Gender, Intersectionality and Disease

the Consumption of Bat Meat in the Mount Cameroon Region

Authors

  • Efuet Simon Akem University of Buea Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/ppc.27904

Keywords:

bushmeat, West Africa, Central Africa, ebola, demographics, public health, intersectonality, food and gender, bats, ethnography, gender roles, trapping

Abstract

This paper based on fieldwork and quantitative analysis highlights potential links between human–bat activities and the established lines of Ebola disease using an intersectional approach. The main research questions underlying the paper are i) Why are Africans (especially West and Central) hunting and eating bush meat despite concerns about Ebola? ii) How do the local people around Mount Cameroon go about hunting bat? iii) What is the place of gender in these activities as powered by the theory of intersectionality?

Author Biography

  • Efuet Simon Akem, University of Buea

    Efuet Simon Akem is an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Buea in Cameroon. He received his doctorate in social anthropology from the University of Yaounde. He has done extensive fieldwork, particularly in the Mount Cameroon region.

References

Aina, I. Olabisi 1998. ‘Women, Culture and Society’, in Amadu Sesay and Adetanwa Odebiyi (eds), Nigerian Women in Society and Development. Ibadan: Dokun Publishing House.

Awono, A., Olufunso, S.A., Eba’a Atyi, R. & Levang, P. 2014. ‘Tenure and participation in local REDD+ projects: Insights from Southern Cameroon’, Journal of Environmental Science & Policy 35: 76–86.

Bird, C. E., & Rieker, P. P. 1999. ‘Gender matters: an integrated model for understanding men’s and women’s health’, Journal of Social Science & Medicine, www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed (retrieved 08-09-2016).

Bulte E. H., Horan R.D. 2002. ‘Does human population growth increase wildlife harvesting? An economic assessment’, Journal of Wildlife Management 6:574–580.

Chan E. H., et al. 2010. ‘Global capacity for emerging infectious disease detection’, National Academy of Science, USA 107. http//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/MPC3003006/ (retrieved 08-09-2016).

Daszak P., Cunningham A.A., & Hyatt A.D. 2000. ‘Emerging infectious diseases of wildlife – threats to biodiversity and human health’, Science. Journal of Social Science & Medicine, www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed (retrieved 08-09-2017).

De Wasseige C., Devers D., de Merken P., Eba’a Atyi R., Nasi R., Mayaux P. 2010. Les forêts du Bassin du Congo: état des forêts 2008. Brussels, Belgium : EU Publications Office.

Fa, John, et al. 2000. ‘Bushmeat Markets on Bioko Island as a Measure of Hunting Pressure’, Conservation Biology 14, 6 1602–1613. www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed. (retrieved 08-09-2017).

Georges-Courbot M.C., et al. (1997a). ‘Isolation and partial molecular characterization of a strain of Ebola virus during a recent epidemic of viral haemorrhagic fever in Gabon’, Lancet 349, 181.

Georges-Courbot M.C., et al. (1997b). ‘Isolation and phylogenetic characterization of Ebola viruses causing different outbreaks in Gabon’, Emerging Infectious Diseases 3, 59–62.

GFA ENVEST 2008. http://pwww.cifor.org/redd-case-book/case-reports/cameroon/redd-around-mount-cameroon-southwest-region-cameroon/ retrieved, August, 2017.

Gupta G.R. 2000. ‘Gender, Sexuality, and HIV/AIDS: the what, the why, and the how, Plenary Address for the XIIIth International AIDS Conference, Durban, South Africa’, Canadian HIV AIDS Policy & Law Review 5(4) 86–93.

Hahn B.H., Shaw G.M., de Cock K.M., and Sharp P.M. 2000. ‘AIDS as a zoonosis: scientific and public health implications’. Science 287, 607–614.

Hayman D.T.S., et al. 2010. ‘Long-term survival of an urban fruit bat seropositive for Ebola and Lagos bat viruses’, PLoS ONE 5(8). www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed (retrieved 08-09-2017).

Jones K.E., et al. 2008. ‘Global trends in emerging infectious diseases’. Nature, 451, 990–993.

Karshima N.S. 2012. ‘Tackling the Problems of Emergence, Re-Emergence and Maintenance of Zoonoses by Wildlife Reservoirs in the Twenty First Century’, Journal of Veterinary Advances 3. 103. 10.5455/jva.20130331093159 (retrieved 20, June 2017).

Kilpatrick A.M., Daszak P., Goodman S.J., Rogg H., Kramer L.D., Cedeño V., Cunningham A.A. 2006a. ‘Predicting pathogen introduction: West Nile virus spread to Galápagos’, Conservation Biology. www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed. (retrieved 08-09-2016).

Le Guenno, B., et al. 1995. ‘Isolation and partial characterization of a new strain of Ebola virus’, Lancet 345 1271–4.

LeRoy E.M., et al. (2002). ‘Re-emergence of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Gabon’, Lancet 359, 712.

Leroy E.M., et al. 2004. ‘Multiple Ebola virus transmission events and rapid decline of central African wildlife’, Science 303 (5656):387–90.

Ritzer, George 2000. Sociological Theory. McGraw-Hill, 2000.

Singer, Merrill 2014. Anthropology of Infectious Disease. Walnut Creek, CA, USA: Left Coast Press.

Springer K., et al. 2011. ‘Beyond a catalogue of differences: A theoretical frame and good practice guidelines for researching sex/gender in human health’, Social Science and Medicine 74. 1817–24. www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed (retrieved 08-09-2016).

Street, Nicholas 2006. HIV/AIDS and Gender Issues. Canada: Ottawa press.

Suresh R. & Dashrath M. 2015. ‘A Review on Transmission of Ebola Virus Disease’, available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275099344 (accessed April. 31, 2017).

WHO, August 2014. ‘Facts and Impacts of Ebola Virus’, http://today.lbl.gov/facts-and-impacts-of-Ebola-virus/ (retrieved March, 2016).

Wolfe N.D., et al. 2005. ‘Bushmeat hunting, deforestation, and prediction of zoonoses emergence’, Emerging Infectious Diseases 11(12) 1822–1827.

Published

2019-10-01

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Gender, Intersectionality and Disease: the Consumption of Bat Meat in the Mount Cameroon Region. (2019). Petits Propos Culinaires, 56-72. https://doi.org/10.1558/ppc.27904