Breastfeeding is a biocultural phenomenon: not only is it a biological process, but it is also a culturally determined behavior. As such, it has important implications for understanding the past, present, and future condition of our species. In general, scholars have emphasized either the biological or the cultural aspects of breastfeeding, but not both. As biological anthropologists the editors of this volume feel that an evolutionary approach combining both aspects is essential. One of the goals of their book is to incorporate data from diverse fields to present a more holistic view of breastfeeding, through the inclusion of research from a number of different disciplines, including biological and social/cultural anthropology, nutrition, and medicine. The resulting book, presenting the complexity of the issues surrounding very basic decisions about infant nutrition, will fill a void in the existing literature on breastfeeding.
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“This volume makes an important contribution to the literature on the biocultural nature of breastfeeding, a behavior that is critical to the survival of the human species…. [T]his collection provides a wealth of information about the interplay of culture and biology as they relate to breastfeeding and its influence on maternal and infant health. Many of the chapters have implications for the development of policy relating to the support of breastfeeding, such as the Family Leave Act and health care reform. This unique volume will thus be useful for health care professionals and health policy makers, as well as biological and cultural anthropologists.”
—Anne L. Wright, Medical Anthropology Quarterly
“One hundred years ago, the vast majority of infants in the United States were breastfed. They were typically weaned anywhere between two and four years of age. Today the statistics are quite different. At the present time, about one-half of infants in the United States are breastfed, and most are weaned by the time they are six months old. Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives examines the biological and cultural reasons for this shift in behavior…. This volume of fifteen chapters, by almost as many authors, provides readers with an abundance of information on breastfeeding.”
—Christine A. Behrendt, The Quarterly Review of Biology
Kathy Dettwyler has been studying and/or teaching anthropology since 1973. She earned her BS in Anthropology from the University of California, Davis in 1977, and her MA and PhD in Anthropology from Indiana University, Bloomington in 1980 and 1985, respectively. She taught at the University of Southern Mississippi from 1985 to 1987, and at Texas A&M from 1987 until 2000. Currently she teaches at the University of Delaware. In addition, she spends an inordinate amount of time at the local bark park with her two standard poodles (Truman and Ulysses), clearing invasive vines off the native trees in the woods. She is married to Steven Dettwyler (PhD in Cultural Anthropology) who is the Director of Community Mental Health Services in the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health for the State of Delaware. Kathy has three children. Miranda -- whom many of you know from Dancing Skeletons -- is now 32 years old and lives in Wales with her husband Mark Hannam, son Henry, and daughter Eleanor. After completing an MA in Gravitational Wave Physics, Miranda decided to become an architect, and recently earned her degree in architecture at the University of Cardiff, where her husband teaches physics and does computer simulation research on black holes colliding. Kathy's son Peter is 27, lives at home and spends his days at Easter Seals hanging out with friends. Her youngest, Alexander, is a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and recently changed his major from biochemistry/premed to . . . . . Anthropology!! Alex also married the love of his life, Shenin Adel Headland (now Dettwyler) in September of 2012. Kathy's new introductory textbook, Cultural Anthropology and Human Experience, was published in 2011 by Waveland Press. She continues to speak and advocate for breastfeeding mothers and children at conferences around the world. Her next project is based on ledgers from the Delaware State Hospital (mental hospital) from the 1890s and 1900s.
This isn't for the average "consumer" of breastfeeding and parenting books- it won't give much practical advice. What it does is provide accurate, researched based information on what is currently known as "attachment parenting". I was led to "ap" by an endocrinology professor, ten years before I had children, and I learned from her that parenting can be interesting and fulfilling. I learned that there are parenting instincts- holding a baby, sleeping with the baby, not letting the baby cry... the various authors in this book reinforce that. I came away from these writings with a sense that mothering is important and has been throughout history, and that *children* are important. Sometimes I feel that gets lost in parenting books, especially the "mainstream" of Dobson, What to Expect, Ezzo... Dettwyler, et. al. show us that our children deserve better than that.
Breastfeeding: BioCultural Perspectives is a wonderful in depth look at the biological and cultural issues surrounding breastfeeding. It contains a close look at the biological history of breastfeeding, explaining how it is thought that breastfeeding has evolved to protect infants and children, why it is important to breastfeed, and how women in the distant past breastfed (or not) and the implications this may have held for their offspring.
The book goes on to examine information about current breastfeeding practices in various parts of the world and the effect these practices seem to have had on their populations. Included are all of the cultural issues which serve to support or sever the breastfeeding relationship. Further, the book covers issues of: weaning (what is biologically and culturally normal and why they are so different), breast as a sexual object, demand feeding vs. scheduled feeding, co-sleeping and SIDS, fertility issues affected by breastfeeding, and breast cancer and reproductive biology.
This book is a must read for those interested in more than just mechanical information about breastfeeding. It is also recommended reading for any attatchement style parent who is interested in a more biocultural view of why AP works.
This book is not light reading, but is certainly accessible to anyone truly interested.
This book has changed my life! There is so much evidence and sound facts about why it is so important for a child to be breastfed until the age of 2.5- 7 years of age that a person would have to be deaf, dumb & blind to at last not consider it. It is because of this book, that I am going to continue to exclusively pump for my son until the age of 5 (he never latched). I would highly recommend this book for any breastfeeding mother that is considering whether or not she should continue to breastfed beyond the age of 12 months. Read this book. It will change your life. When I read it, not only did I see how humans create their own destruction, I saw the face of God.
