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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.
Some babies and toddlers in parts of West Africa are considered
spirit children-nonhumans sent from the forest to cause misfortune
and destroy the family. These are usually deformed or ailing
infants, or children whose births coincide with tragic events or
who display unusual abilities. Aaron R. Denham offers a nuanced
ethnographic study of this phenomenon in Northern Ghana that
examines both the motivations of the families and the structural
factors that lead to infanticide. He also turns the lens on the
prevailing misunderstandings about this controversial practice.
Denham offers vivid accounts of families' life-and-death decisions
that engage the complexity of the context, local meanings, and
moral worlds of those confronting a spirit child.
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