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Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 1
doi: 10.1111/jir.12118
volume 59 part 1 pp 1–10 january 2015
The stories of ‘snake children’: killing and abuse of children with developmental disabilities in West Africa Mojdeh Bayat College of Education, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA
Abstract Background Killing and abuse of children with disabilities are covert phenomena, occurring in some developing regions, such as in some African countries. Similar to the practice of ritual killing of spirit children in Ghana, the phenomenon of the snake child in Cote d’Ivoire (known as Ivory Coast), is the ritual abandonment or killing of children with intellectual disability (ID). Method This study is a qualitative ethnographic investigation into understanding this phenomenon. Three major questions were of interest: (1) Who are the snake children? (2) How are these children viewed and treated? (3) What are ways of changing negative attitudes towards children with developmental disabilities? Results The practices of killing, abandonment and abuse of children with disabilities take place in Cote d’Ivoire today, although the extent is not known. Conclusion Killing and abuse of children with ID are explained within the context of indigenous African religions, animism and folk culture. The concept of disability ‘otherness’ and inferiority is also explored as a framework for reflection and ethical debate. Correspondence: Dr Bayat Mojdeh, 2247 N. Halsted, Chicago, IL 60614, USA (e-mail: [email protected]).
Keywords abuse, African folk religions, developmental disabilities, disability otherness, inclusion, intellectual disability
Introduction Children with developmental and intellectual disabilities (ID) are among the most vulnerable groups of children in developing countries. In economically underdeveloped countries, these children are most likely to be poor, out of school or abandoned. In several African regions, for example, many children with ID do not survive beyond 5 years of age (Sousso & Yogtiba 2009). They are often ostracised, abandoned or shunned by their community (Sousso & Yogtiba 2009). In April 2013, the government of Ghana banned the practice of ritual killing of spirit children (children with disabilities) in several communities in the northern regions of the country (Langlois 2013). The banning comes after more than a decade of advocacy by Afrikids, a non-governmental agency (NGO), against such practices (Langlois 2013). The Spirit Child Phenomenon (SCP) is a common belief in Northern Ghana that children with disabilities are spirits sent to harm the family and community (Allotey & Reidpath 2001). The exact number of
© 2014 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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children with disabilities killed because of this belief is unknown. A non-profit organisation based in Ghana estimates this number to be about 4% of all infants’ deaths according to official reports (Operation Sirigu 2013). However, an epidemiological study of child morality in Ghana established between 22% and 27% of all infant mortalities of unexplained causes to be attributed to the killing of children with disabilities, and therefore indicating a higher percentage than is officially reported (Allotey & Reidpath 2001). The ritual killing is performed, after a diviner identifies a child as being a spirit, by force-feeding the child a poisonous concoction of bitter herbs (Allotey & Reidpath 2001; Denham et al. 2010). Studies about the actual killing and/or abuse of children with disabilities in developing countries are scarce. Given the invisibility of children with disabilities in most developing countries, such as in most regions of Africa, it is not unreasonable to speculate that both killing and abuse of this population is more widespread than reported. Prevention of inhumane treatment and promotion of rights of children with disabilities has not been a priority in many developing countries, mostly because of poor economic conditions or sociopolitical conflicts. One way of protecting children with disabilities from abuse has been through including them in schools from an early age. An emphasis on inclusion in schools is particularly essential. This is because in regions stricken by poverty and sociopolitical conflicts schools are one of few places that act as protective mechanisms against violence, as well as provide access to necessary resources such as food and health care, which are otherwise unreachable (Trani et al. 2011). During the last two decades, there have been several influential global health and education initiatives related to developing countries, which have drawn attention to the rights and education of all vulnerable children. Examples are as follows: (1) Salamanca statement (UNESCO 1994), articulating the rights of all children, including those with disabilities to education; (2) Dakar framework for action (UNESCO 2000) renewing a call for action under the Education for All (EFA) framework; (3) Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), an international treaty which was written in 2001 by a UN general assembly commit-
tee, articulating the equal and human rights of individuals with disabilities in all societies (United Nation CRPD 2009); and (4) the Millennium Development Goals (United Nations 2012) to combat poverty and lack of education. These have not only have set a priority for universal education directly, but have brought the issues of rights of children with disabilities and their health and inclusion into schools and communities to the forefront. As a result of such initiatives, several African countries (e.g. Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso) have pledged their commitment and have taken tangible steps towards improving their education systems to include children with disabilities in their schools (World Vision 2007). The progress towards promoting the rights of children with disabilities (particularly those with ID), and including them in schools and communities has been slow in coming. For example, in the instance of inclusion, despite a widespread movement, there have been numerous barriers to including these children into schools and communities. Negative attitudes of the public and professionals alike towards disability, practical and theoretical discord, and lack of professional knowledge and training are among the most cited barriers to inclusion in developing countries (for specific discussions, see Culham & Nind 2003; Naylor 2005; Ainscow & Cesar 2006; D’Alessio & Watkins 2009). Regardless of difficulties, the push continues towards establishing systems, which prevent abuse and discrimination of children with disabilities and promote their rights into schools and societies. Looking at the case of Ghana and its efforts in preventing abuse of children with disabilities, it is possible that other African countries may also follow. However, eliminating a phenomenon such as that of the spirit children is not an easy task. At the very least, such an issue needs to be brought to the attention of the global public as the first step towards halting such practices. Research on the possible abuse of children with disabilities and related cultural practices in developing countries is one important step towards promotion of rights of these children. This paper is a second report of a multi-phase field study (Bayat 2014) about children with developmental or intellectual disabilities in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in West Africa. It identifies
© 2014 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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a similar phenomenon such as the one of the spirit child in Ghana. Accordingly, children with ID are deemed as snake children in Cote d’Ivoire. The larger study was established in 2008 as an investigation into various aspects of intervention and education services for children with ID in Cote d’Ivoire. The current paper is a follow-up investigation to understand the phenomenon of snake children further.
Background The Republic of Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is a small country located in West Africa between Liberia and Ghana. The southern city of Abidjan, where the majority of this study is taking place, is the economic capital of the country. The nation of Cote d’Ivoire is French speaking, and there are over 60 ethnic groups and local languages in the country (Te Bonle 2009). Since 2004, Cote d’Ivoire has dealt with unrest and armed conflict, which was renewed with its presidential election in 2010. The ongoing instability of the country has contributed to further diminishing the already scarce disability-related resources, and has put children’s education and health as one of the last governmental priorities (Sany 2010; Bayat 2014). There have been no epidemiological studies of children with disabilities in Cote d’Ivoire (Bayat 2014). However, some reports state that nearly 30% of the population of all children under the age of 15, have some kind of disability (Alloh et al. 2009). Currently, there are no enforced laws or policies about the education and rights of children and individuals with disabilities, and the existing small number of disability-related resources and services for children and adults with disabilities are inadequate and suboptimal (for details see Alloh et al. 2009; Bayat 2014). Although there have been some efforts on the part of the European NGOs and some health-related governmental institutions to provide educational and health services for children with ID, in general, children with ID continue to be an invisible part of society (Bayat 2014). In addition, although no formal reports have been made on the possible abuse and killing of children with disabilities, given a lack of attention to the state of these children in Cote d’Ivoire today, it is most
likely that they are at increasing risk of being abused and killed in small communities and villages (Bayat 2014).
