Division of Clinical Anatomy, School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
Division of Health Sciences, Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Anat Sci Educ. 2020 Nov;13(6):721-731. doi: 10.1002/ase.1950. Epub 2020 Mar 3.
Cultural practices in the African continent have been thought to impact negatively on body donation. Thus, most African countries continue to rely on unclaimed bodies for dissection programs, or bequests from the white population. The latter situation is dominant in South African medical schools. Since South Africa is multi-cultural with nine main ethnic groups of the Black African population, it is important to seek the reasons behind lack of participation in body donation. This report represents a move in this direction with its qualitative study of the cultural practices of the Zulu ethnic group in the province of KwaZulu-Natal from the perspective of a variety of participants, with emphasis on their treatment of the human body after death. Four themes emerged from interviews: (1) Death is not the end; (2) Effect of belief in ancestors; (3) Significance of rituals and customs carried out on human tissue; and (4) Burial as the only method of body disposal. Each of these themes is discussed in relation to the likelihood of body donation being seen by Zulus as an acceptable practice. It is concluded that this is unlikely, on account of the need to preserve the linkage between the physical human body and the spirit of the deceased person, and the perceived ongoing relationship between the spirit of the dead and the living. In view of these conclusions, a number of options are canvassed about the manner in which anatomists in KwaZulu-Natal might obtain bodies for dissection. These possibilities have implications for anatomists working in comparable cultural contexts.
非洲大陆的文化习俗被认为对遗体捐赠产生负面影响。因此，大多数非洲国家继续依赖无人认领的尸体来开展解剖计划，或者依赖白人的遗赠。这种情况在南非医学院中较为普遍。南非是一个多文化的国家，有九个主要的黑人群体，因此，有必要探寻缺乏遗体捐赠参与的背后原因。本报告代表了朝着这个方向的努力，它从多个参与者的角度对夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省祖鲁族的文化习俗进行了定性研究，重点关注他们对死者遗体的处理方式。从访谈中得出了四个主题：（1）死亡不是终点；（2）对祖先信仰的影响；（3）对人体组织进行仪式和习俗的重要性；以及（4）埋葬是唯一的遗体处理方式。每个主题都与祖鲁人是否认为遗体捐赠是一种可接受的做法进行了讨论。结论认为，鉴于祖鲁人需要保持死者肉体和灵魂之间的联系，以及死者的灵魂与生者之间的持续关系，遗体捐赠不太可能被接受。鉴于这些结论，探讨了夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省解剖学家获取尸体进行解剖的几种可能性。这些可能性对在类似文化背景下工作的解剖学家具有启示意义。
