Traditional Herbalism as a path to Medical Sovereignty, especially in the context of Palestine, a Workshop and Dialogue with Amanny Asell Ahmad.

As with many places and Indigenous cultures globally, traditional knowledge is rapidly being lost to the perils of modernity, globalization, settler colonization, climate change, and the misuse of land and resources. In Palestine, this has been particularly expedited since the early 1900s due to the unrelenting arrival and presence of Zionist settlers, (and the British before them) many of whom were particularly attracted to the land in Palestine for its potential in agricultural cultivation & exploitation.

Just as food sovereignty is freedom, so is health sovereignty. How can our traditions of healing persevere outside the context of colonial exploitation on behalf of biomedicine, if we do not remain engaged with our own traditional knowledge of the land and the plants?

This workshop & dialogue will explore the ways that healing, the land, plants–and human relationships to them–are intertwined and integral to maintaining sovereignty over our bodies and wellbeing.

Amanny Asell Ahmad is a Palestinian/american artist, cook, folk herbalist, and writer.