Embodied Engineering: Gendered Labor, Food Security, and Taste in Twentieth-Century Mali

347 Pages·2021·3.094 MB·English

by  Laura Ann Twagira

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W and Taste in Twentieth Century Mali
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L A U R A A N N T W A G I R A
Embodied Engineering
New African Histories
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Embodied Engineering
Gendered Labor, Food Security, and Taste
in Twentieth- Century Mali
w
Laura Ann Twagira
OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESSw ATHENS, OHIO
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
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Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Twagira, Laura Ann, author.
Title: Embodied engineering : gendered labor, food security, and taste in twentieth-
century Mali / Laura Ann Twagira.
Other titles: New African histories series.
Description: Athens, Ohio : Ohio University Press, 2021. | Series: New African histo-
ries | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020050210 (print) | LCCN 2020050211 (ebook) | ISBN
9780821424414 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780821447338 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Mali. Office du Niger. | Women in agriculture— Mali. | Ag-
ricultural development projects— Mali. | Agricultural processing— Mali. |
Women— Mali— Economic conditions.
Classification: LCC HD6077.M42 T83 2021 (print) | LCC HD6077.M42 (ebook) |
DDC 333.76082096623— dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn .loc .gov /2020050210
LC ebook record available at https:// lccn. loc .gov /2020050211
In loving memory of Sekou Diarra,
Adam Bah Dagno,
and Fatouma Coulibaly

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
A Note on Language xv
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Making the Generous Cooking Pot, ca. 1890– 1920 25
Chapter 2 Body Politics, Taste Matters, and the Creation of the
Office du Niger, ca. 1920– 44 70
Chapter 3 “We Farmed Money”: Reshaping the Office and
Reclaiming Taste 106
Chapter 4 Reengineering the Office: Cooking with Metal Pots
and Threshing Machines 142
Chapter 5 Rice Babies and Food Aid: Reengineering Women’s
Labor and Taste during the Great Sahel Drought 177
Conclusion 211
Notes 217
Bibliography 295
Index 317
vii

Illustrations
MAPS
1.1. The Middle Niger region and nearby Volta territory in
the French Soudan, ca. 1905 33
2.1. The Office du Niger and surrounding region, ca. 1932– 47 74
3.1. Locations of regional markets, wild food resources, and sources
of wood fuel near the Kolongotomo region of the Office 120
3.2. Women’s gardens, trees, and wild resource claims near
Kokry and Nara 122
FIGURES
I.1. A woman carrying a metal basin during the Great
Sahel Drought 7
1.1. Pair of masked Ciwara dancers 29
1.2. Granary for rice in Baguinèda with man holding a plow 39
1.3. Saba fruits in a metal bucket 45
1.4. Hawa Fomba with nere seeds and soumbala 47
2.1. Young women pounding millet in an Office town 97
3.1. Women working at a well in Niono 114
3.2. Celebration with drummers in an Office town 141
4.1. Large- scale clearing of fields for irrigated agriculture 144
4.2. Metal pots in varying sizes showing the sides scrubbed
bright and the bottoms blackened by the cooking fire 152
ix