Shifting boundaries of fertility change in Southwestern Nigeria

Anthropologists and demographers rely on distinctive methodologies and forms of evidence even while they share a common interest in explaining fertility change. This paper proposes a cultural anthropological approach that focuses on the process whereby meanings associated with practices and things are reinterpreted over time. Using the image of shifting boundaries of kinship relations, it examines changing interpretations of three fundamental aspects of social life—family land, marriage, and foster parenthood—in the Ekiti area of Southwestern Nigeria which suggest an attenuation of the mutual obligations of extended kin. While these reinterpretations have moral associations that legitimate practices supporting fertility decline, political and economic uncertainty may counter this process

Polio in Nigeria

Poliomyelitis, or polio as it is commonly known, is a disease caused by an enterovirus found throughout the world. Although it is often associated with paralysis of one or more limbs, it is more common for children to experience asymptomatic cases of the disease, which convey life‐long immunity. While lameness associated with polio has long been known in Nigeria, during the colonial period immunization efforts focused mainly on expatriates. Later, with the implementation of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation during the 1980s, polio vaccination was included as part of primary health care. However, it was only after the 1988 World Health Assembly vote to eradicate polio worldwide that intensive efforts to vaccinate all children under five for polio began. Initial efforts, which focused only on polio vaccination, may be characterized as an “override approach.” In 2006, Nigeria had the greatest number of confirmed cases of polio worldwide. However, with the implementation of a more “collaborative approach,” incorporating other vaccines and health incentives such as bed nets, the number of polio cases declined. By the end of 2010, case numbers had declined dramatically and these numbers remain low, reflecting government, NGO, and community efforts to work together to end polio transmission in Nigeria.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92415/1/j.1478-0542.2012.00859.x.pd

Condom use and the popular press in Nigeria

The increased acceptability and use of condoms by men in southwestern Nigeria is reflected in joking references to condoms in the comic-style popular press. Yet these references display an ambivalence about condoms that is mirrored in survey data and in interviews regarding condom use by rural Ekiti Yoruba men. This ambivalence, which is often couched in terms of health, has implications for the acceptance of government-sponsored HIV/AIDS-related educational programs. Because of the irreverence of comic-style newspapers and the ‘unofficial’ nature of their authority which coincides with popular attitudes about health programs, they have a credibility that could be useful in educating adolescents about sexually-transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS

The Transformation of Men into Masquerades and Indian Madras into Masquerade Cloth in Buguma, Nigeria

The Kalahari Ijo people of the Niger Delta area of southeastern Nigeria use a group of dark indigo-blue cloths with white patterning to cover the faces of masquerade performers. Subsumed under the name of alubite (masquerade cloth) are at least three distinct types: (1) ukara cloth, an indigo-resist of imported muslin, stitched and dyed by Igbo craftsmen, (2) alubite cloth, a gauze-weave, also an indigo-resist, but of unknown provenance, and (3) pelete bite, an Indian madras from which threads are cut and pulled by Kalahari women to form a new pattern. The first two types of cloth apparently come from non-Kalahari sources. The third, pelete bite, transforms dark blue and white imported madras, using local technology, into a patterned masquerade cloth for which there is a cultural demand. We focus on this transformation, examining particular types of Indian madras considered appropriate for this adaptation and the ways that these cloths are altered (i.e., cut and pulled), their relationship in color and design to ukara and to the other alubite cloths, and the significance of the triangular motif, alu, for depicting water spirits in masquerade performances

The Transformation of Men into Masquerades and Indian Madras into Masquerade Cloth in Buguma, Nigeria

The Kalahari Ijo people of the Niger Delta area of southeastern Nigeria use a group of dark indigo-blue cloths with white patterning to cover the faces of masquerade performers. Subsumed under the name of alubite (masquerade cloth) are at least three distinct types: (1) ukara cloth, an indigo-resist of imported muslin, stitched and dyed by Igbo craftsmen, (2) alubite cloth, a gauze-weave, also an indigo-resist, but of unknown provenance, and (3) pelete bite, an Indian madras from which threads are cut and pulled by Kalahari women to form a new pattern. The first two types of cloth apparently come from non-Kalahari sources. The third, pelete bite, transforms dark blue and white imported madras, using local technology, into a patterned masquerade cloth for which there is a cultural demand. We focus on this transformation, examining particular types of Indian madras considered appropriate for this adaptation and the ways that these cloths are altered (i.e., cut and pulled), their relationship in color and design to ukara and to the other alubite cloths, and the significance of the triangular motif, alu, for depicting water spirits in masquerade performances

The Transformation of Men into Masquerades and Indian Madras into Masquerade Cloth in Buguma, Nigeria

