A Short History of Herbalism and Cultural Appropriation

8/24/20

I’ve always been passionate about having a relationship with our planet and nature. For most of my life, that relationship was built through hiking, camping, biking, and general outdoor activities. A few years ago I started to explore essential oils to learn about the properties of plants that make them healing. I enjoyed what I was learning and wanted to share my experiences with others through essential oil workshops that focused more on the technical aspects of oils and how they work.

As the movement for antiracism and dismantling oppressive systems grew, I started to learn about the issues of racism, whitewashing history, and cultural appropriation in American herbalism. Thanks to amazing resources and teachers like Amanda David of Rootwork Herbal, I have committed to being a part of the solution instead of the problem. I revamping my workshops to include this context and will be more transparent about where I’m at in this process i.e. sourcing from Black herbalists and educating myself and my community on the cultural traditions of herbalism.

Below is a short summary of the history of herbalism to give context to how we go to where we are today.

A short history of herbalism

For thousands of years, people all over the planet have learned what it means to have a relationship with plants for the purpose of healing. Most of this knowledge comes from BIPOC communities (Black, indigenous, people of color). Two of the oldest types of herbalism are Ayurveda medicine, which comes from India, and Traditional Chinese Medicine, which comes from China - the oldest written record of herbs and their properties is from China 3000 BC. Greek, Egyptians, Babylonians, and Native Americans are also recognized to have ancient practices.

These practices started to spread and influence others so we do have older white traditions like in Ireland, Germany, and Italy. Western herbalism, the practice of herbal medicine in modern, English-speaking areas, is a lot newer and really became popular in the 1940s. The focus on Western was more on the scientific properties of plants and very specific medicinal extractions that can be used to alleviate specific issues. This is huge difference between lot of the BIPOC traditions and Western herbalism: most BIPOC traditions don't believe plants work that way.

Herbalism in BIPOC communities is more holistic by focusing on spiritual and mental practices as well as the physical. There’s also a great understanding of the complexity of plants and their effects on individuals. Using plants for healing is not the same as taking a pill prescribed by your doctor. Plants are one tool that you can use in a full toolbox based on your own understanding of your body’s needs. By removing this context in Western herbalism, we’ve lost a lot of these traditional understandings and practices and instead rely on multilevel marketing companies to “educate” us.

Issues with racism in the herbalism community

Today we see some of the following issues in the herbalism community in the Western world:

• Dismissal of generational and traditional cultural knowledge of BIPOC herbalists for specific "schools" of herbalism

• Cultural appropriation of many of these traditions, repackaged, then sold back to BIPOC herbalists as "certifications"

• Not recognizing the impact system racism has had on Black people in this country and activity fighting that by amplifying the voices of Black herbalists, honoring cultural traditions that are not as popular, understanding the historic disinvestment of Black communities and financial gaps between white and Black people, and calling out microaggressions, etc.

• Popular herbalist shops not actively sourcing herbs, products, etc. from BIPOC herbalists

• Image vs. substance: using photos of BIPOC herbalists to promote your community but not actually having any BIPOC people in your community

If you’re interested in learning more about how to be a better ally in the herbalism community, I highly recommend taking the Woke Without the Work workshop.