West African Yams

Yams are a staple food for ordinary West Africans who live in the tropical parts of this region. Why are they grown in earth mounds? To whom do the two billboards speak? What is the relationship between the field of yams and the billboards?

Answers:

Earth mounds provide drainage in this very wet tropical climate
Billboard messages speak to farmers with sufficient money to buy tractors and urban business people who can afford expensive beer
Yams represent the small-scale farmers using hoes; and the billboards speak to the well-to-do classes in the rural and urban areas.
Historically, men grew yams, the king of crops; whereas, women grew coco-yams, beans, and cassava.

Suggested reading: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. New York: Fawcett Crest, 1959. This novel deals with a West African culture (the Ibo of Nigeria), prior to and early contact with European (British) colonialism.

Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 1 February 1996; last revised on 07 March 2005.