From African plants to plant-based pharmaceuticals: Re-examining the historical growth of plant medicine research in West Africa through colonial botanical collections (1880–1997) Event

The Centre for Imperial and Postcolonial Studies (CIPCS) present a research seminar with Dr Nathan Bossoh , Anniversary Fellow at the University of Southampton.

Date/Time: 9 November 2023, 17.00–19.00

Location: Avenue Campus, Room 1177

In this talk, Dr Nathan Bossoh will introduce his fascinating research project, which investigates the historical uses and circulation of various medicinal plants found across Western Africa in order to analyse the wider relationship between indigenous herbal knowledge, museums, pharmacology, and drug commercialisation.

Centring on five case-study plants – kola nut, bitter cola, Calabar bean, Morinda, and oil palm – Nathan’s project utilises both material cultural and applied historical approaches in order, first, to shed light on the development of colonial and postcolonial plant-medicine research in Anglophone West Africa, and secondly to highlight the value of museum biocollections as significant resources for innovative interdisciplinary ecological and health research outputs.

All are welcome.

For further information, or for a link to join the seminar online, please contact Dr John McAleer (j.mcaleer@soton.ac.uk) .