“Side Effects”: Cultural Constructions and Reinterpretations of Western Pharmaceuticals

This article discusses pharmacotherapeutic “side effects,” the identification and evaluation of which is especially mediated by social and cultural constructs. It argues that the knowledge and management of “primary” and “side” effects of pharmaceuticals are an extension of purposeful interactions of people with both allelochemicals and symbols constituent in medicinal plants. Drawing on research from West Africa and elsewhere, the author illustrates how the interpretation of “side effects” influences the selection, and in some aspects the transformation, of pharmaceuticals as they are rendered through local paradigms of physiology, nosology, and therapeutics. This analysis strengthens the argument for incorporating cultural context of use in the assessment of drug efficacy, introduction, and administration.