Construction of disability ‘otherness’ In disability discourse, the concept of ‘otherness’ has been discussed as it relates to the societal treatment of individuals with disabilities throughout the history (Clapton & Fitzgerald n.d; Verstraete 2005; and Scheerenberger 1983; Goodey & Stainton 2001). ‘Otherness’ is defined as a quality of not being the same or alike ‘that which is otherwise experienced or known’ (Mengstie 2011, p. 7). Children and individuals with disabilities have often lived at the ‘margins of personhood’ (Kittay 2005). In fact, the history of disability is filled with the experience of individuals with disabilities not only as ‘the other’, but as ‘of the other’ (Clapton & Fitzgerald n.d). In an analytical discussion of the concept of disability as the ‘inferior other’, Clapton (2009) explains that this view has its roots in the Western Judeo-Christian notion of creation as being ‘perfect’ or ‘normal’, in which all impairment and disease might be seen as evil or results of sin (p. 67). Representatives of such notions are various models of disability in the West with their associated definitions. In Europe, for example, during the middle ages, the religious or moral model of disability defined individuals with disability as evil, devil, products of sin or the results of witchcraft (Clapton & Fitzgerald n.d; Scheerenberger 1983; Clapton 2009). During the 20th century, in Western societies, the medical model defined disability in terms of disease and impairment. Hence, under this model, children with ID were considered as impaired – beyond major improvement. In more recent decades, while the social model of disability explained the concept of disability as a result of interactions between the individual and the environmental shortcoming, the cultural/minority model defined it as a cultural difference or diversity (Grue 2011; Simpson 2011; McKenzie 2013).
Disability ‘otherness’ in the African folk religions Although the construction of disability ‘otherness’ has been discussed relative to negative experiences of individuals within the Western historical or
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sociopolitical context (e.g. Charlton 2000; Grue 2011), this concept has rarely been investigated as it relates to cultural explanations and practices, such as in anthropological research (Kasnitz & Shuttleworth 2001). For example, not much is known about cultural practices relative to treatment of a specific disability. Thompson (1990) provides a broadly acknowledged definition of culture, to not only include a group’s belief, ideas, values, customs and materials, but ‘patterns of meanings embodied in symbolic forms, including actions . . . by virtue of which individuals communicate with one another and share their experiences, conceptions and beliefs’ (p. 132). Accordingly, the West African culture could be considered the larger cultural context of this study as relates to disability. Africa, however, does not represent a single culture, or a single society. West Africa alone represents 16 countries. As previously mentioned, there are over 60 groups with their own languages and distinct cultural practices in Cote d’Ivoire. However, regardless of variations, there are common philosophical threads and values with their related similar rituals and practices that are understood and/or accepted within a larger African context. Thus, disability can be studied within such common values. Both phenomena of the snake children and spirit children can best be explored in light of indigenous African religions, which drive much of cultural practices. African folk religions dominate deeply rooted belief systems of many Africans (Magesa 1997). Most Africans who live in modern cities, and who have embraced Western education and religions such as Christianity or Islam, continue to adhere to practices, which are rooted in folk African beliefs and worldviews, such as animism – without necessarily finding any conflict between folk traditions and Western education, or Abrahamic religions (Mbiti 1991; Magesa 1997). African indigenous religions explain the world in context of interactions between various natural spirits: sky, earth, bush, water and ancestral (Deloache & Gottlieb 2000; Gottlieb 2004). Problems and disharmony in life often means that two or more spirits are in conflict, or a particular spirit is displeased by a certain action or occurrence. The birth of a healthy child is often a sign of harmony between ancestral spirits and one or two
natural spirits (Magesa 1997). However, any illness, affliction or deviance from normalcy and health is considered a result of displeasure of one of the natural or ancestral spirits, or a result of possession of an evil spirit (Mbiti 1991). Thus, the explanation that a child with a disability possesses an evil spirit, or is of another world, is one way that folk African culture explains the phenomenon of disability and finds a solution accordingly. Such a belief could also clarify the reason why the spirit and snake child phenomena, or the killing of children with disabilities, continues to exist in some communities of West Africa even today.
Method This study is a field study, using qualitative methods of data collection, such as ongoing field observations, written surveys, focus groups and individual interviews. Prior to data collection, approvals were obtained from the Institutional Review Boards (IRB) of the author’s affiliated university as well as Cote d’Ivoire’s National Institute of Public Health (Institut Ntionale de Santé Publique – INSP). Data were collected during annual visits to Cote d’Ivoire, and with some exceptions of field visits outside of the city, most of the data were collected within the city of Abidjan. Various surveys were distributed to participants throughout the different phases of this study. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted with a random selection of individuals as a way of triangulation and follow-up inquiry. Field observations of various disability service programme sites and schools were ongoing during each annual visit. Participants in this study consisted of three groups (n = 89) of professionals working in the disability and health fields, special and general education teachers, and parents of children with disability. Participation was voluntary, and over 95% of participants chose to attend various training sessions or individual consultation sessions in the areas of special needs education, and disabilityrelated information and interventions. These sessions were offered as a way of compensation for participation as well as promoting disability awareness in the country. This report presents results of semi-structure individual interviews of a total of 18 professionals
© 2014 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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and parents, 6 men and 13 women. Participants ranged in age from 32 to 48. Professional participants were social workers and teachers. Two of the participants were parents. Additionally, when necessary, this report presents information obtained from the written surveys, along with field observations as a way of verification of findings. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and translated from French to English across two translators. Written surveys were similarly translated. Textual data were categorised and coded using content analysis (Neuendorf 2002). Additionally a case study approach was used to analyse specific stories, which emerged (Ellis & Bochner 2000).
Research question The theme of snake children emerged during field participation and from the content analysis of data collected during the earlier phases of this work (Bayat 2014). This study was a follow-up investigation on the phenomenon of the snake child. Three major questions were of interest: 1 Who are the snake children? 2 How are these children viewed and treated? 3 What are ways of changing negative attitudes towards children with developmental disabilities? Interviews focused on similar questions. In addition, surveys were collected asking questions about teaching methods and discipline as a way of understanding possible ways people and professionals treated children with ID. Field observations supplied additional information and details regarding behaviours and attitudes towards children with ID. This paper focuses on the results of the study related to the first two questions.
