Bokus
Aaron R. Denham - Spirit Children, Inbunden

Inbunden, Engelska, 2017

Spirit Children

Illness, Poverty, and Infanticide in Northern Ghana

Av Aaron R. Denham

Del i serien Africa and the Diaspora: History, Politics, Culture

739 kr

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Beskrivning
In parts of West Africa, some babies and toddlers are considered spirit children—nonhumans sent from the forest to cause misfortune and destroy the family. These are usually deformed or ailing infants, the very young whose births coincide with tragic events, or children who display unusual abilities. In some of these cases, families seek a solution in infanticide. Many others do not.Refusing to generalize or oversimplify, Aaron R. Denham offers an ethnographic study of the spirit child phenomenon in Northern Ghana that considers medical, economic, religious, and political realities. He examines both the motivations of the families and the structural factors that lead to infanticide, framing these within the context of global public health. At the same time, he turns the lens on Western societies and the misunderstandings that prevail in discourse about this controversial practice. Engaging the complexity of the context, local meanings, and moral worlds of those confronting a spirit child, Denham offers visceral accounts of families' life and death decisions.
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Aaron R. Denham is the director of the Master of Development Studies and Global Health program and a senior lecturer in anthropology at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He formerly was a mental health provider for children and families, a fellow of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and a volunteer with Engineers Without Borders.

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A brilliant, sensitive, and moving book about the heartbreaking phenomenon of infanticide. This is a book to be taken seriously by hospital personnel, public health policymakers, NGO workers, and anyone interested in the fate of the world's most vulnerable young children."" —Alma Gottlieb,coauthor of A World of Babies“Beautifully written. . . . The nuance with which Denham treats ‘infanticide’ contributes broadly to medical anthropology, childhood studies, and religious studies. Highly recommended.” — Choice“This finely written and sensitive book is absolutely ground-breaking.”—Ethos

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