Dancing Skeletons PDF

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DANCING SKELETONS: LIFE AND DEATH IN WEST AFRICA BY KATHERINE A. DETTYWYLER 1.1 In the first chapter, Katherine A. Dettywyler talks about the beginning of her research in Mali. First time that she came to Magnambougou she was a graduate student doing her research on malnutrition and feeding of infants in the area. As that was the focus of her fieldwork, she was often mistaken for a doctor. The story of a woman that asked her for help with her two-years-old son is presented in the introduction. The researcher marked the son as #104, as she tended to number the children, due not only for easiness of following each, but because all the names were repeated within all children and basically most of them carried the same name. K. Dettywyler came back to Mali as an assistant professor of nutritional anthropology, on a scholarship to further work on her research. She was excited to be back, however found that nothing has really changed. Her daughter came to Mali with her, though son and husband had to stay home, since husband had more of an office job, and Peter - the son, had weak immunisation system due to his Down’s syndrome. The author quickly learnt that all of her American friends from the research of six years ago are long gone and went back to the country. Her first concern was finding proper, safe and affordable housing. She asked for help her local friends, one of which - Moussa Diarra, was also her translator. At first, the woman lived in a guesthouse with her daughter, however they managed to find a good house next to the school which the daughter would attend. K. Dettywyler came back to Mali for a few reasons. Firstly, she wanted to check if the malnourished children made any progress, and if were all alive. Secondly, she wanted to gather measurements of other people that she did not meet during her previous visit. Lastly, she wanted to analyze whether intestinal parasites are really the main cause for malnutrition, which was a belief in Magnambougou. The importance of greetings above all other human interactions within Malians is mentioned in the chapter. The higher the social status, the longer greeting is expected, as it shows respect. When the woman finally arrived to the house of #104, the mother was rather not surprised to see her, as if she was gone for a few weeks, not years, and women chatted for a bit. 1.2 I find the story of Katherine A. Dettywyler really interesting. I think that personal journals that have some subjectivity in them are a better way to understand cultures than purely objective reports. After all, if we learn about humans, we should have some other human’s insight into it, and we can still make our own choices on what to think, whether to agree or disagree with the author. It is inspiring for me how a young graduate student can be so engaged in their studies and carry out their research so well that they receive a scholarship to continue their work. It is a bit of shocking for me, however, that she took her young daughter with her. Not as much in 1989, when Miranda was nine, but especially when she was an infant. After all, Mali is far from safe, clean country which K. Dettywyler admits herself in the first chapter. On the other hand, when it comes to the next visit, I see it as a good opportunity for the young daughter to learn about the world. I believe that alone mother-daughter time can be advantageous for both, especially if they only have each other while being so far from home. Yet, I would still be scared as a mother that she might get some virus and fall into a disease which will not be easy to cure in the developing country. It is hard to me to imagine she had to leave her husband and a very young son for half a year. The chapter was a good introduction to the story, as it not only introduced the topic, but told me a lot about the author, her thoughts and opinions, which I believe are incredibly useful and got me even more into the story. It is also significant to learn from anthropologist ’s perspective especially in early studies of anthropology, when I have hard time shaping my own thoughts on different anthropological matters. 2.1 The second chapter begins with two stories that resulted in death by mosquitos. First story is about a volunteer, Kay who died of malaria on the way to see a doctor. The second death was not directly caused by the mosquitoes. It is about Mickey, engineer in Mali, who had hepatitis. Wrongly diagnosed with malaria and being prescribed wrong medicine, his liver was destroyed and he died in Paris soon after that. The author says that at first her and her husband were supposed to do research in Nuba Mountains is Sudan. However, once they got to Cairo, it was extremely busy due to Ramadan, and they could not travel further with a small child as transportation was overcrowded and took many hours. They got back to Delaware, where their friends who worked and lived in Mali