Who are the snake children? The responses to the survey question, ‘Who are snake children?’ represent a uniform and short theme, that children with ‘psychomotor’ or ‘developmental disabilities’ are snake children. The responses to ‘Why are these children called snakes?’ pointed to the motor control issues commonly associated with most types of ID during infancy. For example, these children were called snakes because ‘when they are young they could not hold their necks’, ‘they are floppy’, ‘they slither on the ground
like snakes’ or ‘because these children cannot hold their heads straight’. One professional, a director of an early childhood centre, explained, Snake children are ‘Mongols’ or kids with Down Syndrome. They are slow, and are like snakes, who slither on the ground. In the village, these children are known not to grow like others. They have a tendency to slither, because their muscles don’t develop well. So, they crawl longer, like a snake. The villagers think they shouldn’t live. So when these kids are between 9 to 18 months, they throw them in the garbage, and let them there to die – especially if they [children] don’t walk by then. That is, the nice ones throw these children in the garbage. Others may kill them, because they [children] don’t look like others. So, they [children] are bothersome, just like snakes are bothersome. The emphasis on motor development and mobility in the respondents (and in the story #6 below) may be better understood in light of the seminal work of Liederman et al. (1973). Their study indicated precocious mental and motor ability as typical developmental characteristics in African infants. An early mobility in the child not only represents an overall health, but is necessary for a child in rural African communities; children are required to move independently as early as possible, so that they could help in household chores, or work in the field along with their siblings. These responses point to infancy as the period during which a disability might be suspected in a child, and therefore the label of snake child given. It was not until the individual interviews, however, that specific stories began to emerge. Seven case stories were identified during the interviews, which are brought here as they were narrated. An analysis will follow at the end of the section. Story 1: my first encounter with a snake child I heard the term snake child at home [referring to the narrator’s hometown, not Abidjan]. In the neighbourhood there was a little boy. Everybody said that he was a snake child. People did not like him. They said he was a witch, that he was cursed. Even the family of the child didn’t like to be
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directly in contact with him. I don’t remember what happened to that child. I was a child myself, so, I thought what everyone said was true. Actually, after I grew up and went to university, I learned about different problems [disabilities], that I started to think differently. I don’t believe in snake children anymore. Story 2: snake children in the neighbourhood I remember this term from childhood. Back then I didn’t know they were autistic or Down syndrome [children]. I noticed there were some children who were weird. Adults said that they were snake children; that they were genies, to be sent to the wilderness, to the forest. They [the adults] would be with the child. The child would be walking in front of them, and the adults in the back. Someone would be holding a gun. When they got to the jungle, they would shoot in the air, the kid would turn himself into a snake and slither into the forest. But growing up, I realised that they killed those kids, and not them [children] turning themselves into snakes. I learned about various disabilities, and understood things better. Story 3: a childhood friend I don’t like the term snake child. When I was a kid, I had a friend who was like that [referring to a child with a developmental disability], and was called that [a snake child]. We were very good friends. I loved him, and was always with him. My family allowed me to play with him, but the neighbours told my parents not to allow me to play with that child. But, my mom let me play with him any way. When he was eleven, he left Abidjan. He went to another town. Up to today, I am looking for him, even on the FaceBook. But, I haven’t found him. I’ll never forget him. Story 4: the abandoned child In 1999, I went to visit a friend of mine in a nearby village. In one of the houses of the village, I saw . . . you know the houses are open . . . [referring to the common design of the village compounds in which the houses have walls with
openings for air circulation, and you could typically see inside of a house]. When I was looking around, I noticed there was a child, who was lying down in one of the houses. There was no one in the home. The child was all by himself, like being abandoned. [Young children are usually carried on a mother’s back, even when the woman is working outside.] I asked my friend, and she said that the mom was working somewhere in the village. I asked her why the child was abandoned, and my friend said, ‘Oh, it is a snake child’. My friend explained to me, that the mother of this child gave birth to another child who died at birth. And this one survived. The child’s grandparents told the mother to have the child killed, because he caused the sibling’s death. But the mother refused. So, now the child is here. I had never seen a child with a disability before. He had oversized eyes. I kept this picture in my mind from that encounter. I felt so much pity. I didn’t know how I could help that child. He was just lying there, abandoned. Story 5: these children do not come here to stay I remember a couple of children in my village. I now know one of them had Down Syndrome. People said that those children were snakes. In the village, they said that ‘these children come, but they don’t come here to stay, because they are really snakes’. So, people took them back to the forest. They said they were taking them to the forest to find ways so that they would return into their true snake states. When I was a kid, I really believed it. But, as I grew up, I learned that it wasn’t true. Story 6: a snake child in my family When I was in junior high school, I heard about a snake child. At that time I was told that there was a snake child in my family. The child had a problem with movement, and could not hold his head up. At one year old he was not walking. My family told me that the child was sent to the village, and he turned back into a snake. The grandparents and the mother went back to the village together. The mother came back from the village without the kid, and said that she was told that once in the forest, the child turned back into
© 2014 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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a snake and went deep into the forest. They came back and said that he turned back into a snake. Story 7: I took my son and came here I used to live in our village with my family. When my son was several months old, he had some problems. He could not sit, or move around independently. My family said that he was a snake child. I gave birth to a second son, but he died shortly after birth. Everyone in the village said that it was the fault of my first child that my second son had died. They said that this child was evil, and cursed. When I carried my child on my back, my parents and neighbours chastised me. Everyone wanted me to kill him; my family, and everyone in the neighbourhood. So, one day, I took my son and came here [to Abidjan]. I came to find a better place for my son.
The origins of the snake child phenomenon Participants were not able to explain wherein the origins of the snake child concept were grounded. Some anthropological studies, however, provide an explanation for this phenomenon. Gottlieb & Graham (1993), in their extensive ethnographic work studying the Beng people, an ethnic group in Cote d’Ivoire, recount their experiences of encountering the phenomenon of the snake child. In the village in which the authors had lived and conducted their study, they noticed a girl with ID, named Amlakro. She was ‘too old to be wearing only a child’s loincloth . . . Her eyes and movements awkward, wild, Amlakro often rushed randomly through the village, laughing while adults spoke, interrupting families while they ate together’ (p. 136). When one of the authors asked a village woman about the girl, the woman answered, ‘That girl is really a snake’, she said, and proceeded to tell us that a pregnant woman was forbidden to eat anything while walking on a forest path to or from her fields, for should she violate this taboo she might inadvertently drop crumbs along the way. If a snake was nearby – and when was this not so? – it would eat the crumbs, and become filled with an overwhelming desire for human food. The snake’s soul would enter the woman’s womb, possess her unborn child, and
then be born into the human world. But this snake child, unused to four limbs and language, would forever struggle through its new existence. I listened rapt. Amlakro had always seemed mildly retarded to me, and this must have been the Beng explanation for such a condition. (p. 136) Gottlieb & Graham (1993) further recount their experience of coming across another person, an adult with ID, known to be a snake in a neighbouring village. Gottlieb (2008) later explains, that in the culture of Beng, when a child is suspected of having an ID, for example, when the child fails to develop typical language, or displays atypical behaviour, the family consults with a diviner who could then identify the child as being a snake or not. . . . the Beng say that there is no cure as such – the child can never be turned into a human but will always be a snake. So the best thing for the child is to allow it to bring out its inherent snake identity. This is done by a ritual treatment: a diviner prepares a dish of food that the Beng consider to be ‘snake food’, and leaves it in a spot in the forest. The child is brought to that spot and left there. A little while later, the diviner returns to the spot. If both the child and the food are gone, everyone assumes that the child ate the food, which allowed it to transform back into its essential snake identity, and has slithered off into the forest where it will lead the life it was meant to lead, as a snake. The older the child is when the diviner diagnoses the problem, the harder it is to successfully undertake the ritual transition back to complete snake-hood. Thus if the child is found at the spot in the forest, and the food is untouched, people say the child was too old to revert to its snake identity. The child is led back to the village and leads out an unhappy life as a ‘snake-person’. (Gottlieb 2008, n.p.) Thus, having a developmental disability or having been identified as a snake in childhood may have three possible outcomes: being killed, being left to die, or being allowed to live in the community as the ‘other’, non-human. Important to note here is that even if such a child is allowed to stay in a community, the child is more likely to be considered unreachable, and because of his status of
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non-human the child is not allowed to contribute to the work and chores of the family.
