Breastfeeding policies and the production of motherhood: a historical-cultural approach.
This paper revisits some of the aspects that allow us to situate historically the process that has been called the 'politicization of women's breasts'. It is part of a broader research project being undertaken in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, which is studying information from the educational material used in the National Campaign for the Incentive of Breastfeeding. The methodological approach used is cultural analysis, and its theoretical basis is informed by feminist studies and cultural studies, from a poststructuralist perspective. Knowledges and practices that produce notions of maternity are problematized to argue that current political and economic arrangements have necessitated a redefinition of motherhood. This re-signification of motherhood has transferred to women the duty of solving an array of problems that were previously considered government's responsibility, in particular those related to the physical and emotional development of infants.
Meyer
Dagmar Estermann
DE
Faculty of Education and School of Nursing, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre/RS, Brazil. esterman @bturbo.com
de Oliveira
Dora Lúcia
DL
D001938:Brazil; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000208:ethnology*; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D019513:Feminism; D005783:Gender Identity; D006291:Health Policy / Q000266:history; D006293:Health Promotion; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009035:Mothers; D011057:Politics; D040241:Social Marketing