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69th out of 655 books
—
492 voters
Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa
1995 Margaret Mead Award winner! This personal account by a biocultural anthropologist illuminates important, not-soon-forgotten messages involving the more sobering aspects of conducting fieldwork among malnourished children in West Africa. With nutritional anthropology at its core, Dancing Skeletons presents informal, engaging and oftentimes dramatic stories from the fie...more
Paperback, 172 pages
Published
July 1st 1993
by Waveland Press
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A combination memoir and anthropological study. The author spent several years in the West African nation of Mali, researching malnutrition in infants and toddlers. She came to the conclusion that the problem is not so much inadequate food as inadequate education about food: the children were being fed, but they weren't getting a balanced diet and the adults believed "good" food (like meat, for example) was wasted on a child and was better off eaten by those who had worked to produce it. I don't...more
This book was on my reading list for the Cultural Anthropology course I took this past semester.
While "Dancing Skeletons" provided interesting meat for discussion in class, I was decidedly not fond of the book.
Dettwyler starts out her book with lots of complaining and whining, and seems to be begging the reader to have sympathy for her or to pity her. If you manage to get past the first few chapters of this (which is difficult, but possible), then it definitely becomes more interesting.
It was an...more
While "Dancing Skeletons" provided interesting meat for discussion in class, I was decidedly not fond of the book.
Dettwyler starts out her book with lots of complaining and whining, and seems to be begging the reader to have sympathy for her or to pity her. If you manage to get past the first few chapters of this (which is difficult, but possible), then it definitely becomes more interesting.
It was an...more
I found this to be an amazing book and would recommend it. This book is about the events, people and struggles that Katherine Dettwyler experienced during her trip to West Africa. Dettwyler was there doing a study of the people there related to children health in Mali. She wanted to study the malnutrition of the children and how they can improve.
This book was written from the perspective of the author and her personal accounts of what she saw, felt and understood about the culture. As an anthr...more
This book was written from the perspective of the author and her personal accounts of what she saw, felt and understood about the culture. As an anthr...more
I had to write a paper based on certain aspects of this book but instead turned it into an old fashion book report.
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Upon being assigned Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine A. Dettwyler, I was thrilled to read an anthropologist’s first-hand view of field work, as well as being given the chance to discover real life in Africa that is so creatively hidden in mass media. However, upon finishing the book, I was sorely disappointed and repeatedly flipped the book over to rer...more
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Upon being assigned Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine A. Dettwyler, I was thrilled to read an anthropologist’s first-hand view of field work, as well as being given the chance to discover real life in Africa that is so creatively hidden in mass media. However, upon finishing the book, I was sorely disappointed and repeatedly flipped the book over to rer...more
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I love this book. I first read it around 2002 or 2003 for a World Food Problems class at Baylor, but I kept my copy because the story was so compelling, and I recently had the chance to reread it strictly for pleasure. The book is a collection of a nutritional anthropologist's observations as she works in Mali, measuring people in a relatively urban community and in some smaller rural villages. She interviews women about feeding practices, infant mortality rates, and reproductive autonomy. The d...more
Absolutely terrible... I gave it one star for her occasional rants on the benefits of breast-feeding and vaginal (as opposed to elective c-section) births. Aside from the utterly rude and patronizing manner in which she describes her "subjects," what I found most troubling was the blatant omission of any mention of the history of french colonialism within Mali as a possible contributing factor to malnourishment. The idea that "the mothers just need to be educated about how to feed their children...more
An assignment for my medical anthropology class, this book infuriated me on so many levels that I feel compelled to write a pretty lengthy review on it.
First and foremost, my major complaint about this book is that throughout reading it, I could not figure out what the point of the book was... is it an ethnography? An autobiography? A how-to guide for surviving fieldwork? A treatise on the importance of nutrition? A work of fiction? (I know it's not, but I'll get to why I ask that later.) The s...more
First and foremost, my major complaint about this book is that throughout reading it, I could not figure out what the point of the book was... is it an ethnography? An autobiography? A how-to guide for surviving fieldwork? A treatise on the importance of nutrition? A work of fiction? (I know it's not, but I'll get to why I ask that later.) The s...more
Dettwyler complains a lot. The book sheds more light on the role of westerners in Africa than it does on African culture. From refusing to eat traditional food for fear of getting sick to emotional rants about African traditions, Dettwyler's assumes the classic role of an outsider and communicates African culture as "backward."
One thing I didn't like: it tends to provoke the "oh poor Africans" response. Avoid this reaction at all costs and you will find the text much more enlightening.
One thing I didn't like: it tends to provoke the "oh poor Africans" response. Avoid this reaction at all costs and you will find the text much more enlightening.
