Dr Ushehwedu Kufakurinani
Research Fellow | History Department | University of Warwick
Research Associate | University of Johannesburg
When I got to the Avenues, a mixed residential and commercial area in the periphery of the CBD in Harare, I was quite convinced of the existence of fake enhancers flourishing in the streets. After the ban of over-the-counter sex enhancers in 2013 by the Medical Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) and following a protracted economic crisis, the streets of the Avenues, which also doubles up as a red-light district, became a haven for illegal traders in sex tonics. I was part of the project “What’s at stake in the fake? Indian pharmaceuticals, African markets and global health” where we were exploring the “fake talk” as opposed to engaging on whether fake drugs exists or not. As soon as I embarked on my ethnographic research, the first question I asked was “do fake sex tonics exist”? Of course, I tried to avoid being blunt and asking them if they sold fake drugs. The response I received was intriguing and fascinating and was to open a whole door of research and interpretation of fake sex tonics. “There are no fake sex enhancers” I was told. And then I asked do they always work then? “No, but this is not because they are fake, it is all about compatibility with one’s blood system”. This was a profound response. It shifted our attention from the drug to the consumer. It echoed van der Geest et al’s (1996:166) notion of “compatibility”. Hayden (2012:276) also notes complexity of factors that shape drug efficacy go beyond the drug itself “since the people who consume drugs are likely to have different metabolisms, and hence may process drugs at different rates, and may experience different side effects as well”. Indeed, a closer analysis would throw us into deeper and wider discourses around drug efficacy as something determined by such aspects as “individual metabolism, brand loyalty, and inactive chemical components used in drug delivery” (Hardon and Sanabria 2017:121). My interest therefore shifted to understanding how efficacy was constructed and construed and what this meant for the trade in sex tonics. It is also my submission that the trade has its-self establish self-regulatory mechanism where the market shuns or promotes drugs depending on their known efficacy. Unpopular drugs, for one reason or the other, simply lose a market. I hope to share my ethnographic research experience regarding the trade of illegal sex tonics in streets of Harare.
Oral presentation of abstract:
Head to podcasts (under "audio-visual submissions" on the event webpage) to listen to Ushehwedu's discussion of this abstract and his research.
Project:
Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award in Humanities and Social Science, "What’s at stake in the fake? Indian pharmaceuticals, African markets and global health". https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/research/projects/fake/team/
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Profs Sarah Hodges and Julia Hornberger (and the rest of the "What's at stake with the fake" research team) for their comments, guidance, and encouragement in this exciting journey of medical anthropology.
Socials:
Twitter - @ushehwedu
Research Group - https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/research/projects/fake/team/
Conflict of Interest:
None declared.
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