Ep. 230: Traditional African Medicine with Olatokunboh Obasi

About this episode

Olatokunboh Obasi discusses traditional African medicine, nutrition, and the integration of multiple cultural practices in herbalism.

Today AC & Isaac welcome herbalist and teacher Olatokunboh Obasi back to the Plant Cunning Podcast for a second interview, now speaking from outside Nairobi, Kenya. Obasi shares that she’s finishing a doctorate in clinical nutrition while working toward opening an integrative women’s health clinic, and explains how nutrition, changing food systems, and modern indoor life affect herbal outcomes. She discusses divination and geomancy, genetics as “codes” responding to environment, and how she navigates multiple traditions—Yoruba as her root, alongside Taíno and Kenyan indigenous practices—without collapsing them into one. They explore Kenyan healing culture, including lineage-based herbalism, diviners, birth workers, and bone-setting (lila) meridian work, plus a story of discovering an East African betony for headaches. Obasi also defines traditional African medicine as diverse, spiritually centered, and regionally distinct, and critiques material reductionism in Western herbalism while pointing to figures like Culpeper and Hildegard as bridges back to spirit. 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 01:45 Ola’s Life in Kenya 03:50 Why Clinical Nutrition 05:52 Divination and Genetics…

People in this episode

Hosts: AC, Isaac

Guest: Olatokunboh Obasi

Topics covered

• Traditional African Medicine
• Herbalism
• Nutrition
• Cultural Practices
• Healing Culture
• Divination

Keywords

• African Traditional Medicine
• herbal outcomes
• divination
• Yoruba
• Taíno
• Kenyan indigenous practices
• clinical nutrition
• healing culture
• bone-setting
• community-based medicine

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Nairobi, Kenya

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