While many more people now have better
access to drinking water, sanitation and health care, the world is still an
unequal place: 2.5 billion — more than one third of the world's population — still have totally inadequate sanitation.16 Artificial feeding of an infant instead of breastfeeding in such settings can literally
mean the difference between life and death.
Using historical and ethnographic methods, I argue that certain understandings of talent perpetuate
unequal access to power by naturalizing a set of musical skills acquired through other
means.