White Teeth, Long Neck

Anthropologists and other researchers use the word “emic.” When conducting research on a group of people, they learn from the people being studied how they define a certain concept. While researchers may have western and standardized definitions, if the people within a culture define a concept differently, the study results are often skewed. During the conference, Professor Violet Kimani from the University of Nairobi describes a study she conducted around Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. This area of the country is a no-go zone for VSO volunteers for two reasons; bandits frequently shoot at passing vehicles and there is continued fighting in the Sudan, which borders northern Kenya. Many of the tribes in the Turkana region are nomadic or they are forced to become nomadic, to migrate due to drought, war or bandits.

When studying this group, Kimani asks them what they call someone who has AIDS. “White Teeth,” they reply. Asked why they would call a disease by the name “White Teeth,” they explain that when someone reaches the final stages of the disease, they lose weight and their skin tightens all over their body, especially on their face, pulling their mouths open to reveal lots of white teeth. They also use the term “Long Neck,” even though a patient's neck doesn't actually lengthen, it simply appears to grow longer as the patient loses muscle mass.