West Africans were using variolation hundreds of years ago, and they brought it to America in 1706. In the 1700s, Africans taught their technique for protecting themselves against smallpox to the very European settlers who enslaved them.
Read More
Africa & Asia
Here is my blog of political and anthropological reflections. Much of my professional career was in West Africa (and some of my childhood as well), but I also know East, Central and North Africa quite well. I have visited most Arab-speaking countries from Morocco to the Persian Empire. I know both Iran and Afghanistan, and many of the surrounding countries in Central and Southern Asia.
With terrorism, peace, sexual violence and injustice in the mix, this will be an eclectic series of articles !
This blog is a supplement to the monthly Richmond Chiwara Newsletter, a monthly online publication of the Virginia Friends of Mali