Dancing Skeleton

Please answer ONE of the following questions:

1. In Dancing Skeletons, Dettwyler states that, “Since my research involved documenting traditional infant
   feeding practices and their on effects on children’s growth, I usually didn’t interfere with the infant feeding
   practices of my informants” (1994:2). Is this an admirable attempt to objectivity, or ethically problematic? Is
   Dettwyler very successful at doing this?
2. At one point during her research, Dettwyler’s undergraduate research assistant, Heather, is shocked by a
   woman who has twelve living children. Why are large families both culturally and economically important in
   Mali? How does this relate to Western assumptions about how to solve global malnutrition?

Sample Solution