Possible abuse of the children with disabilities in Cote d’Ivoire In the survey part of this study about 93% of all professional participants (teachers and social workers) admitted that they used some kind of corporal or emotional punishment, such as ‘beating’, or ‘shouting’, as a way of teaching and disciplining children with disabilities with whom they worked. Various versions of the statement, ‘I used to scream and beat them, but now after training I know that these children can learn’, were written in the surveys, or uttered by professionals during the follow-up interviews. Although almost all participants explained that they no longer believed in the concept of the snake child, several of them indicated that they accepted this view, at least in appearance, because the majority in the culture did. For example, one participant said, ‘I personally don’t believe in this theory, but I go with it’. When asked why, she responded, ‘Because the majority thinks this way’. Another participant explained, ‘Most people, highly educated or not still think these children are snakes. Even if they don’t say so, in the backs of their minds they are thinking so’. One kindergarten teacher remarked on his changed attitudes for positive towards such children. Nevertheless, he did not hide his continued aversion towards this population: One of my nephews has intellectual disability. I used to be appalled by him and other children with special needs. Whenever I saw a child who drooled and wasn’t clean or was atypical, I used to be disgusted. I wouldn’t go to the child. I would see them as unclean. I thought they might get me dirty. I have had a hard time with my nephew. When my brother brings him for a visit now, I try to play with him, but I still don’t get too close to him. I don’t like to be drooled on.
Discussion In summary, in some regions of West Africa, the inhumane treatment and killing of children with
disabilities is based on a view of an irreversible ‘otherness’ – that which is of a non-human spirit. This view, which is influenced by indigenous African religions and animism, has led to killing and abuse of an unknown number of children, especially in Cote d’Ivoire. In fact, to this date, and during the various phases of this field study, I found no solid evidence of the continued existence or the extent of ritual killings of children with ID. One thing, however, is clear from not only the interviews, but also from my fieldwork: children with disabilities are not treated with any noticeable degree of human dignity or respect. In most institutions, at the very best, I found their condition suboptimal, often lying down on the dirt floor, non-stimulated, and ignored. Social workers and teachers alike frequently expressed their disbelief in any true learning capacity or finer human emotions and interests in these children. Considering the instability of the region during the past decade, the widespread poverty, increasing shortage of child health resources, and a decline in educational opportunities in Cote d’Ivoire (Sany 2010), the vulnerability of children with disabilities has likely become twofold in today’s Ivorian society. It is also clear that should any ritual killing of children take place, it is probably covert and happens in small villages or remote communities of Cote d’Ivoire, as opposed to the cities, where detection of killings by officials is most likely to occur. Though the phenomenon of snake children was explored within a developing nation, it is important to note here that the concept of disability ‘otherness’, as something to be feared and rejected, is not particular to indigenous cultures or developing nations of the world. As mentioned earlier, the concept of disability otherness has existed in the West, and although it is not widespread today, it continues to be present. For example, the struggles of American education system, which includes providing appropriate education for children with developmental disabilities and those with mental health issues, even in light of the inclusion movement, has been attributed to a continued view of disability as ‘different’ and ‘other’ (for a detailed discussion see Murdick et al. 2004). On the other hand, some Western philosophers, such as McMahan (1996, 2002), have articulated that
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individuals with ID fall below the level of moral threshold, and therefore killing such individuals should not carry the same moral significance of those who are above this moral threshold. Thus, it is with no wonder that these marginal humans are regarded as animals with no moral status. A view that places individuals with ID at the margins of personhood raises an ethical consideration both regionally and globally. With few exceptions (e.g. Kittay 2005; Clapton 2009), examinations of this topic have been rare in disability scholarship. Clapton (2009) notes that an ethical debate on this issue must inform discussions of inclusion and exclusion of children and individuals with disabilities. I agree with this assertion, and could only hope that this study might inspire such discussions and further exploration of this topic both in national debates and in global research and advocacy work for education and human rights of children with disabilities.
Acknowledgements The author wishes to acknowledge and express her appreciations of the following individuals and organisations: Dr Mouhammed M. Radji from Javad Nurbakhsh Foundation in Cote d’Ivoire; Dr Anna Corinne Bissouma from Institut Nationale de Santé Publique (INSP) in Cote d’Ivoire; Ms GraceArlette Feze; Ms Naseem Jamnia; Dr Carol Martinez Weber; and Khaniqahi Nimatullahi in the United States. Without ongoing support, advice and contributions from these individuals and organizations this work would not have been possible. This work was partially funded by DePaul University’s Research Council grant, the College of Education internal grant and the support of Khaniqahi Nimatullahi.
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psychomotor disability in Abidjan. Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine 52, 414–26. Allotey P. & Reidpath D. (2001) Establishing the causes of childhood mortality in Ghana: the ‘spirit child’. Social Science and Medicine 52, 1007–12. Bayat M. (2014) Understanding views of disability in Cote d’Ivoire. Disability and Society 29, 30–43. Charlton J. (2000) Nothing About us without us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. Clapton J. (2009) A Transformatory Ethic of Inclusion: Rupturing Concepts of Disability and Inclusion. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam. Clapton J. & Fitzgerald J. (n.d.) The History of Disability, a History of Otherness. New Renaissance Magazine. Available at: http://www.ru.org/human-rights/ the-history-of-disability-a-history-of-otherness.html (retrieved 16 August 2013). Culham A. & Nind M. (2003) Deconstructing normalization: clearing the way for inclusion. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability 28, 65–78. D’Alessio S. & Watkins A. (2009) International comparisons of inclusive policy and practice: are we talking about the same thing? Research in Comparative and International Education 4, 233–49. Deloache J. & Gottlieb A. (2000) A World of Babies. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Denham A. R., Adongo P., Freydberg N. & Hodgson A. (2010) Chasing spirits: clarifying the spirit child phenomenon and infanticide in Northern Ghana. Social Science & Medicine 71, 608–15. Ellis C. & Bochner A. (2000) Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: researcher as subject. In: Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd edn (eds N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln), pp. 733–68. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Goodey C. F. & Stainton T. (2001) Intellectual disability and the myth of the changeling myth. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 37, 223–40. Gottlieb A. (2004) The Afterlife is Where We Come from: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa. Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Gottlieb A. (2008) Interrogating disabilities and handicaps among the Beng of Cote d’Ivoire. Talk presented at the university of North Carolina at Asheville: Body Mind and Disability: Professor Heidi Kelly. Gottlieb A. & Graham P. (1993) Parallel Worlds: an Anthropologist and a Writer Encounter Africa. Crown Publishers, New York, NY. Grue J. (2011) Discourse analysis and disability: some topics and issues. Discourse and Society 22, 532–46. Kasnitz D. & Shuttleworth R. P. (2001) Introduction: anthropology in disability studies. Disability Studies Quarterly 21, 2–17.
