From coastal to global: The transnational flow of Ayurveda and its relevance for Indo-African linkages

Driven by long-standing ties with India, and intertwined with global market interests, a growing influx of materia medica from South Asia is currently emerging in East Africa. To compete at a global level and framed within the language of ‘South–South cooperation for mutual benefit’, India presents itself as an appropriate exporter of medical products suitable for African clientele. The expansion of India’s medical sector into Africa is particularly relevant for Ayurvedic pharmaceuticals. Ayurveda’s diaspora into Africa exemplifies the emergence of new health interventions and medical assemblages in a transnationally interconnected world and implies innovative coalitions involved in the complex promotion of local/Global Health industries. By tracking the flow of Ayurvedic pharmaceuticals to East Africa, this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of medical practices as they are configured by the dynamics of global mobility. It interrogates the extent to which the industrialisation of Ayurveda occupies a strategic position in Indo-African discursive practices and the creation of new market opportunities. Moreover, it explores the ways in which South–South alliances between Indian and African actors produce (new) solidarities, but also hierarchies and power imbalances. Special attention will be directed to the political-economic implications of the expansion of transnational markets.