Embodied Engineering

“Through vivid stories of individual innovation and strategies of survival, Twagira offers a new perspective on twentieth-century biopolitics in Mali. Embodied Engineering adds important critical nuance to understandings of environmental crisis, cultural value, and gendered knowledge production in West Africa.”

“By focusing on gender ideology, food technologies, and development initiatives, Twagira encourages readers to consider the “lived material bodies” of women in twentieth-century rural Mali…. Summing up: Recommended.” ~Choice 59, no. 10 (June 2022)

“A fantastic contribution to multiple fields of study, both within and beyond the academy. Twagira fulfills her stated objectives, particularly that of addressing the prevalent assumptions of African women as without access to technology and static in their work. Her research shows the immense agency and importance of Malian women in their capacity to cultivate embodied relationships with the natural world through the cultivation, collection, and cooking of food.” ~H-Sci-Med-Tech / H-Net Reviews

Twagira draws on a rich corpus of archival documents, but it is her impressive use of folktales, oral histories, and conversations with Office du Niger residents that allows her to challenge the highly idealized narratives of the project presented in the colonial and postcolonial bureaucratic documents. ~Technology and Culture