Ubugqirha: healing beyond the Western gaze

Abstract

This article explores what African languages teach us  about the concept of healing using the Xhosa language (isiXhosa) of South Africa as a model. From an African  perspective, the names used to label the environment and phenomena guide us on how we should perceive  them. For example, in isiXhosa, a healer is called  ugqirha, which means they personify ubugqi (the  power to perform unexplainable deeds); the concept  will be explored to illustrate the ethic behind the  sacredness with which healing knowledge is treated. A  healer, therefore, embodies the ability to act beyond  comprehension. This brings the ethos of Western  pedagogy into question. If, through language, we learn  that a phenomenon such as healing is beyond  comprehension, how then should healing be part of the  curriculum? The article concludes that sacred  knowledges should be handled ethically and that the  ethics of dissemination of sacred knowledge such as  ubugqirha are often embedded in their naming.