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BOTANY / SOUTHEAST ASIA

Kratom: a leaf in its social landscape.

The plant and its setting

Mitragyna speciosa is a tropical tree in the coffee family associated with Thailand and neighboring Southeast Asian countries. Its history begins in local relationships with the plant, long before contemporary packaged products. A regional tradition should not be treated as one uniform practice shared by every community.

Recorded traditional uses

The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health describes historical leaf use in work settings, where people sought relief from fatigue, as well as use in ceremonies and for symptoms including pain and diarrhea. These are accounts of what people did and believed; they do not establish that a preparation is safe or medically effective.

From tradition to modern research

Researchers study kratom’s alkaloids, including mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, which interact with opioid receptors. Kratom can cause dependence and withdrawal. Reported adverse effects include nausea, dizziness, and more serious liver problems and seizures; contamination and combinations with other drugs introduce additional concerns. Evidence has not established kratom as a safe and effective medical treatment. A traditional history is not a substitute for clinical evidence.

Source: NIH / NCCIH — Kratom.

ETHNOBOTANY / SOUTHERN AFRICA

Kanna: knowledge with a cultural home.

Names and communities

Kanna is commonly associated with Sceletium tortuosum; historical sources also use the name kougoed. The South African National Biodiversity Institute records the plant’s place in Khoikhoi and San traditions. These are distinct peoples and living cultural histories, not interchangeable labels for an anonymous “ancient wisdom.”

What the historical record says

SANBI’s medicinal-plant monograph describes reported uses relating to mood, discomfort, hunger, and thirst. It also notes that early Cape settlers recorded and adopted some practices. Those written accounts are one part of the record, filtered through the observers who produced them. Recording a tradition is different from originating it.

Reading old and new claims carefully

A historical medicinal use should be presented as a historical use—not converted into a promise about a modern product. Botanical identity, composition, and clinical evidence all matter. The cited historical monograph is not a current treatment guideline, and this essay makes no recommendation about taking kanna or extracts.

Source: SANBI — Sceletium tortuosum medicinal-plant monograph (PDF).

MATERIAL CULTURE / SOUTH ASIA & THE MIDDLE EAST

Hookah: an object with many histories.

Origins: evidence before a neat origin story

The beginnings of the water pipe are debated. The British Museum places its invention around the early seventeenth century in Iran or India. WHO’s history describes an often-repeated account linking it to a physician at the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar, while emphasizing uncertainty. It is more accurate to acknowledge those competing accounts than assign a single uncontested inventor.

British Museum — water-pipe · WHO FCTC — Waterpipe Overview

Names, materials, and movement

Huqqa, hookah, qalyan, narghileh, argileh, and shisha reflect different linguistic and regional contexts. Trade routes helped the practice travel across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Surviving museum objects also show the water pipe as a crafted object: a vessel whose materials and decoration can tell us about its makers and patrons. The Met’s Indian water-pipe base with irises offers one example of this material history.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Base for a Water Pipe with Irises

Jordan and the wider region

Jordan belongs in the modern regional story, rather than being presented as the sole place of origin. Research published by WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal documents waterpipe use in Jordan. Rasheed’s Jordanian background is a personal connection to this regional context; it does not tell us his own smoking habits or family traditions.

WHO EMHJ — Waterpipe smoking in Jordan

The modern change—and a health distinction

WHO describes the growth of flavored tobacco from the 1990s as a major change in waterpipe use and its international spread. A typical water pipe includes a head, stem, water vessel, hose, and mouthpiece. Passing smoke through water does not make it safe: tobacco smoke contains harmful substances, and charcoal contributes carbon monoxide. Cultural significance and health risk can both be acknowledged without confusing one for the other.

CDC — Hookahs and health