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Kittay E. F. (2005) At the margin of moral personhood. Ethics 116, 100–31. Langlois J. (2013) Spirit Children Killing Banned in 7 Ghana Communities. Global Post: America’s World news site. Available at: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/ regions/africa/ghana/130429/spirit-children-killingsbanned-7-ghana-communities (retrieved 15 August 2013). Liederman P. H., Babu B., Kagia J., Kraemer H. C. & Liederman G. F. (1973) African infant precocity and some social influences during the first year. Nature 242, 247–9. McKenzie J. A. (2013) Models of intellectual disability: towards a perspective of (poss)ability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 57, 370–9. McMahan J. (1996) Cognitive disability, misfortune, and justice. Philosophy & Public Affair 25, 3–35. McMahan J. (2002) Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life. Oxford University Press, New York, NY.
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Trani J. F., Kett M., Bakhshi P. & Bailey N. (2011) Disability, vulnerability and citizenship: to what extent is education a protective mechanism for children with disabilities in countries affected by conflict? International Journal of Inclusive Education 15, 1187–203.
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Murdick N., Shore P., Chittooran M. M. & Gartin B. (2004) Cross-cultural comparison of the concept of ‘otherness’ and its impact on the persons with disabilities. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities 39, 310–16. Naylor C. (2005) Inclusion in British Columbia’s Public Schools: Always a Journey, Never a Destination? Paper presented at the Canadian Teachers’ Federation conference, Building Inclusive Schools: a search for solutions. Neuendorf K. (2002) The Content Analysis Guidebook. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
UNESCO (1994) The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. UNESCO, Paris. UNESCO (2000) The Dakar Framework for Action: Education for All, Meeting Our Collective Commitments. UNESCO, Paris. Verstraete P. (2005) The taming of disability: phrenology and bio power, on the road to destruction of otherness in France (1800–60). History of Education 34, 119–35.
Operation Sirigu (2013) Afrikids. Abailable at: http:// www.afrikids.org/operation-sirigu (retrieved 15 August 2013).
World Vision UK (2007) Education’s Missing Millions: Including Disabled Children in Education Through EFA FTI Processes and National Sector Plans. Milton Keynes, World Vision, UK.
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Accepted 12 December 2013
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The stories of ‘snake children’: killing and abuse of children with developmental disabilities in West Africa Mojdeh Bayat College of Education, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA
Abstract Background Killing and abuse of children with disabilities are covert phenomena, occurring in some developing regions, such as in some African countries. Similar to the practice of ritual killing of spirit children in Ghana, the phenomenon of the snake child in Cote d’Ivoire (known as Ivory Coast), is the ritual abandonment or killing of children with intellectual disability (ID). Method This study is a qualitative ethnographic investigation into understanding this phenomenon. Three major questions were of interest: (1) Who are the snake children? (2) How are these children viewed and treated? (3) What are ways of changing negative attitudes towards children with developmental disabilities? Results The practices of killing, abandonment and abuse of children with disabilities take place in Cote d’Ivoire today, although the extent is not known. Conclusion Killing and abuse of children with ID are explained within the context of indigenous African religions, animism and folk culture. The concept of disability ‘otherness’ and inferiority is also explored as a framework for reflection and ethical debate. Correspondence: Dr Bayat Mojdeh, 2247 N. Halsted, Chicago, IL 60614, USA (e-mail: [email protected]).
Keywords abuse, African folk religions, developmental disabilities, disability otherness, inclusion, intellectual disability
Introduction Children with developmental and intellectual disabilities (ID) are among the most vulnerable groups of children in developing countries. In economically underdeveloped countries, these children are most likely to be poor, out of school or abandoned. In several African regions, for example, many children with ID do not survive beyond 5 years of age (Sousso & Yogtiba 2009). They are often ostracised, abandoned or shunned by their community (Sousso & Yogtiba 2009). In April 2013, the government of Ghana banned the practice of ritual killing of spirit children (children with disabilities) in several communities in the northern regions of the country (Langlois 2013). The banning comes after more than a decade of advocacy by Afrikids, a non-governmental agency (NGO), against such practices (Langlois 2013). The Spirit Child Phenomenon (SCP) is a common belief in Northern Ghana that children with disabilities are spirits sent to harm the family and community (Allotey & Reidpath 2001). The exact number of
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children with disabilities killed because of this belief is unknown. A non-profit organisation based in Ghana estimates this number to be about 4% of all infants’ deaths according to official reports (Operation Sirigu 2013). However, an epidemiological study of child morality in Ghana established between 22% and 27% of all infant mortalities of unexplained causes to be attributed to the killing of children with disabilities, and therefore indicating a higher percentage than is officially reported (Allotey & Reidpath 2001). The ritual killing is performed, after a diviner identifies a child as being a spirit, by force-feeding the child a poisonous concoction of bitter herbs (Allotey & Reidpath 2001; Denham et al. 2010). Studies about the actual killing and/or abuse of children with disabilities in developing countries are scarce. Given the invisibility of children with disabilities in most developing countries, such as in most regions of Africa, it is not unreasonable to speculate that both killing and abuse of this population is more widespread than reported. Prevention of inhumane treatment and promotion of rights of children with disabilities has not been a priority in many developing countries, mostly because of poor economic conditions or sociopolitical conflicts. One way of protecting children with disabilities from abuse has been through including them in schools from an early age. An emphasis on inclusion in schools is particularly essential. This is because in regions stricken by poverty and sociopolitical conflicts schools are one of few places that act as protective mechanisms against violence, as well as provide access to necessary resources such as food and health care, which are otherwise unreachable (Trani et al. 2011). During the last two decades, there have been several influential global health and education initiatives related to developing countries, which have drawn attention to the rights and education of all vulnerable children. Examples are as follows: (1) Salamanca statement (UNESCO 1994), articulating the rights of all children, including those with disabilities to education; (2) Dakar framework for action (UNESCO 2000) renewing a call for action under the Education for All (EFA) framework; (3) Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), an international treaty which was written in 2001 by a UN general assembly commit-
tee, articulating the equal and human rights of individuals with disabilities in all societies (United Nation CRPD 2009); and (4) the Millennium Development Goals (United Nations 2012) to combat poverty and lack of education. These have not only have set a priority for universal education directly, but have brought the issues of rights of children with disabilities and their health and inclusion into schools and communities to the forefront. As a result of such initiatives, several African countries (e.g. Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso) have pledged their commitment and have taken tangible steps towards improving their education systems to include children with disabilities in their schools (World Vision 2007). The progress towards promoting the rights of children with disabilities (particularly those with ID), and including them in schools and communities has been slow in coming. For example, in the instance of inclusion, despite a widespread movement, there have been numerous barriers to including these children into schools and communities. Negative attitudes of the public and professionals alike towards disability, practical and theoretical discord, and lack of professional knowledge and training are among the most cited barriers to inclusion in developing countries (for specific discussions, see Culham & Nind 2003; Naylor 2005; Ainscow & Cesar 2006; D’Alessio & Watkins 2009). Regardless of difficulties, the push continues towards establishing systems, which prevent abuse and discrimination of children with disabilities and promote their rights into schools and societies. Looking at the case of Ghana and its efforts in preventing abuse of children with disabilities, it is possible that other African countries may also follow. However, eliminating a phenomenon such as that of the spirit children is not an easy task. At the very least, such an issue needs to be brought to the attention of the global public as the first step towards halting such practices. Research on the possible abuse of children with disabilities and related cultural practices in developing countries is one important step towards promotion of rights of these children. This paper is a second report of a multi-phase field study (Bayat 2014) about children with developmental or intellectual disabilities in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in West Africa. It identifies
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a similar phenomenon such as the one of the spirit child in Ghana. Accordingly, children with ID are deemed as snake children in Cote d’Ivoire. The larger study was established in 2008 as an investigation into various aspects of intervention and education services for children with ID in Cote d’Ivoire. The current paper is a follow-up investigation to understand the phenomenon of snake children further.
