Anita Spring, Professor Dept. of Anthropology University of Florida

1. The Body: Health, Food, and Fitness in Ethiopia Anita Spring, Professor Dept. of Anthropology University of Florida Tadesse Mesfin: Here We Are

3. Population (m) 75.6 Per-capita GDP (PPP US$) 756 HDI rank ( /177) 170 Life expectancy (years) 47.8 Combined gross enrolment (%): 36 % of population under $2 per day 77.8 Cellular subscribers (per 1000) 3.0 Internet users (per 1000) 2.0 Corruption Perceptions Index 2006 (/163) Corruption Perceptions Index 2006 (/163) Corruption Perceptions Index 2006 (/163) 130 130 130 Press Freedom Index 2006 ( /168) Press Freedom Index 2006 ( /168) Press Freedom Index 2006 ( /168) 160 160 160 : Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2006 Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2006 Source:Transparency International Source:Transparency International Source:Transparency International Source: Reporters Without Borders Source: Reporters Without Borders Source: Reporters Without Borders

4. Questions • What are the body aesthetics? • Traditional, conventional • Contemporary • What is the healthy body? • What is the unhealthy body • What body variations are there by • Types of societies, rural-urban, poor-wealthy • What are the multiplicity of body-related customs?

5. Some of the multiplicity of body configurations The beautiful coffee server or entertainer “The tribal exotic” The result of famine and starvation The body augmented though FGC, etc. The rural poor: farmer and laborer The urban wealthy: professional, housewife The Olympic runner

6. Body problems for girls and adolescent females FGC: Infibulation, excision, clitoridectomy Early marriage Pregnancy at young age Fistula and incontinence Marriage by bride capture and rape Domestic violence Eshetu Tirunch: To Live or Not to Live (women experience men’s war and violence)

7. The body: traditional • Low Body Mass Index (BMI) for women • Small body size • High female morbidity and mortality • Female Genital Cutting (FGC) • Parturition: obstructed labor • Uvulectomy, tonsillectomy: venesection • HIV AIDS

8. The body, food, diet, nutrition • Gender-differential diet • Poor girls and women may get • Less protein • Fewer calories • Fewer meals • Restriction on foods during pregnancy • No effect for better income and food-secure farmers

9. “La Bella Figura” Well dressed and coifedBody and figure well presented

10. The “tribal” exotic: Hamer, Arbore, Afar, Borena, Mursi, Bume, Karo, Bodi, Ari

11. Mursi Woman lip plates: Cut for marriage girlRemove bottom front teeth(FGC-not practiced)

12. The face & body of famine

13. Refugees & displacedWomen and children: 75%-80% Poorly nourished Poor health conditionsHigh morbidity and mortality

14. Large numbers of internally displaced Ethiopians More women and childrenSame poor health and nutritionhttp://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900LargeMaps/SKAR-64GEP7?OpenDocument

15. Reproductive health and the body Total fertility: 6.1 (2000 - 2005) • was 7.0 in 1970s Population growth rate: 2.7%

16. The female body augmented: FGC Cultural aesthetic: clean, smooth, beautiful

17. Ethiopian school girl in meeting organized by NGO campaigning against FGC She is worried about getting a husband if she refuses to be circumcised Credit: IRIN Childbirth obstruction, can result in: fistulas tearing of vaginal and/or bladder wall chronic incontinence • POSSIBLE PHYSICAL SIDE EFFECTS • Pain, Shock • Hemorrhage • Damage to surrounding organs • Bladder/ Urethra Stones • Kidney Damage • Reproductive Tract Infections • Infertility • Excessive Scar Tissue • Urinary Tract infections • Intermittent Bleeding • Abscesses • Keloids & Dermoid Cysts

18. Women and menrefusing FGC: Donor projects

19. Early Marriage—12 yr old http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ethiopia_early_marriage.html Her mother asked that the Marriage Contract state a delay in consummation of the marriage until she was 15 years old but the elders omitted it

20. Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital treated >25,000 women since opening and 1,200 women a year • Obstructed labor: Childbirth injury leading to incontinence • Causes: Early marriage and pregnancy • FGC Oprah discussion on TV

21. Variables that affect to greater or lesser degree

22. Health Eyes on the Prize Averted infections are the ultimate goal What about HIV and AIDS?

23. HIV/AIDS overwhelming Ethiopia Total population 70.7 million Living with HIV/AIDS 3 million Adults 15-49 2 millionChildren 230,000 Overall prevalence 6.6%Urban 13.7%Rural 3.7% AIDS orphans 1.2 million Life expectancy Fallen to 45 years Hospital beds >50% to AIDS patients

24. HIV/AIDS Infection in Ethiopia • 91% of infections in adults 15-49 years • 21.1% prevalence in women 15-24 years • As high as 25% among pregnant women in urban areas • 170,000 HIV+ women give birth each year • 60,000 of their newborns infected through MTCT

25. HIV/AIDS theater group in Awassa

26. Practices that involve blood, cause additional vulnerability for the spread of HIV/Aids

27. HIV/AIDS risks

28. Physical activity: traditional, rural • Walking, carrying--water & fuelwood • Agriculture • Planting • Weeding • Harvesting • Marketing • Herding • Food processing • Dancing!!! • Shoulder • Neck rolls

29. Water and fuelwood carrying on back (not on head) • Back injuries & deformations with age • Bent, not upright posture

30. Diet: Grains: more famine–prone (draught) Enset: more famine–proof

31. Draught, poverty, distribution systems • Malnutrition: mothers and children Ethiopia faces 300,000 malnutrition deaths

32. Enset: Anti-famine crop 60 trees feeds 6 people for a year

33. Wealth determines diet and health

34. Old techniques No access to land No access to credit or capital Labor for their husbands New techniques Microcredit and microfinance projects New income projects Farming techniques Improved food processing and animal husbandry Women and agriculture

35. Global business women Small businesses EntrepreneurshipMicro to Global Micro-entrepreneurs Street vendors, craft makers

36. Merkato Addis Ababa Largest open air market in Africa • Most women are in informal, micro-sector • Some are large, informal sector traders

37. Informal sector: women vendors in towns, urban areas, rural markets

38. Women-owned small industries related to the body Textiles, Clothing and tailoring, Food products (injera), Feminine hygiene, Beauty salon and products

39. Retail: Restaurant, Groceries, Super markets

40. Konimix Business Center Import-Export trading

41. Crafts: Kembetta potters, Weaver

42. Agricultural Projects some Microfinance & Microcredit

43. Medium and Large-scaleTraders in the Informal sector ___________________ Ethiopian Women Exporters’ US$250,000 to $1.2 Million Per year in goods

44. Formal Sector small-medium textile manufacturer--Ethiopia Contracts with Ethiopian Airways and DHL

45. Regional Enterprise Networks WAEN: 350 members West African Enterprise Network SAEN: 100 members Southern African Enterprise Network EAEN: 60 members East African Enterprise Network WAEN 1993 EAEN 1998 SAEN 1998

46. In October 2000, Delegates from 31 Countries met in Ethiopia to form the Africa Enterprise Network(AEN)

47. Characteristics of Ethiopian AEN Members • All escaped political turmoil in Ethiopia and lived/were educated in the U.S. • All are men • Keep in close contact with each other • Upper class socioeconomic status

48. Types of Businessesin EAEN • Rose exporter • CEO of Ernst & Young-Africa • Thread making factory • Coffee factory • Retail store: electronics & appliances • Bottled water • Transportation company, commercial buses

49. Old factory thread and textile factory from socialist days taken over by EAEN member

50. Business Enablers  Relative domestic political calm  Entrepreneurial culture  Overseas contacts/networks esp. in U.S., Europe, and Canada for marketing and supply