming umqalothi as a homoeopathic medicine. There were a broad range of effects that were consistent and related across the three medical systems. Dr Ross’ lecture made these relationships fascinatingly clear.

In light of the overlaps, Dr Ross argues that proving methodology bridges the gap between traditional healers and ‘scientific medicine’. “I would like to see more collaborative research with traditional healers. We need to cross paradigms and start understanding each other’s views and methods. We can no longer afford to sit in our little boxes, believing our own version of ‘the truth’”

Pictured:
Back row (L-R): Delysia Timm; Professor Gerhard Prinsloo; Dr Corne Hall, Dr David Naude
Front row (L-R): Professor Joan Conolly; Dr Ashley Ross, Ulrike Striebich (from Heel Biologische Heilmittel, Baden-Baden, Germany); Dr Madhu Maharaj

–Naledi Hlefane

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