Background The Republic of Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is a small country located in West Africa between Liberia and Ghana. The southern city of Abidjan, where the majority of this study is taking place, is the economic capital of the country. The nation of Cote d’Ivoire is French speaking, and there are over 60 ethnic groups and local languages in the country (Te Bonle 2009). Since 2004, Cote d’Ivoire has dealt with unrest and armed conflict, which was renewed with its presidential election in 2010. The ongoing instability of the country has contributed to further diminishing the already scarce disability-related resources, and has put children’s education and health as one of the last governmental priorities (Sany 2010; Bayat 2014). There have been no epidemiological studies of children with disabilities in Cote d’Ivoire (Bayat 2014). However, some reports state that nearly 30% of the population of all children under the age of 15, have some kind of disability (Alloh et al. 2009). Currently, there are no enforced laws or policies about the education and rights of children and individuals with disabilities, and the existing small number of disability-related resources and services for children and adults with disabilities are inadequate and suboptimal (for details see Alloh et al. 2009; Bayat 2014). Although there have been some efforts on the part of the European NGOs and some health-related governmental institutions to provide educational and health services for children with ID, in general, children with ID continue to be an invisible part of society (Bayat 2014). In addition, although no formal reports have been made on the possible abuse and killing of children with disabilities, given a lack of attention to the state of these children in Cote d’Ivoire today, it is most
likely that they are at increasing risk of being abused and killed in small communities and villages (Bayat 2014).
Construction of disability ‘otherness’ In disability discourse, the concept of ‘otherness’ has been discussed as it relates to the societal treatment of individuals with disabilities throughout the history (Clapton & Fitzgerald n.d; Verstraete 2005; and Scheerenberger 1983; Goodey & Stainton 2001). ‘Otherness’ is defined as a quality of not being the same or alike ‘that which is otherwise experienced or known’ (Mengstie 2011, p. 7). Children and individuals with disabilities have often lived at the ‘margins of personhood’ (Kittay 2005). In fact, the history of disability is filled with the experience of individuals with disabilities not only as ‘the other’, but as ‘of the other’ (Clapton & Fitzgerald n.d). In an analytical discussion of the concept of disability as the ‘inferior other’, Clapton (2009) explains that this view has its roots in the Western Judeo-Christian notion of creation as being ‘perfect’ or ‘normal’, in which all impairment and disease might be seen as evil or results of sin (p. 67). Representatives of such notions are various models of disability in the West with their associated definitions. In Europe, for example, during the middle ages, the religious or moral model of disability defined individuals with disability as evil, devil, products of sin or the results of witchcraft (Clapton & Fitzgerald n.d; Scheerenberger 1983; Clapton 2009). During the 20th century, in Western societies, the medical model defined disability in terms of disease and impairment. Hence, under this model, children with ID were considered as impaired – beyond major improvement. In more recent decades, while the social model of disability explained the concept of disability as a result of interactions between the individual and the environmental shortcoming, the cultural/minority model defined it as a cultural difference or diversity (Grue 2011; Simpson 2011; McKenzie 2013).
Disability ‘otherness’ in the African folk religions Although the construction of disability ‘otherness’ has been discussed relative to negative experiences of individuals within the Western historical or
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sociopolitical context (e.g. Charlton 2000; Grue 2011), this concept has rarely been investigated as it relates to cultural explanations and practices, such as in anthropological research (Kasnitz & Shuttleworth 2001). For example, not much is known about cultural practices relative to treatment of a specific disability. Thompson (1990) provides a broadly acknowledged definition of culture, to not only include a group’s belief, ideas, values, customs and materials, but ‘patterns of meanings embodied in symbolic forms, including actions . . . by virtue of which individuals communicate with one another and share their experiences, conceptions and beliefs’ (p. 132). Accordingly, the West African culture could be considered the larger cultural context of this study as relates to disability. Africa, however, does not represent a single culture, or a single society. West Africa alone represents 16 countries. As previously mentioned, there are over 60 groups with their own languages and distinct cultural practices in Cote d’Ivoire. However, regardless of variations, there are common philosophical threads and values with their related similar rituals and practices that are understood and/or accepted within a larger African context. Thus, disability can be studied within such common values. Both phenomena of the snake children and spirit children can best be explored in light of indigenous African religions, which drive much of cultural practices. African folk religions dominate deeply rooted belief systems of many Africans (Magesa 1997). Most Africans who live in modern cities, and who have embraced Western education and religions such as Christianity or Islam, continue to adhere to practices, which are rooted in folk African beliefs and worldviews, such as animism – without necessarily finding any conflict between folk traditions and Western education, or Abrahamic religions (Mbiti 1991; Magesa 1997). African indigenous religions explain the world in context of interactions between various natural spirits: sky, earth, bush, water and ancestral (Deloache & Gottlieb 2000; Gottlieb 2004). Problems and disharmony in life often means that two or more spirits are in conflict, or a particular spirit is displeased by a certain action or occurrence. The birth of a healthy child is often a sign of harmony between ancestral spirits and one or two
natural spirits (Magesa 1997). However, any illness, affliction or deviance from normalcy and health is considered a result of displeasure of one of the natural or ancestral spirits, or a result of possession of an evil spirit (Mbiti 1991). Thus, the explanation that a child with a disability possesses an evil spirit, or is of another world, is one way that folk African culture explains the phenomenon of disability and finds a solution accordingly. Such a belief could also clarify the reason why the spirit and snake child phenomena, or the killing of children with disabilities, continues to exist in some communities of West Africa even today.
Method This study is a field study, using qualitative methods of data collection, such as ongoing field observations, written surveys, focus groups and individual interviews. Prior to data collection, approvals were obtained from the Institutional Review Boards (IRB) of the author’s affiliated university as well as Cote d’Ivoire’s National Institute of Public Health (Institut Ntionale de Santé Publique – INSP). Data were collected during annual visits to Cote d’Ivoire, and with some exceptions of field visits outside of the city, most of the data were collected within the city of Abidjan. Various surveys were distributed to participants throughout the different phases of this study. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted with a random selection of individuals as a way of triangulation and follow-up inquiry. Field observations of various disability service programme sites and schools were ongoing during each annual visit. Participants in this study consisted of three groups (n = 89) of professionals working in the disability and health fields, special and general education teachers, and parents of children with disability. Participation was voluntary, and over 95% of participants chose to attend various training sessions or individual consultation sessions in the areas of special needs education, and disabilityrelated information and interventions. These sessions were offered as a way of compensation for participation as well as promoting disability awareness in the country. This report presents results of semi-structure individual interviews of a total of 18 professionals
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and parents, 6 men and 13 women. Participants ranged in age from 32 to 48. Professional participants were social workers and teachers. Two of the participants were parents. Additionally, when necessary, this report presents information obtained from the written surveys, along with field observations as a way of verification of findings. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and translated from French to English across two translators. Written surveys were similarly translated. Textual data were categorised and coded using content analysis (Neuendorf 2002). Additionally a case study approach was used to analyse specific stories, which emerged (Ellis & Bochner 2000).
