Abigail Kadirire picks a dark green caterpillar with white stripes off a ragged and torn maize plant and puts it on her palm. She is clearly distressed. "This is the second time this farming season ...

Like the maize plant, the maize god is decapitated at harvest time, and is then reborn - fresh, young, and beautiful at the beginning of each new growing season. John Staller, anthropologist and ...