BOOK REVIEW
Grandmother Power: A Global Phenomenon
Paola Gianturco
PowerHouse Books
“Where are all the old
people?”
That’s a question I’ve asked myself almost every time I
return from foreign travel. I’ve usually enjoyed meeting dozens of local people,
and it’s only later that I realize I’ve missed an entire segment of a
population.
I needn’t ask the question any more. Paola Gianturco has
created a scrumptious book of glorious photos and stories of old women -
grandmothers - who have found their power. Empathic, intelligent and
delightfully curious, Gianturco guides readers through five continents and
fifteen countries to meet grandmothers, mostly old, all of them activists. The
grandmothers suffer from severe illnesses and a population depleted by deaths
from AIDs or abandonment of husbands and fathers. Yet despite these endemic
economic and social problems in the villages Gianturco invites us to visit, Grandmother Power is alive and well.
We readers discover, along with the author, that the women
are not too old to learn about the importance of nutrition, especially for
those who have HIV/AIDs. Then, challenged by the expense of maintaining healthy
diets, some of them create cooperative farms where they learn even more skills
and sell their produce. They find a variety of other ways to earn money, from
knitting hats to producing CDs of lullabies. They encourage grandchildren and
other young women to live up to the traditional values they believe are good
for their culture and to change traditions that local women believe are
harmful.
In Senegal,
female genital mutilation is referred to as “cutting” or FGM. A1999 law
forbidding it brought a significant reduction in the practice, but also shows
the limits of social change by fiat. Almost a quarter of the women have been
subjected to FGM, and most of those have been cut in secrecy. The grandmothers
have learned about the dangers to women’s lives from FGM, and because they have
status, their teaching sometimes has more of an impact than law.
Details of the grandmother’s work vary from village to
village, country to country. A Guatemalan grandmother group’s major cause is
stopping child abuse. The women promote good parenting, and combat the idea
that “beating kids is normal.” Four hundred Israeli grandmothers monitor West Bank checkpoints, documenting Israeli Defense
Forces’ procedures. Filipina grandmothers have given each other support as they
came out of the closet of having been “comfort women.”
Many grandmothers are ill themselves, yet manage these
activities as well as raising several grandchildren and sometimes additional
orphaned children. In emphasizing the importance of the groups Gianturco quotes
an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far,
walk with others.”
A significant aspect of the grandmother’s work is in
bringing formerly taboo topics out of the closet. The grandmothers grew up when
people didn’t speak of rape or forced marriages or FGM or AIDs. Now, in new
forms of traditional African forums, young and old women discuss these issues,
and learn from each other how to cope with death, sickness, violence and
poverty. They teach each other, own their power, and use it constructively.
Gianturco offers readers inspiring visual and verbal portraits of women who
have often been stigmatized and dismissed. I found Grandmother Power the next best thing to seeing for myself the
remarkable accomplishments of these women, and the joy that they take in their
work.