Research question The theme of snake children emerged during field participation and from the content analysis of data collected during the earlier phases of this work (Bayat 2014). This study was a follow-up investigation on the phenomenon of the snake child. Three major questions were of interest: 1 Who are the snake children? 2 How are these children viewed and treated? 3 What are ways of changing negative attitudes towards children with developmental disabilities? Interviews focused on similar questions. In addition, surveys were collected asking questions about teaching methods and discipline as a way of understanding possible ways people and professionals treated children with ID. Field observations supplied additional information and details regarding behaviours and attitudes towards children with ID. This paper focuses on the results of the study related to the first two questions.
Who are the snake children? The responses to the survey question, ‘Who are snake children?’ represent a uniform and short theme, that children with ‘psychomotor’ or ‘developmental disabilities’ are snake children. The responses to ‘Why are these children called snakes?’ pointed to the motor control issues commonly associated with most types of ID during infancy. For example, these children were called snakes because ‘when they are young they could not hold their necks’, ‘they are floppy’, ‘they slither on the ground
like snakes’ or ‘because these children cannot hold their heads straight’. One professional, a director of an early childhood centre, explained, Snake children are ‘Mongols’ or kids with Down Syndrome. They are slow, and are like snakes, who slither on the ground. In the village, these children are known not to grow like others. They have a tendency to slither, because their muscles don’t develop well. So, they crawl longer, like a snake. The villagers think they shouldn’t live. So when these kids are between 9 to 18 months, they throw them in the garbage, and let them there to die – especially if they [children] don’t walk by then. That is, the nice ones throw these children in the garbage. Others may kill them, because they [children] don’t look like others. So, they [children] are bothersome, just like snakes are bothersome. The emphasis on motor development and mobility in the respondents (and in the story #6 below) may be better understood in light of the seminal work of Liederman et al. (1973). Their study indicated precocious mental and motor ability as typical developmental characteristics in African infants. An early mobility in the child not only represents an overall health, but is necessary for a child in rural African communities; children are required to move independently as early as possible, so that they could help in household chores, or work in the field along with their siblings. These responses point to infancy as the period during which a disability might be suspected in a child, and therefore the label of snake child given. It was not until the individual interviews, however, that specific stories began to emerge. Seven case stories were identified during the interviews, which are brought here as they were narrated. An analysis will follow at the end of the section. Story 1: my first encounter with a snake child I heard the term snake child at home [referring to the narrator’s hometown, not Abidjan]. In the neighbourhood there was a little boy. Everybody said that he was a snake child. People did not like him. They said he was a witch, that he was cursed. Even the family of the child didn’t like to be
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directly in contact with him. I don’t remember what happened to that child. I was a child myself, so, I thought what everyone said was true. Actually, after I grew up and went to university, I learned about different problems [disabilities], that I started to think differently. I don’t believe in snake children anymore. Story 2: snake children in the neighbourhood I remember this term from childhood. Back then I didn’t know they were autistic or Down syndrome [children]. I noticed there were some children who were weird. Adults said that they were snake children; that they were genies, to be sent to the wilderness, to the forest. They [the adults] would be with the child. The child would be walking in front of them, and the adults in the back. Someone would be holding a gun. When they got to the jungle, they would shoot in the air, the kid would turn himself into a snake and slither into the forest. But growing up, I realised that they killed those kids, and not them [children] turning themselves into snakes. I learned about various disabilities, and understood things better. Story 3: a childhood friend I don’t like the term snake child. When I was a kid, I had a friend who was like that [referring to a child with a developmental disability], and was called that [a snake child]. We were very good friends. I loved him, and was always with him. My family allowed me to play with him, but the neighbours told my parents not to allow me to play with that child. But, my mom let me play with him any way. When he was eleven, he left Abidjan. He went to another town. Up to today, I am looking for him, even on the FaceBook. But, I haven’t found him. I’ll never forget him. Story 4: the abandoned child In 1999, I went to visit a friend of mine in a nearby village. In one of the houses of the village, I saw . . . you know the houses are open . . . [referring to the common design of the village compounds in which the houses have walls with
openings for air circulation, and you could typically see inside of a house]. When I was looking around, I noticed there was a child, who was lying down in one of the houses. There was no one in the home. The child was all by himself, like being abandoned. [Young children are usually carried on a mother’s back, even when the woman is working outside.] I asked my friend, and she said that the mom was working somewhere in the village. I asked her why the child was abandoned, and my friend said, ‘Oh, it is a snake child’. My friend explained to me, that the mother of this child gave birth to another child who died at birth. And this one survived. The child’s grandparents told the mother to have the child killed, because he caused the sibling’s death. But the mother refused. So, now the child is here. I had never seen a child with a disability before. He had oversized eyes. I kept this picture in my mind from that encounter. I felt so much pity. I didn’t know how I could help that child. He was just lying there, abandoned. Story 5: these children do not come here to stay I remember a couple of children in my village. I now know one of them had Down Syndrome. People said that those children were snakes. In the village, they said that ‘these children come, but they don’t come here to stay, because they are really snakes’. So, people took them back to the forest. They said they were taking them to the forest to find ways so that they would return into their true snake states. When I was a kid, I really believed it. But, as I grew up, I learned that it wasn’t true. Story 6: a snake child in my family When I was in junior high school, I heard about a snake child. At that time I was told that there was a snake child in my family. The child had a problem with movement, and could not hold his head up. At one year old he was not walking. My family told me that the child was sent to the village, and he turned back into a snake. The grandparents and the mother went back to the village together. The mother came back from the village without the kid, and said that she was told that once in the forest, the child turned back into
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a snake and went deep into the forest. They came back and said that he turned back into a snake. Story 7: I took my son and came here I used to live in our village with my family. When my son was several months old, he had some problems. He could not sit, or move around independently. My family said that he was a snake child. I gave birth to a second son, but he died shortly after birth. Everyone in the village said that it was the fault of my first child that my second son had died. They said that this child was evil, and cursed. When I carried my child on my back, my parents and neighbours chastised me. Everyone wanted me to kill him; my family, and everyone in the neighbourhood. So, one day, I took my son and came here [to Abidjan]. I came to find a better place for my son.
