Conclusion

This chapter has offered an approach to the study of the relationship between social organization and the allocation of resources, and to their impact on health in the context of ngoma-type healing. Social reproduction theory, as put forward by Meillassoux, Bourdieu, Murray, and Frankel offers tools for a more rigorous analysis of the manner in which society itself structures the resources of health.

Unfortunately, very little research has been conducted to actually test propositions about the efficacy of ngoma-type therapy in terms of measurable health indicators. In the cases we have reviewed here, only the work by Anita Spring and Veronique Goblet-Vanormelingen on fertility-enhancing rituals of the Southern Savanna approaches the question in such a way as to offer clear comparative results. Ngoma structured care and isolation from the stresses of household duty appear to make a difference in survival of at-risk pregnancies.

A retrospective hypothesis for the controlled study of health as social reproduction would need to provide the following minimal information. What is the nature and extent of social support and its allocation to health-related arenas in the household, the extra-household networks, and society at large? Are there measurable differential effects upon survival of at-risk segments of society or the improvement of perceived health?