Malnutrition is the insufficient, excessive, or imbalanced consumption of nutrients—it means literally “bad nutrition”. This was the concern of anthropologist Katherine A. Dettwyler in her book Dancing Skeletons. An ethnography set in Mali, a West African country, the book is Dettwyler’s account as she attempts to measure and document the effects of malnutrition on Malian children. Her ultimate goal is to develop “culturally appropriate nutrition education programs” (Dettwyler 1994, 7). This is not, however, an easy task as Dettwyler makes her way throughout Mali. Dettwyler has many cultural barriers to overcome within her study so that she may better understand the system of nutrition within Mali and create her “culturally appropriate” modules
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When Dettwyler is touring rural African villages, she comes across a young girl affected by kwashiorkor which is a disease caused by a diet which is low in protein yet high in calories. Within Mali, kwashiorkor is known as funu bana—or “swelling sickness”—because of edemas which form in the abdomen, face, hands, and feet (Dettwyler 1994, 73). The young girl’s mother asked Dettwyler for help through the procuration of medicine; Dettwyler answered that medicine would not help. Only by feeding her daughter a little more protein at each meal would she be able to heal and cure the disease. However, the woman countered that her daughter would not eat anything and once more asked for …show more content…
Cloudy or bloody urine is not rare among communities extremely affected by schistosomiasis; rather, it becomes so mundane that it becomes part of the culture. For example, within the Bozo communities, young men have a rite of passage much like those of young women. Just as young women have a first menstrual bleed—or menarche—men are an equivalent: blood in their urine (Dettwyler 1994, 46). Obviously, this is a symptom of schistosomiasis rather than a natural bodily function. Nevertheless, both are seen as a rite of passage into sexually
When Dettwyler is touring rural African villages, she comes across a young girl affected by kwashiorkor which is a disease caused by a diet which is low in protein yet high in calories. Within Mali, kwashiorkor is known as funu bana—or “swelling sickness”—because of edemas which form in the abdomen, face, hands, and feet (Dettwyler 1994, 73). The young girl’s mother asked Dettwyler for help through the procuration of medicine; Dettwyler answered that medicine would not help. Only by feeding her daughter a little more protein at each meal would she be able to heal and cure the disease. However, the woman countered that her daughter would not eat anything and once more asked for …show more content…
Cloudy or bloody urine is not rare among communities extremely affected by schistosomiasis; rather, it becomes so mundane that it becomes part of the culture. For example, within the Bozo communities, young men have a rite of passage much like those of young women. Just as young women have a first menstrual bleed—or menarche—men are an equivalent: blood in their urine (Dettwyler 1994, 46). Obviously, this is a symptom of schistosomiasis rather than a natural bodily function. Nevertheless, both are seen as a rite of passage into sexually