Watu kama sisi: they are not ghosts, but just like us - awareness raising about albinism in Tanzanian villages (original) (raw)
Related papers
People with Albinism and Humanitarian NGOs in Tanzania: Identities between Local and Global Worlds
This photo essay discusses the interactions between international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governmental organizations on the one hand, and local populations and people with albinism on the other, in Tanzania. From the mid-2000s onward, international attention started to be drawn to the aggressions toward, and the murders of, people with albinism in the northwestern part of Tanzania (Ntetema 2008). To date, around 74 individuals with the condition are said to have lost their lives (Smith 2015; Mlacha 2015; Shigongo 2015). Since the increase in attention to such issues, national health organizations as well as international NGOs have begun to carry out awareness campaigns on behalf of people with albinism. At the same time, they have implemented humanitarian aid programs, distributing sunglasses and sunscreen. Some organizations have also distributed grants and scholarships to allow people with albinism to pursue their education. The following essay presents connections between these supra-local actors who are participating in the global flow of (bio)medical and human rights campaigns about albinism, and persons with albinism themselves who, instead of simply being passively exposed to such discourses, actively appropriate them in the making and remaking of their identities. In this regard, people with albinism capitalize on the global flow of (bio)medical and human rights campaigns on their behalf in order to enhance their inclusion within their families and local communities, while attempting to redefine ideas of normalcy and able-bodiedness in Tanzanian society at large. At the same time, this process of appropriation incorporates previous conceptions of albinism derived from religious explanations, especially at the rural level, which has not been deeply reached by governmental and international awareness campaigns.
AM Rivista della Società Italiana di Antropologia Medica/ Journal of the Italian Society for Medical Anthropology, 2020
After the spread of media news about the attacks against people with albinism in Tanzania, humanitarian activism and media debates have accelerated the emergence and production of discourses about people with the condition in the country. Victimhood,deservingness and equivalence of albinism with disability represent three of the most recurring media and humanitarian narratives. Based on data collected over 19 months of fieldwork in Tanzania, the present article explores how discourses and ideas about albinism have circulated among and been reformulated by people with albinism to deconstruct shared conceptions of normalcy and affirm their agency in the Tanzanian public arena. The ethnographic material shows in which multiple ways the intertwinement of global actions and everyday practices related to albinism have strengthened already-existing political subjectivities, (re)shaped political claims, and articulated ideas of (dis)belonging.
Labeling albinism: language and discourse surrounding people with albinism in Tanzania
Disability and Society, 2015
This article is based on a qualitative study that set out to analyze the labels and terms attached to 28 people affected by albinism in villages in Kilolo district, Tanzania. Even though national and international attention to killings of people with albinism has attempted to improve general knowledge of albinism and reduce discrimination, most of the community members within the study had little knowledge of the (bio)medical explanations for albinism and tended to marginalize people with albinism. Framed within a wider moral discourse on illness, disability and socially appropriate behavior, albinism is mostly considered to be God’s will or the consequence of past misdeeds within the family, and many of the existing labels for people with albinism express such ideas.
Albinism in Tanzania: a Human Rights Issue. An Experience of Monitoring the 'White Blacks'
This study provides a critical analysis of the current situation faced by people with albinism in Tanzania. It considers the problems daily faced by them and has the ultimate goal of demonstrating that these individuals do not enjoy the same rights as other people. The surplus value of this work is to be based on a research on the field and to be inspired on Human Rights Monitoring principles and techniques.
Perceptions on People with Albinism in Urban Tanzania: Implications for Social Inclusion
Journal of Advocacy, Research and Education, 2018
This article analyses the perceptions of people from urban Tanzania about individuals with albinism. It attempts to evaluate people's understanding of albinism, their attitudes towards individuals with the condition, and perceived reasons for their inhumane treatment. The findings reported in this article were gathered from forty-seven participants from Dar es Salaam region who were purposefully selected for the study. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaire were used for data collection. Findings have indicated that to a larger extent, respondents had a poor understanding of albinism. However, on the average they felt comfortable having individuals with the condition around them. Nonetheless, respondents also had mixed responses regarding marrying people with albinism. Congruent with the existing literature, the murder are linked to superstitious practices and negative beliefs. In advancing the available literature, a discussion of these findings is...
