Spirit Children Illness, Poverty, and Infanticide in Northern Ghana [Hardcover]

In parts of West Africa, some babies and toddlers are considered spirit childrennonhumans 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.

An ethnography of the spirit children phenomenon in northern Ghana, placing infanticide in both a deeply nuanced local context and a global public health framework.

A brilliant, sensitive, and moving book about the heartbreaking phenomenon of infanticide. This is a book to be taken seriously by hospital personnel, public health policymakers, NGO workers, and anyone interested in the fate of the world's most vulnerable young children. Alma Gottlieb, coauthor ofA World of Babies

A skillful ethnography of the spirit child phenomenon in northern Ghanachildren who fail to thrive, are feared to harm their families, and therefore should be 'sent back.' This insightful, theoretically rich analysis offers a nuanced ecological, economic, and cultural explanation of maternal attachment. John M. Janzen, author ofThe Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire

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