The origins of the snake child phenomenon Participants were not able to explain wherein the origins of the snake child concept were grounded. Some anthropological studies, however, provide an explanation for this phenomenon. Gottlieb & Graham (1993), in their extensive ethnographic work studying the Beng people, an ethnic group in Cote d’Ivoire, recount their experiences of encountering the phenomenon of the snake child. In the village in which the authors had lived and conducted their study, they noticed a girl with ID, named Amlakro. She was ‘too old to be wearing only a child’s loincloth . . . Her eyes and movements awkward, wild, Amlakro often rushed randomly through the village, laughing while adults spoke, interrupting families while they ate together’ (p. 136). When one of the authors asked a village woman about the girl, the woman answered, ‘That girl is really a snake’, she said, and proceeded to tell us that a pregnant woman was forbidden to eat anything while walking on a forest path to or from her fields, for should she violate this taboo she might inadvertently drop crumbs along the way. If a snake was nearby – and when was this not so? – it would eat the crumbs, and become filled with an overwhelming desire for human food. The snake’s soul would enter the woman’s womb, possess her unborn child, and
then be born into the human world. But this snake child, unused to four limbs and language, would forever struggle through its new existence. I listened rapt. Amlakro had always seemed mildly retarded to me, and this must have been the Beng explanation for such a condition. (p. 136) Gottlieb & Graham (1993) further recount their experience of coming across another person, an adult with ID, known to be a snake in a neighbouring village. Gottlieb (2008) later explains, that in the culture of Beng, when a child is suspected of having an ID, for example, when the child fails to develop typical language, or displays atypical behaviour, the family consults with a diviner who could then identify the child as being a snake or not. . . . the Beng say that there is no cure as such – the child can never be turned into a human but will always be a snake. So the best thing for the child is to allow it to bring out its inherent snake identity. This is done by a ritual treatment: a diviner prepares a dish of food that the Beng consider to be ‘snake food’, and leaves it in a spot in the forest. The child is brought to that spot and left there. A little while later, the diviner returns to the spot. If both the child and the food are gone, everyone assumes that the child ate the food, which allowed it to transform back into its essential snake identity, and has slithered off into the forest where it will lead the life it was meant to lead, as a snake. The older the child is when the diviner diagnoses the problem, the harder it is to successfully undertake the ritual transition back to complete snake-hood. Thus if the child is found at the spot in the forest, and the food is untouched, people say the child was too old to revert to its snake identity. The child is led back to the village and leads out an unhappy life as a ‘snake-person’. (Gottlieb 2008, n.p.) Thus, having a developmental disability or having been identified as a snake in childhood may have three possible outcomes: being killed, being left to die, or being allowed to live in the community as the ‘other’, non-human. Important to note here is that even if such a child is allowed to stay in a community, the child is more likely to be considered unreachable, and because of his status of
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non-human the child is not allowed to contribute to the work and chores of the family.
Possible abuse of the children with disabilities in Cote d’Ivoire In the survey part of this study about 93% of all professional participants (teachers and social workers) admitted that they used some kind of corporal or emotional punishment, such as ‘beating’, or ‘shouting’, as a way of teaching and disciplining children with disabilities with whom they worked. Various versions of the statement, ‘I used to scream and beat them, but now after training I know that these children can learn’, were written in the surveys, or uttered by professionals during the follow-up interviews. Although almost all participants explained that they no longer believed in the concept of the snake child, several of them indicated that they accepted this view, at least in appearance, because the majority in the culture did. For example, one participant said, ‘I personally don’t believe in this theory, but I go with it’. When asked why, she responded, ‘Because the majority thinks this way’. Another participant explained, ‘Most people, highly educated or not still think these children are snakes. Even if they don’t say so, in the backs of their minds they are thinking so’. One kindergarten teacher remarked on his changed attitudes for positive towards such children. Nevertheless, he did not hide his continued aversion towards this population: One of my nephews has intellectual disability. I used to be appalled by him and other children with special needs. Whenever I saw a child who drooled and wasn’t clean or was atypical, I used to be disgusted. I wouldn’t go to the child. I would see them as unclean. I thought they might get me dirty. I have had a hard time with my nephew. When my brother brings him for a visit now, I try to play with him, but I still don’t get too close to him. I don’t like to be drooled on.
Discussion In summary, in some regions of West Africa, the inhumane treatment and killing of children with
disabilities is based on a view of an irreversible ‘otherness’ – that which is of a non-human spirit. This view, which is influenced by indigenous African religions and animism, has led to killing and abuse of an unknown number of children, especially in Cote d’Ivoire. In fact, to this date, and during the various phases of this field study, I found no solid evidence of the continued existence or the extent of ritual killings of children with ID. One thing, however, is clear from not only the interviews, but also from my fieldwork: children with disabilities are not treated with any noticeable degree of human dignity or respect. In most institutions, at the very best, I found their condition suboptimal, often lying down on the dirt floor, non-stimulated, and ignored. Social workers and teachers alike frequently expressed their disbelief in any true learning capacity or finer human emotions and interests in these children. Considering the instability of the region during the past decade, the widespread poverty, increasing shortage of child health resources, and a decline in educational opportunities in Cote d’Ivoire (Sany 2010), the vulnerability of children with disabilities has likely become twofold in today’s Ivorian society. It is also clear that should any ritual killing of children take place, it is probably covert and happens in small villages or remote communities of Cote d’Ivoire, as opposed to the cities, where detection of killings by officials is most likely to occur. Though the phenomenon of snake children was explored within a developing nation, it is important to note here that the concept of disability ‘otherness’, as something to be feared and rejected, is not particular to indigenous cultures or developing nations of the world. As mentioned earlier, the concept of disability otherness has existed in the West, and although it is not widespread today, it continues to be present. For example, the struggles of American education system, which includes providing appropriate education for children with developmental disabilities and those with mental health issues, even in light of the inclusion movement, has been attributed to a continued view of disability as ‘different’ and ‘other’ (for a detailed discussion see Murdick et al. 2004). On the other hand, some Western philosophers, such as McMahan (1996, 2002), have articulated that
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individuals with ID fall below the level of moral threshold, and therefore killing such individuals should not carry the same moral significance of those who are above this moral threshold. Thus, it is with no wonder that these marginal humans are regarded as animals with no moral status. A view that places individuals with ID at the margins of personhood raises an ethical consideration both regionally and globally. With few exceptions (e.g. Kittay 2005; Clapton 2009), examinations of this topic have been rare in disability scholarship. Clapton (2009) notes that an ethical debate on this issue must inform discussions of inclusion and exclusion of children and individuals with disabilities. I agree with this assertion, and could only hope that this study might inspire such discussions and further exploration of this topic both in national debates and in global research and advocacy work for education and human rights of children with disabilities.
Acknowledgements The author wishes to acknowledge and express her appreciations of the following individuals and organisations: Dr Mouhammed M. Radji from Javad Nurbakhsh Foundation in Cote d’Ivoire; Dr Anna Corinne Bissouma from Institut Nationale de Santé Publique (INSP) in Cote d’Ivoire; Ms GraceArlette Feze; Ms Naseem Jamnia; Dr Carol Martinez Weber; and Khaniqahi Nimatullahi in the United States. Without ongoing support, advice and contributions from these individuals and organizations this work would not have been possible. This work was partially funded by DePaul University’s Research Council grant, the College of Education internal grant and the support of Khaniqahi Nimatullahi.
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Accepted 12 December 2013
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