Refiguring transnational intervention: Ethnographic example from the Roll Back Malaria initiative in an African community

Abstract

While anthropological studies of intervention typically argue that interveners usually misunderstand local priorities, rarely do accounts illustrate clearly what this looks like on the ground. Based on my ethnographic observation in Nsukka, a locality in southeastern Nigeria, I narrate how local targets engaged malaria intervention with aims different from those of the interveners. I show that malaria is locally viewed as a routine issue unworthy of special intervention, with targets instead constructing the intervention as a chance to cultivate connections with government, NGOs and global actors in order to fulfill aspirations of benefiting from globalization more generally. How kinship relationships mediated this engagement in Nsukka is an interesting perspective the study uncovered. The narrative offers a lens onto the visions local targets hold about how their society is globalizing in the current neoliberal context, and shows how these visions conflate the state, elite NGOs, and relevant transnational actors.