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Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa |
Author: Katherine Dettwyler
Published: 1993-07 |
List price: $15.95
Our price: $15.19
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As of: December 01st, 2008 01:42:18 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Cultural Anthropology
I read this book for a cultural anthopology class. It was a very easy read which I enjoyed. As far as cultural anthropology, I found this book very interesting. It is amazing hoe different the culture and the health of the people are. She did talk about herse;f a lot but it would be difficult just to focus on your subjects when you are so far from home.
 Depressing view of the future
The other reviews give you the flavor of this book so I will bring up a few items they and the author ignore. First, it is a vivid illustration of the more general problem in the world of what constitutes "help". If what one does causes more misery in the long run then it is clearly not helpful and this is what nearly all of the "aid" to the third world does. Anything that prolongs lifespans, increases child survival or increases standard of living is eventually disastrous as prosperity is ultimately bought at the expense of the future. The whole world is going down the drain but Africa is the worst case and likely by mid-century, and certainly by it's end, there will be starvation, disease, social violence and war on a staggering scale and as a permanent state. The world has only one problem--too many people--and only one solution--decrease the population at any cost. Of course it's not politically correct to say anything about it and certainly not to do anything really effective and Dettwyler is in a delicate position. These people seem to average a dozen pregnancies and above all they need birth control.
Regarding her personal choices she tells how her young daughter almost died of malaria and it clearly was quite insane of her to take a young child with her for several years of constant exposure to this and other diseases when she knew that people died of it constantly in spite of medication. The last point that I could not forget was the fact that she produced three children of her own. If she does not know the dire situation the world is in due to overpopulation she ought to go back to school. Like virtually all parents, she is not a responsible member of society.
 A Drop of Water in the Wide Ocean
This is a good insight into the malnutritional anthropology study of the women and children in Mali. At the very end, her work left me with the feeling that her work is just a drop of water in the wide ocean of the malnutrition dilemma worldwide. So much is needed to be done, yet the man power and the funding for this cause are very much lacking.
I read this book for my Human Diet class at UCB, and it took me a day to finish it. It is an easy read. The author however went overboard about her feelings and her financial situations, which weren't what I was expecting in an ethnographic work. She got a bit personal about her life too.
It is nothing new that Western countries' diplomats posted to the third world nations do live much well-off compared to the people in the countries that they are posted to. It just seems plain ironic to me in terms of the disparity of wealth among nations across the globe. It is just disheartening, but there is nothing we can do about it. We just hope that the situation improves as we progress => to alleviate poverty, hunger and disease.
 Excellent introduction to African life
I am not an anthropologist but a tourist who has visited Africa and is interested in learning more about African people. I found Katherine Dettwyler's book an excellent introduction to how real people live and deal with their lives in Africa. Dettwyler tells us how mothers and children interact, the way families view their children, what day-to-day life in rural Africa is really like. I found it fascinating especially because Dettwyler talks honestly about her reactions to what she found. This book shouldn't be restricted to anthropoogy students.
Good book read for an Anthropology course
I had to read this book, and a less then enjoyeable textbook, for a cultural anthropolgy course I just got done taking. This book presents various concepts important to anthropological field work in an interesting and an understandable way. Often times reading the examples found in Dettwyler's book, helped me understand some of the concepts "defined" in my other text. I personaly recomend it to anyone taking a course concering cultural anthropolgy or anyone wondering how anthropologists do field work in foreign places.
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