For the anthropologically curious I paste below a few key quotes from a study 
of the practice of uvulectomy in Africa. (Not as OT as might appear at 1st 
glance -- one of the explanations for the practice is to facilitate 
breastfeeding).
Regards,
Helen

Katz S. (1989) Uvulectomy: A Common Ethnosurgical Procedure in Africa 
Medical Anthropology Quarterly Vol. 3, No. 1. pp. 62-69.

Abstract
The partial or complete removal of the uvula is a procedure considered almost 
obsolete by cosmopolitan physicians. Antibiotic therapy is now accepted as 
the treatment of choice for most enlarged, infected uvulae, and modern 
medical evaluation is considered essential to rule out the possibility of life-
threatening conditions such as tuberculosis or cancer as the underlying cause 
of symptoms. However, traditional African practitioners continue to perform 
uvulectomies at the request of their patients and to claim safe alleviation of 
symptoms, despite severe complications noted by physicians. I postulate that 
uvulectomy, a procedure recognized by Africans to be therapeutic rather than 
religious, may have been beneficial when modern health services were 
unavailable and may have been the treatment of choice in pre-antibiotic days.

Selected Quotes:
“In contrast with areas in which cosmopolitan medicine dominates, uvulectomy 
continues to be common in large parts of Africa and some neighboring regions. 
How widespread the practice is, is difficult to determine, since our knowledge 
of it depends on the accuracy of reporting in the literature. The procedure 
does not appear to have ritual or religious implications in the places where it is 
performed (as does, for example, the removal of the front incisors among some 
East Africans or circumcision in many groups), but rather is viewed as a simple 
health measure (Good 1987:281-285). For the procedure to have persisted 
across a significant expanse of Africa and southwest Asia among ethnically 
diverse peoples indicates at least the possibility that a form of experimentation 
and long-term observation showed at least temporary beneficial results 
without too many unacceptable side effects. In this brief report I survey the 
evidence for this possibility.”

“Uvulectomy has been documented as a common procedure in Nigeria, where 
the uvula is believed to be the root cause of all throat problems (Ijaduola 
1981). It is a prophylactic routine among the Bedouins of the South Sinai 
(Nathan et al. 1982), and has also been observed in Lebanon (Barakat, Itani, 
and Zaytoun 1986), Sudan (Anderson 1908:3 17; Arkell 1936), Mali (Imperato 
1977:76), Zaire (Pieters 1977), and Ethiopia (Abdulkadir 1986; Bonnlander 
1980).  Authors have also described it among a variety of ethnic groups in 
East Africa (Good 1987:28 1-285; Roles 1967; Tanner 1959).”

“In Kenya, according to one report (Jarvis and Mwathi 1959), the incidence of 
uvulectomy ranged between 16% for the Kamba and 56% for the Kikuyu. 
Among the Kikuyu the majority underwent the procedure before the age of 
five. In 1977 an active clinic operated by two closely related traditional 
medical practitioners was observed in Nairobi. These dakatali wa kilimi  Swahili) 
specialized in uvulectomies, "cutting" anyone from toddlers to grandparents to 
prevent coughing, tonsillitis, hoarseness, and general weakness. In children 
the uvula was completely excised because they believed that otherwise it 
would regrow. In adults it was only partially removed because of fear of 
hemorrhage (Good 1987:283-284).”

“The uvula may also be removed in neonates and young children, prior to the 
onset of symptoms, as a prophylactic measure. In Ethiopia the uvula is "felt to 
obstruct breathing or swallowing in infancy" (Bonnlander 1980). Among the 
Berber of northern Morocco it is done to "facilitate breast feeding and speech" 
and to improve health throughout life (Apffel 1965).  Almost all children of the 
Bedouins of the south Sinai are subjected to the procedure during the first or 
second year of life. The operation is performed by the same individual who 
circumcises males. The indications mentioned for the procedure are medical 
rather than religious and include increased ability to tolerate thirst (Rubenstein 
1979), prevention of upper respiratory diseases. and elimination of mechanical 
difficulties (such as obstruction due to hypertrophy) (Nathan et al. 1982).”

“In Nigeria Fleischer noted that 95.8% of Fulani and Hausa children admitted to 
the hospital had been uvulectomized (1975). Among the Hausa this is usually 
done by a "barber" when the infant is between three and seven days old as 
part of the naming ceremony. They believe that the uvula will swell and 
rupture, causing coughing, gasping, and eventually suffocation if not removed. 
The indication for "barbing," according to a group of Nigerian herbalists 
attending the 1983 conference on Traditional Healing in Contemporary 
Medicine of the National Council for International Health, is to prevent 
overgrowth, which will block the oral cavity and prevent the passage of food. 
Sixty percent of barber surgeons questioned by Ijaduola in Nigeria felt that 
such prevention was an adequate indication for the procedure in neonates 
(198 1).”

Conclusion
“The persistence of uvulectomy as a therapeutic or prophylactic surgical 
procedure in Africa, despite other medical options now available, may be the 
result of both sociocultural pressures and pragmatic observation of its 
effectiveness. This small structure, considered by some to be vestigial and by 
others to have a role in phonation and deglutition, is easy to reach and excise. 
It is therefore available to traditional practitioners in a way that tonsils, even 
when enlarged, are not. If, as has been claimed, the uvula and lymphoid 
tissues of the tonsils and adenoids are interconnected, uvulectomy may 
actually be the treatment of choice in situations where the lymphoid defenses 
have been breached and foci of infection established, and where cosmopolitan 
medical care (including antibiotic therapy) is not available. With increasing 
education and better access to antibiotics and to modem ear, nose, and 
throat services, the incidence of uvulectomy should and undoubtedly will 
decrease. Further research into the role of the uvula, with particular reference 
to the body's defenses against infection, may or may not be undertaken. We 
will probably never know whether this indigenous surgical procedure was by 
and large helpful, as traditional practitioners claim, or harmful, as many 
physicians assert.”

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