ONLY WOMEN KNOW TREES - MEDICINE WOMEN AND THE ROLE OF HERBAL HEALINGIN TUAREG CULTURE

In anthropology, there has been concern with mediating figures-African griots, hunters, and smiths/artisans-and other ritual specialists, wh o tread across natural and cultural boundaries, and negotiate differen t social interests. There has also been concern with traditional heale rs and alternative medical systems-for example, herbalism and midwifer y-and their cultural survival in confronting established medicine offi cial religion and nation-state politics. This article examines the rol e of herbal medicine women among the Tuareg, a seminomadic, socially s tratified Islamic people in We Republic of Niger, West Africa. Contemp orary descent and inheritance forms include pre-islamic matrilineal in fluences alongside the patrilineal influences of Islam. Of particular interest here is the relationship between herbal medicine women and Is lamic scholars with whom they work closely in their healing specialtie s, as mediators and facilitators. I show how herbal medicine women, in their herbal and psychosocial healing of women's gynecological and ma rital problems negotiate wider contradictions and conflicts in Tuareg society. I argue that, in order to avoid challenging male Islamic auth orities, women herbalists/healers must keep a low profile and accept a specialized niche. They negotiate, but also transform and reinterpret , a series of dynamic, contested spheres in Tuareg culture and society . I examine how far these roles result in medicine women's own margina lization and also sometimes compromise We interests of Tuareg women in disputed issues of fertility, descent relatedness, and ownership. I c onclude by discussing the implications of medicine women's strategic p reservation of their roles for the future of Tuareg herbal healing and its predominantly female clientele.