Table Of ContentAfrican Arguments
Written by experts with an unrivalled knowledge of the continent,
African Arguments is a series of concise, engaging books that address
the key issues currently facing Africa. Topical and thought-provoking,
accessible but in-depth, they provide essential reading for anyone
interested in getting to the heart of both why contemporary Africa is
the way it is and how it is changing.
African Arguments Online
African Arguments Online is a website managed by the Royal African
Society, which hosts debates on the African Arguments series and
other topical issues that affect Africa: africanarguments.org
Series editors
Richard Dowden, Royal African Society
Alex de Waal, Executive Director, World Peace Foundation
Alcinda Honwana, Open University
Managing editor
Stephanie Kitchen, International African Institute
Editorial board
Emmanuel Akyeampong, Harvard University
Tim Allen, London School of Economics and Political Science
Akwe Amosu, Open Society Institute
Breyten Breytenbach, Gorée Institute
Peter da Costa, journalist and development specialist
William Gumede, journalist and author
Abdul Mohammed, InterAfrica Group
Robert Molteno, editor and publisher
Titles already published
Alex de Waal, AIDS and Power
Tim Allen, Trial Justice
Raymond W. Copson, The United States in Africa
Chris Alden, China in Africa
Tom Porteous, Britain in Africa
Julie Flint and Alex de Waal, Darfur: A New History of a Long War
Jonathan Glennie, The Trouble with Aid
Peter Uvin, Life after Violence: A People’s Story of Burundi
Bronwen Manby, Struggles for Citizenship in Africa
Camilla Toulmin, Climate Change in Africa
Orla Ryan, Chocolate Nations
Theodore Trefon, Congo Masquerade
Léonce Ndikumana and James Boyce, Africa’s Odious Debts
Mary Harper, Getting Somalia Wrong?
Neil Carrier and Gernot Klantschnig, Africa and the War on Drugs
Alcinda Honwana, Youth and Revolution in Tunisia
Marc Epprecht, Sexuality and Social Justice in Africa
Lorenzo Cotula, The Great African Land Grab?
Michael Deibert, The Democratic Republic of Congo
Adam Branch and Zachariah Mampilly, Africa Uprising
Celeste Hicks, Africa’s New Oil
Morten Jerven, Africa: Why Economists Get It Wrong
Theodore Trefon, Congo’s Environmental Paradox
Forthcoming titles
Louisa Lombard, State of Rebellion: Violence and Intervention in the
Central African Republic
Keith Breckenridge, Mining, Power and Politics in South Africa:
Rethinking the African Resource Curse
Odd-Helge Fjelstad, Wilson Prichard and Mick Moore, Taxing Africa
Kris Berwouts, War and Failed Peace in Eastern Congo
Published by Zed Books and the IAI with the support of the
following organizations:
The principal aim of the International African Institute is to
promote scholarly understanding of Africa, notably its changing soci-
eties, cultures and languages. Founded in 1926 and based in London,
it supports a range of seminars and publications including the journal
Africa.
www.internationalafricaninstitute.org
Now more than a hundred years old, the Royal African Society today
is Britain’s leading organization promoting Africa’s cause. Through
its journal, African Affairs, and by organizing meetings, discussions
and other activities, the society strengthens links between Africa and
Britain and encourages understanding of Africa and its relations with
the rest of the world.
www.royalafricansociety.org
The World Peace Foundation, founded in 1910, is located at the
Fletcher School, Tufts University. The Foundation’s mission is to
promote innovative research and teaching, believing that these are
critical to the challenges of making peace around the world, and should
go hand in hand with advocacy and practical engagement with the
toughest issues. Its central theme is ‘reinventing peace’ for the twenty-
first century.
www.worldpeacefoundation.org
About the author
Paul Richards is an anthropologist with over forty-five years’ experi-
ence of living and working in West Africa. He is emeritus professor of
technology and agrarian development at Wageningen University in the
Netherlands and adjunct professor at Njala University in central Sierra
Leone. His previous books include No Peace, No War: An Anthropology
of Contemporary Armed Conflicts (2005).
E B O L A
HOW A PEOPLE’S SCIENCE
HELPED END AN EPIDEMIC
PAUL RICHARDS
In association with
International African Institute
Zed Books Royal African Society
LONDON World Peace Foundation
Ebola: How a People’s Science Helped End an Epidemic was first published in 2016
by Zed Books Ltd, The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London SE11 5RR, UK.
www.zedbooks.net
www.internationalafricaninstitute.org
www.royalafricansociety.org
www.worldpeacefoundation.org
Copyright © Paul Richards 2016
The right of Paul Richards to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
Typeset in Haarlemmer by seagulls.net
Index: [email protected]
Cover design: Jonathan Pelham
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of Zed Books Ltd.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78360-859-1 hb
ISBN 978-1-78360-858-4 pb
ISBN 978-1-78360-860-7 pdf
ISBN 978-1-78360-861-4 epub
ISBN 978-1-78360-862-1 mobi
To Esther Yei Mokuwa, and all citizens of the three Ebola
epidemic countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, in
acknowledgement of what they endured, and what they learned.
À Esther Yei Mokuwa et à tous les citoyens des trois pays touchés
par l’épidémie d’Ebola : Guinée, Liberia et Sierra Leone, en
reconnaissance de ce qu’ils ont enduré et de ce qu’ils ont appris.
CONTENTS
Figures and tables ...................................................... x
Acknowledgements ................................................... xi
Introduction ........................................................... 1
1. The world’s first Ebola epidemic ................................13
2. The epidemic’s rise and decline .................................29
3. Washing the dead: does culture spread Ebola? ................. 51
4. Ebola in rural Sierra Leone: a technography ....................69
5. Burial technique ................................................95
6. Community responses to Ebola ............................... 121
Conclusion: strengthening an African people’s science ............ 145
Postscript ............................................................ 151
Appendices: evidence and testimony from Ebola-affected community
members (Chapter 5) ................................................ 153
Notes ................................................................160
References ...........................................................169
Index ................................................................174
