blog      contact       performative.com



Links relating to geophagy and pica

geophagy in chimayo, nm (a place I have been visiting for years)

more about chimayo

sera young studies geophagy at UC Berkeley

geophagy waning in u.s. south (nytimes)

about georgia white dirt

Clay taken internally for health purposes: healing clays of the world

geophagy on wikipedia

national geographic describes Haitian geogaphy as not only an economic symptom, but the continuation of a common practice among pregnant women and children (populations who tend toward geophagy)

How geophagy relates to Plumpiñon and liquid food

Eating earth or clay connects the very poor to the very rich. While poor people, especially pregnant women, might turn to clay for vitamins and minerals, wealthy people, especially alternative health practitioners, ingest clay to benefit their digestion. Geophagia is a familiar, if unintended, practice for anyone who has ever used the over the counter anti-diarrhea medication Pepto-Bismol. Clay is its main ingredient, serving to bind and solidify excrement. Geophagia links the starving and the satiated, while simultaneously providing a material connection between technologies deployed by humanitarian aid foods and the health care industry that supports the GI tube.