Africans with albinism experience stigma and discrimination as people with white skin in black societies, and as people with disabilities of low vision or blindness and susceptibility to contracting skin cancers. A more recent form of discrimination is attacks against people with albinism, only reported by news media in Tanzania since 2006. Violence in the Great Lakes district appears to be driven by traditional 'witchdoctors' and carried out by contract killers to meet a market for albino body parts along an axis of wealth and poverty. This paper discusses how discrimination and violence against people with albinism, especially children, is portrayed in Swahili and English Tanzanian news articles of 2008-2012. A content analysis reveals that coverage is most commonly framed in terms of law enforcement and national shame, reflecting sourcing from court and police reports and politicians' statements, with some human rights framing. This analysis also shows how people with albinism are portrayed as 'skin-disabled', humans with rights and as economic commodities, and their attackers as subhuman and betrayers of the nation. Although such violence is seen as shameful, Tanzanian media provides public space for African people to debate and shape knowledge about the impact of cultural and economic development on disadvantaged persons with albinism.
Albinism: Awareness, Attitudes and Level of Albinos’ Predicament in Sukumaland, Tanzania
In Tanzania, persons with albinism (PWA), continue to be less valued, rejected, attacked and killed for ritual purposes. This study examined the situation of PWA and their households resulting from killings and attacks on them. Specifically, the study assessed the level of awareness, attitudes towards albinism and PWA and level of predicament felt by members of households with PWA. An albinism understanding test and attitudinal scales (Likert and Semantic differential scales) were used to determine attitudes towards albinism and level of dilemma felt. A linear regression model was used to determine the impacts of various variables on the level of predicament. Knowledge on albinism was found to be moderate. Levels of awareness were significantly associated with respondents’ age (p = 0.004), sex (p = 0.017), education level (p < 0.0001), religion (p < 0.001) and ethnic group (p = 0.025). Four-fifths of the respondents (80%) had negative attitudes towards albinism and PWA. Unfavourable attitude was highly associated with education level and occupation (p < 0.001). Level of PWA predicament was higher among household members being significantly impacted positively by level of albinism awareness (β = 0.500), but negatively impacted by attitude towards albinism (β = -313) and age (β = -0.191). Age, education, sex and belief determined level of knowledge on albinism. Education level determined attitudes of respondents. Albinism awareness determined the level of predicament felt. The fight against negative beliefs and attitudes towards albinism requires properly designed albinism awareness creation program.
Living a “normal” life. Perceptions and practices of albinism in the wake of humanitarianism
Vizio di Forma/ Inherent Vice. Minority Reports. Cultural Disability Studies. Mimesis Editore, 2017
The present article highlights ideas, discourses, and practices of people with albinism in the wake of humanitarian actions and (inter)national media debates about the stigma and social issues they face in Tanzania. Based on 11 months of qualitative research, the analysis reveals how perceptions of albinism are linked to moral/religious and local ideas, global circulation of humanitarian practices and (bio)medical information on the congenital condition. Therefore, the ethnographic findings demonstrate that values originating at the global level and (bio)medical explanations of albinism influence how people with albinism perceive and make sense of the congenital condition.
Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 2020
It cannot be denied that myths and superstitions have endured through history and that people have been affected by them since the beginning of time. Superstitious beliefs and myths that result in the victimization of persons with albinism (PWA) are centuries old, are present in cultural attitudes and practised around the world. In Africa and in Tanzania in particular, PWAs have also been targeted because of harmful speculation and unfounded myths which place their lives at risk. As members of society PWA have human rights that need to be protected against any kind of violation, particularly against being killed, tortured and discriminated against. This article analyses various legal provisions that protect the rights of PWA as articulated in various UN covenants and conventions as well as regional treaties and national laws. Secondary data are consulted to examine the extent of the erroneous beliefs which heavily fuel the persecution and killing of PWA. It is found that there are deep-seated myths, superstitions and harmful cultural beliefs the existence of which seems to pose a serious obstacle to the implementation of the law and the protection of the rights of PWA in Tanzania. The article recommends awareness-raising and education in general for Tanzanian society as an approach towards the protection of PWA.