There were many things that I enjoyed about this book, but I especially liked Dettwyler's stories of the different ways of looking at the world: her as an American anthropologist and her informants as African women.
There was a fascinating discussion about female circumcision, differences of perpective while looking at a child with Down's syndrome.
This book gave me a lot to think about. Also, the writing style is enjoyable, humorous at times and empathetic to the world it is describing.
There was a fascinating discussion about female circumcision, differences of perpective while looking at a child with Down's syndrome.
This book gave me a lot to think about. Also, the writing style is enjoyable, humorous at times and empathetic to the world it is describing.
It has been several years since I read this non-fiction book, but it remains with me. Dettwyler is an anthropologist describing her experiences among the peoples of Mali, in Western Africa. It was one of the first books that opened my eyes to nonwestern ideas and practices. As I read of new perspectives, I considered them equally valid and sources of knowledge/wisdom from which I can learn. A passage about the unquestioning acceptance of an obviously syndromic child stuck out. My feelings about...more
I ordered this by mistake when I was taking Anthropology last year; I thought it was on the books list. I decided to read it anyways.
The only thing that I didn't like about this book was the mix of facts and her opinions/feelings about Mali and it's culture. I would have prefered more facts. Its a good read for such a small school book though.
The only thing that I didn't like about this book was the mix of facts and her opinions/feelings about Mali and it's culture. I would have prefered more facts. Its a good read for such a small school book though.
A good read by a brave and noble author who took her time to help the people in West Africa. I read this book for a class but it was eye opening and it was a good read and was in its way an inspiration of human good and human compassion.
I recommend Dancing Skeletons to every anthropology student as an enjoyable read and an exemplified ethnographic experience, but not for any in depth study of a particular subject.
Besides relying heavily on the Western sense of the narrative the book is entertaining and somewhat informative. Take the authors story with a grain of salt and be wary of the danger of the single narrative.
I do enjoy ethnographies and this one was very well written. The author chronicals her second trip to West Africa and the work she does in researching children's health.
Required reading when I studied abroad in Mali. I remember really liking it ... no idea what I would think if I went back to it today.
It was very interesting, but also a little bit infuriating in a few parts. Invokes God an awful lot for an anthropologist.
May 14, 2013
Ashley Hollon
added it
This book was a required reading for Anthropology. This is a well written account of Malians culture.
The whole thing was interesting, although I found myself questioning the author/anthropologist's decisions and behavior herself more than analyzing her work.
Feb 21, 2012
Lisa
added it
Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine Dettwyler (1993)
It was good enough to read for school, otherwise I'd never read it
beautifully well written book about a painful subject
Changed my life...or rather is changing it.
Fascinating.
I really enjoyed the narratives in this book. Dettwyler is a great writer, who is honest and compelling. Her reflexivity made me like her more. I also like how up front she was about the emotional and ethical conflicts she faced in the field. I'm only giving this three stars because she jumps around a ton and it often felt like she'd mention things, but never really fill you in. Overall, an interesting text.
Thought provoking book from an anthropologist view point. Anthropology is interesting & seeing how a culture does every living is fascinating. It truly takes a whole village to raise a child. They need clean water supply, basic hygiene, proper nutrition & adequate amounts, as well as immunizations. Enjoyed reading about her experience, it's more than a text book perspective but a real look at malnutrition.
I read this book as an assignment for my cultural anthropology class. Some of the students in my class had raved about it,so I was pretty excited to read it. Well, I ended up hating it. The author did a very poor job of writing this book. Most of the book was Dettwyler whining and complaining. There are a few interesting parts of the story, but I felt overall it was a waste of time.
This book was a class assignment but became a lot more to me than just homework. Dettwyler shows just how difficult the work of an anthropologist can be and how easy it can be to get wrapped up in the lives of the people being studied. She gives the people of Mali faces and names and makes them real. Do this homework for the class you have not had yet.
May 01, 2009
Toni
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anthropology enthusiasts, students, teachers,
Recommended to Toni by:
Professor Cavender
Shelves:
culture
Enjoyable enough for required reading in a class I am only mildly interested in. Seemed to skip around a lot, and had a whiny tone. Not very scientific, but offers a valuable glimpse into a culture I had only vaguely heard of.
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She is the author of Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa, and the co-editor of Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives, which includes her own two chapters "Beauty and the Breast: The Cultural Context of Breastfeeding in the United States," and "A Time to Wean: The Hominid Blueprint for a Natural Age of Weaning in Modern Human Populations." In 2003 she co-edited an anthropology reader...more
More about Katherine A. Dettwyler...
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Nov 20, 2010 08:36am