TRADITIONAL MEDICINE OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS: THE WOMEN, THE PLANTS, THE TREATMENTS By Irene J. Taafaki, Maria Kabua Fowler & Randolph R. Thaman

PROF. WILLIAM AALBERSBERG
This lavishly illustrated and beautifully presented book is the result of a collaboration between nine expert Marshallese healers, members of clans who possess their own special medicines, and numerous others familiar with folk or general remedies, facilitated by the University of the South Pacific.

As in most countries in the Pacific, traditional knowledge of the Marshallese—including traditional medicinal knowledge—has often been considered a secret, taught only to carefully selected people and passed on by word of mouth.

But the impact of the outside world on the countries of the Pacific threatens the preservation of such knowledge and puts at risk the biodiversity on which the knowledge is based.

The release of Traditional Medicine of the Marshall Islands will ensure that much of that traditional knowledge will survive and that ecosystems are protected for future generations.

This book provides a valuable insight into the remarkable cultural knowledge and living heritage of the Marshallese people, exploring an aspect of the skills of this fascinating small island country struggling to survive in the heart of the Pacific Ocean.

It provides a unique opportunity to learn from the people who have shared generations of learning in order that their knowledge will not be lost.

Importantly, as the authors explain, this book is not an attempt to exploit traditional wisdom for commercial benefit or the titillation of ‘outsiders’.

This was an initial concern of the healers.

It was only after Hawai’ian traditional healers Auntie Alapa’i Aka’apo Ahuko’oohumukini and Roland Bula Ahi Logan met with Marshallese healers and related how Hawai’ians had lost much of their traditional medicinal knowledge—in part due to the secrecy associated with traditional medicine—that the Marshallese unanimously agreed to become active players in the recording, preservation and application of Marshallese medicinal knowledge for the benefit of future generations.

Traditional Medicine describes more than 270 traditional medicinal treatments, with a particular focus on the use of traditional medicine for the treatment of women.

Such knowledge supports the growing worldwide trend to incorporate time-tested traditional medicinal practices into modern health systems.

Published by IPS Publications, University of the South Pacific, Suva, 2006., 318 pp; $45.95 Available in many bookshops, or contact: ipssales@usp.ac.fj; www.ipsbooks.usp.ac.fj