The Art of Kebetu: Challenges, Rewards, and Growing Pains Associated with Open Ethnography

At the end of December, I had an article appear in Popular Anthropology Magazine. In the interest of supporting this fine publication, I'm going to link to the article here (PDF), rather than repost it. Also, be sure to check out the rest of the issue (Vol 4, No 2) here.

If you followed my tweets and blog posts from Dakar, Senegal in the summers of 2012 and 2013, this article is essentially a behind-the-scenes of that process - why I chose to blog, why I think it's important, how I choose what to share and what to keep to myself, and how my fieldblogging will change in the future. One component that I touch on in the article is the ethical implications of live-fieldnotes - something that I believe deserves to be fleshed out with a little more care than I had space for in the article. Overall, it's an ongoing and ever-changing process, and I fully expect to be joined by more and more anthropologists in the quest to disseminate ethnographic data as quickly as possible, so I appreciate any and all feedback. This is certainly a discussion worth having.

Gendered Health, Reproduction, and Biosociality: An Exploration of Senegalese Men's Health-Related Schemata and Praxis

Last summer, I fell in love with Senegal while studying French in Dakar and using that opportunity to research traditional medicine. At the end of this week, I am returning to Dakar for five weeks of ethnographic research into men’s reproductive health, behavior, and decision-making. Many of my questions are related to how the construction of gender overlays healthcare and reproduction. I also have a philosophical interest in parsing out the influences of Islamic, ethnic (Wolof, Serer, etc.), and French epistemologies and ontologies.

Like last summer, I intend to blog about my research while I’m there, except this time with more photos and probably some video too – stay tuned.

This would not be possible without the incredibly generous support from following people (in a semi-particular order):

Willow Rosen

Dr. Barbara Hoffman

Dr. Mamadou Seck; Abib and Malick Seck

Dr. Deirdre Mageean

Dr. Rosemary Sutton

Rick Jr. and Sue Powis

Dr. Maggie Jackson and the Department of Anthropology

David Rosen

Richard Sr. and Mary Jo Powis

Thadd and Lisa Evans

Joseph and Mary Wargo

Mary Lou Johnstone

Brian Johnstone and Carleen Almasy

Jeff Johnstone

Rev. Walt and Charlene Powis

Faith Jones

Marietta Smrdel and Cynthia L. Werle

Sue Fout

Lois Bryan

Chris Kraska, Natalia Buchwald, and Sydney Stark

Senegal 2012: Field Notes Digest (Part 2)

The Traditional Medicine Hospital at Keur Massar is more of a compound of specialized buildings, well groomed land, and a comprehensive garden of the world’s medicinal plants (and it’s growing). A sign out front lists some ailments they are capable of treating, probably the most common, which reads like a fast food menu. It also makes mention of the price structure: Consultations are 1000FCFA, and treatments are the same. I am told that in the event that a patient cannot afford either, they are more than welcome to make installments. The generous pay-what-you-can policy found at the guérisseur in Dakar might be missing here, but it’s understandable: Keur Massar is a self-sustained property where the plants are grown at the point of sale. One might think that the cheaper rates and wide-open rural space might be more attractive to those in need, but at this time of the year, the hospital may only see five to ten patients a day. Unfortunately, Keur Massar is about an hour and a half from downtown Dakar by autobus (or 3 hours, in my case), though the cost is only 400FCFA there and back. On the other hand, a trip to the guérisseur from my neighborhood could be 10 minutes at 2000FCFA by taxi or 45 minutes at 200FCFA by car-rapide – both prices being round-trip.

Senegal 2012: Field Notes Digest (Part 1)

I’ve been in Senegal for two weeks now. This is my first time to Africa, and it certainly won’t be my last. For the most part, it has been an easy transition, but I’d be lying if I said that my first couple days weren’t completely overwhelming. It is one thing to be a foreigner here, but I get the impression that my experience is strongly influenced by the fact that I am tubaab – a Wolof word that describes me as a Caucasian, and implies that I have wealth. Senegal isn’t special in that regard; people the world over tend to assume that “because you are white, you have money,” which is a phrase I often hear. The onslaught of vendors just takes some getting used to.