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advised them to carry out the research in there and offering their help. Important thing about anthropologists that has to be remembered from the chapter is that they should live like the people that they study. However, the author confronts this belief at the end saying that she simply could not live like a Mali woman, as she would have no time for her priority - the research. There is a bit of geographical background of Mali - it is on a dessert, during summers there is barely any humidity and it is very hot, which can lead to dehydration, Bamako, the capital is mostly composed of mud huts with only a few real buildings. Mali people include many different ethnic groups such as Bambara, Tamasheq or Dogon. The people are typically poor. In Magnambougou, the lived in compounds - houses that were meant mainly for sleeping, as other activities took place outdoors. In the compounds, each women had to have own room. There was no electricity nor water, and only some had kitchen. Polygynous marriages were popular, and men were definitely superior to women, who stayed uneducated their whole lives. Medicines were expensive and hospital was too far to walk for the inhabitants. Most popular diseases included measles, malaria, respiratory infections, diarrhoea and polio. When it comes to malaria, adults and other children were in bigger danger of the disease turning fatal than small children. Malnourished children also had better immunity as their red blood cells were weaker. 2.2 In this chapter, I definitely learned more about the author and her previous visit i the city of Magnambougou. It gave me more insight of how the journey must have been hard for her and her husband. Two young graduate students, traveling to Africa for fieldwork to earn their doctorates, and brining their small daughter with them. I felt especially uneasy about it when K. Dettywyler talked about the conditions they experienced. In Cairo, where it was overcrowded and everyone experience lack of food due to Ramadan. The long flights from Delaware to Africa must have been terrible for little Miranda. I think the conditions in which Mali people live are dreadful, and I cannot believe they were no changes introduced within many years. The mud houses with no water nor electricity, the dirt and the smell. They all seem inhuman to me. What I found as the hardest information to cope with in this chapter was the horrible medical position of the country. The medicines that cannot be afforded by majority of the population, a hospital which is not easily accessible and many deaths, especially of young, innocent children all have a huge impact on me, as I strongly believe health is the most important value in lives and everyone deserves to be treated from any disease with any medicine that could help, free of expense. 3.1 In the third chapter the author talks about a very important practice of the Malians circumcision. Children are usually circumcised at the very young age, when they are about half a year old. Katherine A. Dettywyler does not support it at first and is thrilled once she finds out all girls are circumcised, but finally she accepts it. Female circumcision in Mali culture is quite scary the edges of labia majora in women’s clitoris are cut and stitched to prevent sexual intercourse. Once a woman gets married, the scar tissue is opened to allow her and her husband for the intercourse and therefore the conception of children, which is extremely important in their culture. This practice has its religious explanation according to many ethnicities. However, the inhabitants of Magnambougou do not believe in it. They circumcise children because of tradition - they are used to doing so. Sexual intercourse is viewed as woman’s duty to her husband. When asked, it seems like the women do not understand what sexual pleasure or foreplay are. In their belief, woman doe snot have to enjoy the intercourse, and they have more important things to worry about. That again, shows how men were superior to the women. Katherine A. Dettywyler talks about an older woman, the Fat Lady, as she calls her. She got interest in the author’s research and the two quickly became friends. The Fat Lady could not understand why the author does not have a son the first time she came to the city. For Malians, children should be born after another, and there has to be at least one son - for the husband. Children are nursed only until 2 years old. Longer breastfeeding leads to mental illness, according to Mali belief. Another interesting fact is that the more obese women, the better. Obese women are seen as healthy and sexy, and prove that their husbands supports the family well. The story of Dauda, a young son of the Fat Lady’s servant is described at the end of the chapter. He is a malnourished child. Even though the author tries to help the mother and advises her to feed Dauda a little better, the woman does not change her feeding practices. The author learns that the mother has memory problems and as the Fat Lady says - is stupid. At the very end, it comes out that woman is mentally ill and the author learns

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to set priorities, and save time and energy by not getting too involved in some people’s lives while doing her research - not everyone can be helped. 3.2 So far, this chapter gave me the most various feelings. Firstly, I was shocked and agitated when reading about the circumcision practices in Mali. It seems horrible to me, especially now that I know how medical care looks like in that country. I just cannot imagine how the little children are circumcised. Probably I am in just as big shock as the woman that talked with Katherine A. Dettywyler and found out girls’ circumcision is rather odd in the America. It still is fascinating for me how a culture can be so different than from what we know in modern days. Women do not have any power, men are superior to them, and they decide about the lives of females. They should be obese, always available for men and work hard. I do not approve it and it is even hard for me to imagine. The way the story of Dauda and his mother is told, I find it a little funny and extremely interesting. It was the most enjoyable part of this chapter for me. The story is told from a subjective point of view, parts of which are humorous and it is light to read, even though the topic is rather serious. I read it and felt as if I was just there, and could see the researcher’s surprised or mad face when she was trying to do something to improve Dauda’s health. There is a lot of personal insight from the author, and that makes the book way easier and more interesting to read. I can tell that K. A. Dettywyler was very involved in her topic and greatly engaged with the inhabitants of Magnambougou, even though it is clear she did not always understand or approve the beliefs in their culture. 4.1 In this chapter, Heather Katz is introduced as Katherine A. Dettywyler’s research assistant. Author talks about the public transportation in Mali - the baches, small pick-up trucks that can fit up to 20 people on their wooden benches, plus babies and resources. A boy that always sits next to the driver collects fares and lets the driver know where to let someone off. It is easy to get robbed there so women do not carry purses with them. The money is knotted to some kind of clothing and therefore paying always takes up some time. Mali is a poor country, with a lot of beggars on the streets. To prevent the crush of beggars, every person chooses their own leper whom they always give money, so other beggars do not bother them. In Malian culture it is important to attain grace; either by giving aim to beggars, blind and mothers of twins, or by showing respect towards the elderly - paying their fares on beaches, bowing heads or even dropping to knees. The main purpose of the recreates was to find out whether intestinal parasites are the main cause of poor children growth. K. Dettywyler comes to Magnambougou with bottles for feces, collects specimen, goes to Bamako to leave them at the Vet Lab and comes back to Magnambougou with more bottles. She collected 64 bottles of specimen, but only 4 showed presence of intestinal parasites. Instead, it was found that Schitso is a disease that almost everyone has. It usually develops in children, who play in the river. It is hard for Malians to tell if someone is sick, as they do not flush toilets or use diapers - they usually just use the pits or bush. 4.2 In this chapter I got more engaged in the story. The examples of Aminata or Mousse’s nephew that were real gave the story more credibility, which made it more interesting. The public transportation in Mali is so unusual and different from what I know. I cannot imagine 20 people plus babies and resources on a pick-up truck. It seems unrealistic for me. I thought it is quite funny how Malians are so relaxed about the bodily functions and very open about them. They are straightforward, and are nor ashamed of things. I think it is strange how people pick their one beggar instead of helping a bit everyone. I think it is horrible how the living conditions in Mali, dirty water and poor healthcare all contribute to so many deaths of children. It is terrifying that it is okay to ask parents whether their child is alive. It makes me upset thinking about so many children who are fatally sick, and how their parents do not pay attention to change it - just because they cannot imagine life without the river. 5.1 In this chapter, we are introduced to women’s daily routines. They seem to be busier then the men, always having plenty of things to do in their families. Women hope to have daughters first, as they are more helpful in the households than boys. As soon as they grow a little, they help their mothers with preparing food and other responsibilities. If a man has few wives, they all take turns and divide works between each other. The author talks about her routine - she would go to the

