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“An Be Jigi”: Collective cooking, whole grains, and technology transfer in Mali

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/10851/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/facets-2017-0033
10.1139/facets-2017-0033
 
Title “An Be Jigi”: Collective cooking, whole grains, and technology transfer in Mali
 
Creator Bauchspies, W K
Diarra, F
Rattunde, F
Weltzien, E
Glenna, L
 
Subject Africa
Gender Research
Mali
 
Description This paper addresses how available resources, food security, technology, and culture are shaping the
choices rural Malian women are making to ensure the health, energy, and well-being of their families.
This research contributed to evaluating an eight-year research project (An Be Jigi) targeting improved
nutrition. The study, performed over four months, used semi-structured interviews of 120 women in
six villages in Mali to assess the identified issues with qualitative and quantitative approaches. This
paper describes the history of the An Be Jigi project, whole-grain processing techniques, and group
cooking for knowledge sharing with rural women for improved nutrition. Interviews revealed substantial
adoption of whole-grain processing techniques and women’s appreciation of the nutritional
benefits of those techniques. The women engaged in group cooking (cuisines collectives) appreciated
the activities and mentioned multiple benefits from using them. Women identified access to mills,
and to some extent the social stigma of laziness and poverty associated with whole-grain food, as limiting
factors of adoption. This study of women’s practices and perceptions regarding use of whole
grain tells a story of changing consumption habits being shaped by culture, technology, knowledge,
and available resources. Malian women are agents of change and care in their adoption of new techniques
and recipes for the improved nutrition of young children and households.
 
Date 2017-11
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/10851/1/An%20Be%20Jigi.pdf
Bauchspies, W K and Diarra, F and Rattunde, F and Weltzien, E and Glenna, L (2017) “An Be Jigi”: Collective cooking, whole grains, and technology transfer in Mali. FACETS, 2 (2). pp. 955-968. ISSN 2371-1671