The Kalahari Ijo people of the Niger Delta area of southeastern Nigeria use a group of dark indigo-blue cloths with white patterning to cover the faces of masquerade performers. Subsumed under the name of alubite (masquerade cloth) are at least three distinct types: (1) ukara cloth, an indigo-resist of imported muslin, stitched and dyed by Igbo craftsmen, (2) alubite cloth, a gauze-weave, also an indigo-resist, but of unknown provenance, and (3) pelete bite, an Indian madras from which threads are cut and pulled by Kalahari women to form a new pattern. The first two types of cloth apparently come from non-Kalahari sources. The third, pelete bite, transforms dark blue and white imported madras, using local technology, into a patterned masquerade cloth for which there is a cultural demand. We focus on this transformation, examining particular types of Indian madras considered appropriate for this adaptation and the ways that these cloths are altered (i.e., cut and pulled), their relationship in color and design to ukara and to the other alubite cloths, and the significance of the triangular motif, alu, for depicting water spirits in masquerade performances

Mass Producing Food Traditions for West Africans Abroad

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65677/1/aa.2007.109.4.616.pd

Chasing Polio in Pakistan: Why the World's Largest Public Health Initiative May Fail . Svea Closser , Nashville : Vanderbilt University Press , 2010 ; 232 pp.

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99055/1/maq12045.pd

Hausa Hand-Embroidery and Local Development in Northern Nigeria

Introduction The Hausa people of Northern Nigeria have long been known for their production of voluminous robes known as babban riga (Heathcote 1972; Kriger 1988; Lamb and Holmes 1980; Perani and Wolff 1999; Picton and Mack 1979), which are handembroidered in a range of embroidery stitches, materials (mainly cotton and silk), styles, and designs (e.g., fig.1). Until recently, the embroidery of these robes was primarily done by men (Heathcote 1972, 1979). However, women have taken up this work (fig. 2) in the past twenty years, as men have turned to machine embroidery and other occupations, though women generally sell their robes through male relations or dealers. This paper considers the situation of Hausa women who hand-embroider in one of the major centers for hand-embroidery in Northern Nigeria, the old, walled section of the town of Zaria, known as Zaria City or Birnin Zazzau. Robes and kaftans, both handembroidered and machine-embroidered that are produced in Zaria City, are available in local shops and are marketed throughout Nigeria (fig. 3a-e). In other words, the production and marketing of these garments is big business and is the major occupation of many men and some women in Zaria City. For these Zaria City women, hand-embroidery (dinkin hannu) is an important source of income and more accessible without a large cash outlay than other occupations open to them as one Zaria City woman explained: Before I was selling soup ingredients but now I don’t have money to buy them. But hand-embroidery, you can do it for people [without needing capital] and get money. And especially for us women who stay at home, it is good for us (Interview: QA-3, Zaria City, July 2002). This woman is referring to the practice of seclusion by married Muslim Hausa women (Callaway 1987; Schildkrout 1983), whose respectability (mutunci) rests on their staying at home during the day, while going out under cover of darkness—to visit and pay condolence calls as well as go to Islamic schools at night. Hand-embroidery of babban riga is a particularly suitable occupation for these women as they can work in their homes. However, as will be seen, this situation puts women at a disadvantage when it comes to marketing, particularly if they are producing robes on their own and not doing piece work for someone else. In such cases, they are at a double disadvantage. First, they are subject to the vagaries of the market, as one woman noted: Before, if you take a babban riga to the tailor to sew it, before he is finished he will find someone to buy it…But now there is no such thing unless you are lucky and you have people like those who have titles [i.e., are rich], who will buy them from you, then you’ll get a profit (Interview: FEAP-RI-4, Zaria City, July 2002). Second, they face the problem of the honesty of those who are selling robes for them. For example, one woman had to take a man to court to recover some of the money from a robe he had taken to sell for her. The issue of marketing will be discussed in a later section of this paper. Despite these problems, hand-embroidery has become a principal occupation for Zaria City women, who have used capital provided by government programs to buy the necessary materials (imported cotton brocade, locally made cotton muslin backing, thread) and labor to produce babban riga robes. This paper examines two such government micro-credit programs, the Federal Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP) and the Nigerian Agricultural Co-op and Rural Development Bank Ltd. (NACRDB), and their consequences for women embroiderers as well as one nongovernmental program, Queen Amina Embroidery, started by the author to market handembroidered items for sale in the U.S. Before discussing these programs for the craftproduction as sources of income for these women—which also reflect some of the larger problems associated with artisan enterprises more generally—the specifics of these three programs are discussed in the following section