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village for the research, come back to Moussa’s house for lunch, and get back to the village to do some more work. As Katherine A. Dettywyler has to gather information on eating practices, she interviews women about the food they prepare. She asks them what would they do if they got more money to spend in the market, however they do nit understand the concept of imaginary money. They believe that the money they get is enough to feed the family. There is no need for them to eat more or healthier, from what they say. The author learns that children are malnourished not because of the poverty. The second part of the chapter is sacrificed for describing the market. Important quality of the Malians is proper negotiations while shopping. Things do not have fixed prices. One rule of shopping are the discounts, which sellers offer to customers in exchange for their future loyalty. Second rule says that wealthy people, and therefore white people - toubabs have to pay more. Another rule says that there should always be a compromise found, and negotiations come with respect towards each other. 5.2 It is very interesting to learn that the Malians eat with fingers. Except only that, I think it is a bit odd that they have to eat using right hand, after all I would not think it matters that much in African cultures whether someone is left or right-handed. The story of a woman that did not understand the concept of imaginary money was sort of funny for me. It seems crazy that they cannot think of things they would spend money for if they got more. What is more shocking is that they do not see their food practices as anything wrong. So much malnutrition and yet they seem to be blind to it. I would expect that the first thing they would do if they had more money is improvement of their diets. However, surprisingly enough they do not see anything that could be improved there - no one is really starving, in their interpretation. 6.1 In the sixth chapter, Katherine A. Dettywyler furthers her research and takes it to a new level. She meets Kathleen and Bakary from AMIPJ, who work together in order to prevent hunger and provide employment in Mali. They ask her for help to understand the malnutrition problem and come up with ways to stop it. The author decides to agree on the extra work. She even makes a decision that she will be doing it for free, if transportation, setting up interviews and measurement in the villages are granted and she will be able to use the collected data in her own project. When the author meet Bakary, she talks about joking relationships which are a significant part of Malians culture - people there love to laugh and insult one another for a good cause. Katherine A. Dettywyler tells her new partners in research that the best way to prevent malnutrition is through education, not immunisations and health programs. People are not educated about diseases, the danger associated with them and the prevention of them. The author leaves her daughter with an English family and goes to real African villages, to carry out the research. The first village she visits is Dogo, where she finds a girl with Kwashiorkor, a rare disease in this part of the continent. Later, she visits two another villages and she learns another, different system for using the toilets. People in the villages expect the author to carry medicines for all diseases with her everywhere and they are surprised when she tells them food is the medicine. Finally, Katherine A. Dettywyler decided to come back to the villages and carry out more research with her daughter, as she was leaving the village. 6.2 I thinks is is very smart of the author to bring medicines with her everywhere in Mali, where medicine is such a problem and people suffer from diseases on daily basis. It is popular that people bring sweets, clothes and food, but I have never heard of medicines. However I think it is extremely intelligent and a good way, but also an easy one, to help Malians. The thing that was most shocking for me is that they actually have TVs. It just seems crazy considering so many better ways to spend their money, especially if they have so little. I really respect Katherine A. Dettywyler as an anthropologist. She learns about the culture, visits the villages and while is very reflective and describes her thoughts about every subject, practice or any event, she seems to stay unbothered. She interviews the people about whatever she needs to find out. Such engagement in one’s job is one of the most respectable characteristic of humans, according to me. 7.1 On the second day of carrying the research with AMIPJ, the truck that the team traveled with had an accident, which belated the project. When they finally arrived at Torokono, the tiny village of only 80 people, they ate and began the measurements. The author describes more about the family’s structure. It comes out that most men actually have 1 or 2 wives, even though Islam allows

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maximum of 4 wives. However, the most significant rule is that all wives have to be treated equally. Since not all men can afford to keep big families, the amount of wives is relatively smaller compared to other Muslim countries. However, each woman still has a lot of children. Typically about 6/8, while about as many die because of diseases and malnutrition. That is because the more children one has, the more successful they are. Breastfeeding and sleeping with mothers at young age is definitely one of the main pr...