INTRODUCTION

The documentary titled, "Healing Roots the Official Documentary" posted on the YouTube channel "Healing Roots”, highlighted the work of Spiritual Healers and Root Workers in Barbados. The documentary shed light on the importance of these workers as they carry out cultural practices that have been passed down from generation to generation. The documentary also exposed how this cultural practice is being eroded through modernization, as the active healers and root workers are now seniors and the current generation is heavily dependent on the modernized way such as modern medicine. Also, we see how colonialization impacted the cultural heritage of the Africans who became indentured slaves; as they preserved some uses of the plants through their knowledge of their homeland. It is through this we see where the present spiritual healers and root workers, actively teach the importance of the old way and stress the importance of connecting with one’s spirituality and ancestorial roots. The preservation of these herbal uses for healing, can work in miraculous way with the visual eye seeing.

Impact of Colonialism in the Caribbean In the documentary, it was identified that Colonialism had a major impact on Barbados’ history regarding the uses and cultivation of certain plants. These plants are used widely throughout the Caribbean in the practice of folklore botanical medicine, originating from the intense cultural rapprochement encouraged by European colonialism, indigenous cultures of the Americas, the transatlantic slave trade and indentured servants from Asia immigration (Bayley, 1949; Feng 1956; Crawford-Daniel and Alexis, 2014). In relation to the Caribbean, the healing botanical medicines are used in today’s world and are of West African origin, including the use of popular plants: Citrus aurantiifolia [Christm.] Swingle (Lime), Ricinus communis L. (Castor Bean), and Abrus precatorius L. (Wild Licorice/Crab’s Eye) (McCaskie, 2017). These species are important because they are used in West African healing traditions and are frequently used in Caribbean countries such as Cuba (Heredia-Diaz et al., 2018), Jamaica (Vandebroek and Picking, 2020, the Virgin Islands (Soelberg et al., 2016), and others (Torres-Avilez et al., 2015). Due to syncretism and cultural suppression, that occurred in the period of enslavement of West Africans in the Caribbean and after their emancipation, these Caribbean islands tend to differ with respect to their native accumulation (Crawford-Daniel and Alexis, 2014; Sutherland et al., 2014). To this day the practice of planting herbs and remembrance of the original names given to these plants are common in Caribbean Culture since many of its people drift away from this practice.

Afro-Caribbean Cultural Practices

“Root work helps to inform the past with the present,” serves as a starting line for the documentary, “Healing Roots”. The traditional use of herbal medicine, commonly known as “bush medicine” (defined as ‘traditional plant medicine’) is a long-lasting cultural practice within the Caribbean (Alexis, 2022). This cultural practice originated from the rich blend of cultures stemming from the contact between the European imperial powers and the Africans and Indentured workers. Through this contact, the Ethnocentric and Androcentric views that popularly influenced our understanding of the modern-day Caribbean has been repeatedly challenged. As a means of rejecting these single-story perspectives, the documentary looks at the Caribbean from a revisionist lens in serving as a form of cultural resistance to European values by presenting their own stories of healing through the land, in particular, Barbados.

Herbs were transported to the Caribbean region through systems of slavery and Indentureship while being shared and passed on through a mixture of oral traditions and folklore. This is evident in plants such as ginger, turmeric, and sorrel which originated from countries such as India and Africa (Tikasingh, 2009). However, interestingly, the practice of herbal medicine was typically a form of cultural resistance to the European powers. As an island herbalist explained, the majority of the Indian and African medicines were prohibited by Roman Catholicism and so a lot of slaves did it in secret (Ellsworth, 2008). With a sense of cultural erasure of herbal medicines in recent years, this documentary serves as a timely reminder of the significance of retaining these cultural practices and educating youths on the use and importance of these herbal medicines to be passed on to generations to come.

Plants Used In Cultural Practices Plants used by Barbadians for spiritual healing are influenced by the past of their African ancestors. We see in today’s world how these cultural practices of these women/men that are known as “Root Workers’ or “Spiritual Healers” are used for medicinal and spiritual purposes. Before modern medicine, plants were used to treat the sick and heal wounds. In the Caribbean this is known as “bush medicine” where it is introduced to children by their parents during childhood where the herbs used are given to the child in the form of tea “bush tea” which treats colds, worms and fevers (Quinlan,173). Orlando Mayers otherwise known as ‘Ras Ils’ a Spiritual Healer and Botanist, details his journey to become a spiritual healer. As a Rastafarian, this journey had led him to seek and connect with his inner self and his spirituality, this was done through meditation and studying the plants for three years. As a spiritual healer, Mr. Mayers seeks to educate the younger generation about the uses of these plants through schools, where he represented Barbados in South America for bush medicine where he won awards. Herbal(bush) medicine is the use of the plants: roots, leaves, seeds, and branches (Munyaradzi, 2011) for the medicinal purpose used in the spiritual healing process such as spiritual baths and rituals. Mayers explained how Christmas bush, Whitehead bush, Lavender, and Rosemary oil were used to prepare spiritual baths in a tub of warm water. Spiritual baths are seen as acts of purification and also for spiritual alignment ( van 't Klooster, ,2018).

