Tag: West Africa
Ten Treasures (and a Bonus): A Selection of Anthropological Gems You Might Have Missed from the Past Few Years
I began interviewing authors of fabulous new anthropology books for this space back in 2016. While completing 11 interviews, I also amassed a backlog of more terrific books…
West African Migration: The Dangers of a Single Story
“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” Chimamanda Ngozi…
Two Lessons I Learned about the Transfer of Power while Living in Africa
1. The moment that any transfer of power occurs from one individual or regime to another is fraught—ritually, sociologically, emotionally. Why? This is a liminal period–“betwix…
The Blueberry Wars
In elementary school, the first “robin red-breast” of spring signaled warmer days, colorful flowers, and a promise that the school year wouldn’t last forever. I considered robins m…
How Health Systems Hurt Women. Review of Fistula Politics by Alison Heller, Rutgers University Press (2018).
Medical anthropology has come a long way from its initial focus on the interpretive dimensions of health and sickness. The Medical Anthropology series from Rutgers University Press provides…
Creators of the Contemporary in Africa
In Ghana, the creative culture and the contemporary art sphere is in a period of exponential growth and reconfiguration. Across Accra and Kumasi, the contemporary creative scene has…
Guinea’s Anti-Government Rally: Half a Million People and a Stray Bullet
Credit: AFP By Joschka Philipps Thierno Hamidou Diallo, may he rest in peace, was fatally shot on August 16th, 2016. He is the sad victim of the anti-government…
Guinea’s Anti-Government Rally: Half a Million People and a Stray Bullet
Credit: AFP By Joschka Philipps Thierno Hamidou Diallo, may he rest in peace, was fatally shot on August 16th, 2016. He is the sad victim of the anti-government…
Guinea’s Anti-Government Rally: Half a Million People and a Stray Bullet
Credit: AFP By Joschka Philipps Thierno Hamidou Diallo, may he rest in peace, was fatally shot on August 16th, 2016. He is the sad victim of the anti-government…
Guinea’s Anti-Government Rally: Half a Million People and a Stray Bullet
Credit: AFP By Joschka Philipps Thierno Hamidou Diallo, may he rest in peace, was fatally shot on August 16th, 2016. He is the sad victim of the anti-government…
Power, culture and the state press in Ghana
Here is a sixth (6th) set of notes under the broad theme of media and change in preparation for the volume Postill, J., E. Ardevol and S. Tenhunen…
The reception and consumption of telenovelas in Senegal
This is a fourth set of notes under the broad theme of media and change in preparation for the volume Postill, J., E. Ardevol and S. Tenhunen (eds.)…
Podcast: DNA Ancestry Testing and the Legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
To listen again to my discussion with Bernice Bennett about my current study on the social impact of DNA ancestry testing in the Americas, as well as related research into the…