‘Spirit Children’: Care, Uncertainty and ‘Infanticide’

Sjaak Van Der Geest

doi:10.17157/mat.8.1.5192

Abstract

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Highlights

The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF), half a century ago a popular database for comparing and counting cultural traits and practices in more than 200 societies, tells us that infanticide occurred in the majority of cultures worldwide
People would refer to it with euphemisms such as ‘the child was born and has returned’ or ‘the child did not become well’. Those who spoke to me did not agree on the types of deformity that prompted infanticide, but all mentioned the child with six fingers on one hand; such a child was believed to bring misfortune to the family
Denham’s approach is an impressive attempt to produce a detailed, thick ethnography and to humanise the practice and to connect his readers with the experiences of people who struggle with questions of life or death with regards to children who are considered unfit for living. Connecting his readers to such experiences is achieved through his own connecting. He accompanied fieldworkers from a local NGO, AfriKids, which tries to help vulnerable families in northern Ghana, including families with a so-called ‘spirit child’, and which became directly involved in the struggles and uncertainties of these families

Summary

Introduction

The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF), half a century ago a popular database for comparing and counting cultural traits and practices in more than 200 societies, tells us that infanticide occurred in the majority of cultures worldwide. Denham’s approach is an impressive attempt to produce a detailed, thick ethnography and to humanise the practice and to connect his readers with the experiences of people who struggle with questions of life or death with regards to children who are considered unfit for living.

Results

Conclusion