Nell Blackette a ninety (90) year-old root worker recalls in her younger, how her mother used to boil castor oil and it was given to her when she was sick. Castor oil is used for medicinal purposes it can be used as a laxative and also to induce labor ( Tunaru,2012), it also can be used on skin and in hair as a part of a beauty regime. In the case of, Ireka Jenlani another root worker reflected on how the uses of guava leaves, soursop leaves, and pear leaves were used to make ‘cooling tea’ which was prepared for women experiencing menopause, which reduces the hot flashes. Nonetheless, practices of root work and herbal medicine are kept alive as memories from observations and teachings from parents and grandparents about herbs prove to be effective stated by Jenlani. The spiritual healing and root work profession has been dominated by women for numerous years.

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Feminism Role in the Tradition of Healing Roots Feminism is present as the majority of the knowledge of herbal plants and their usage is told from the female perspective. During slavery, women have been traditionally forced into the role of a healer for example when a woman has a child, she has automatically become accustomed to caring for her child when they are ill, and they seek healing plants for the healing of their child. Grandmothers and mothers traditionally pass on the knowledge of herb plants from generation to generation. In the documentary, it is evident that mothers use herbal plants as healing for their children, Eulise Griffith said that her knowledge about herbal plants, she received that from her mother. Her mother had knowledge of herbal plants as she always had a remedy when children are sick and people in the community always asked her mother for assistance on what to use when their children are ill. She also said that her mother used lemongrass to make tea. This, therefore, show relevance to how the knowledge of herbal plants is strongly showcased from the female perspective.

“The majority of the population in today’s society that still has knowledge about the use of herbs is women in their 60s,” Dr Sonia Peter said. This emphasizes the fact that the knowledge of herbal plants is strongly known from the female perspective, and it is mostly elderly women which indicate that young females have little to no knowledge about the use of herbal plants because of the development in the Caribbean where technology has replaced a lot of things. Eulise Griffith said that a lot of knowledge is being lost because women nowadays do not use herbal plants to help cure sickness because they have prescribed medication that can now use to cure sickness. Young women in modern society have no experience in the usage of herbs for illness because of the advancement in technology which replaced herbs with now medications that they consider to be more effective in helping cure illness. As can be seen in the documentary, only one young woman named Tiniko Grandison, a root worker, was interviewed. She said knowledge she learned from others about the herbs she plans on passing that knowledge to others. She also stated that young people nowadays fear using herbs because they fear eating healthy because of the modern influence. This showcase that they are few young people still interested in knowing the use of herbs and also because of modernization young people drift from knowing the herbs to eating healthily because of the development in the Caribbean where there are fast food restaurants etc, therefore, they seem to have no need learning about the herbs to eat healthy because the fast food seems to be more fascinating to them and the healthy side seem boring to them.

Modernization Impact on Cultural Tradition

Traditional bush medicine usage is being dwindled due to modernization. Global capitalism and advancements in science, technology, and urbanization systems are erasing and diluting the heritage and knowledge of plants brought to Barbados by West African slaves. The root worker taps into their ancestorial heritage to create remedies for illness using local plants. This healing process is allowing their practitioners to remain in contact with their ancestors and spirituality and retain their culture, knowledge and traditional practices. However, due to the removal of natural vegetation for infrastructures such as roads, house, buildings, and factories the abundance of natural herbs on the island are decreasing rapidly. This rapid decrease is affecting the root workers’ ability to source plants that grow in their natural habitat even though the root workers most likely grow their own supply of herbs, they would not be able to grow every species of plants hence obstructing their ability to source the wild growing herbs that they may require. In 2012, there was only a total of 600-700 plant species in Barbados (Cohall et al, 2012). However, by 2022 this number decreased to approximately 572 plant species (Barbados Environmental Conservation Trust). Modernization also affects the preservation of plant names on the island. With the increase in pharmaceuticals, commercial medication, and free health for senior citizens, Barbadians are not retaining the knowledge that their ancestors have accumulated for them. These incentives are drawing people away from the natural remedies that can be readily available to them from their backyards. Since the urbanization of Barbados, the clearing of natural vegetation, and the sheer disinterest in the usage of herbs by Bajans, the names of plants are being forgotten. In the film, Dr. Sonia Peters said that in a survey conducted by the root workers about the retention of knowledge about bush medicine by civilians, approximately 45% of persons had knowledge

about bush medicine but very limited and only 10% was heavily interested and had vast knowledge of plants and their benefits. Of this 10%, they noticed that the persons within this percentile were older or senior citizens. This trend shows the erasure of tradition within the younger generation. This can also be due to the depiction of herb usage in the mass media creating fear in the younger generation of how they may be perceived if they show interest in bush medicine. Dr. Sonia Peters also expresses her desire for root workers to use modern technology to their advantage to spread awareness of bush medicine by conducting seminars or social media consciousness.

Conclusion On the completion of the documentary "Healing Roots the Official Documentary" highlighted numerous factors that hinder the continuation of knowledge of herbal plants and their uses being passed down. It was identified that women played a major role in carrying out the practice of spiritual healers and root workers, and these women which are in their golden years would like to pass on the information but due to a lack of interest the younger generation would prefer to seek modern medicine. Also, the development of new infrastructure in a certain area has seen an eradication of certain plants used for healing purposes. Even though these challenges arise, there are still members of institutions and root workers who seek to preserve these cultural practices by going into the schools and educating the younger generation about these practices and sharing the importance of these cultural practices. Doing this is expected to remind individuals of the history, and connect with their spirituality and their ancestorial roots which will prevent the eradication of this valuable cultural practice.

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