To make one's name famous:

Abstract

Recent efforts to draft plant variety protection (PVP) legislation in The Gambia and sub‐Saharan Africa have sparked criticism from civil society organizations. Citing incongruences between intellectual property law and practices of farmer seed management, these organizations have emphasized the importance of “unfettered” seed exchange among farmers even as they have called for farmers to be granted certain exclusive rights to the varieties they develop. Where the appeals invoked a language of limits familiar to PVP, they also departed from Gambian farmers’ accounts of varietal innovation and its rewards. For farmers, attaining varietal namesakes that could travel across vast networks of farmers generated the rewards of innovation. In this way, farmers articulated a version of claims that pushes against the analytical limits set by calls for exclusive rights. [agriculture, intellectual property, innovation, value, nonhumans, Gambia, West Africa]

Concealed pregnancy as an act of care? A qualitative analysis of motivations for concealing and non-disclosure of early pregnancy in The Gambia

“…Regarding the question of miscarriage attributable to evil spirits, participant familiarity with both the phenomenon and individuals who have suffered such miscarriages indicates that far from an isolated or fringe cultural belief, the presence of spirits continues to inform lived pregnancy experiences for many women in The Gambia as it does other aspects of daily living. Indeed, as anthropologist Susannah Chapman has described for The Gambia, ‘it is not uncommon for jinn to intercede, assist, or even interfere with the affairs of humans’, be they pregnant women or otherwise [ 26 ]. Our participants invoked the presence of jinn in relation to other discussion topics, suggesting that the proposed physical activity interventions of the RCT must take into account the times of day when jinn are most active and therefore when it is not appropriate for an individual to be outdoors; for these urban women jinns were not outdated folk beliefs, but rather, had an active presence in their experiences of daily life.…”