Ethnographies of breastfeeding : cultural contexts and confrontations / edited by Tanya Cassidy and Abdullahi El Tom.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Tanya Cassidy and Abdullahi El Tom, both of National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland -- 1. The Embodied Experience of Breastfeeding and the Product São Paolo, Brazil / Alanna E. F. Rudzik, Durham University, UK -- 2. Demedicalizing Breast Milk: The Discourses, Practices and Identities of Informal Milk Sharing / Aunchalee Palmquist, Elon University, USA -- 3. Historical Ethnography and the Meanings of Human Milk in Ireland / Tanya Cassidy, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland -- 4. Between 'le corps maternel et le corps érotique': Exploring Women's Experiences of Breastfeeding and Expressing in the UK and France / Charlotte Faircloth, University of Kent, UK -- 5. The Naturalist Discourse Surrounding Breastfeeding among French Mothers / Gervaise Debucquet, Audencia Nantes School of Management, France, and Valérie Adt, L'Institut Interdisciplinaire du Contemporain, France -- 6. 'Who knows if one day, in the future, they will get married...?': Considerations about Breast Milk, Migration and Milk Banking in Italy / Rossella Cevese, Università degli Studi di Verona, Italy -- 7. Religion, Wet-nursing and Laying the Ground for Breast Milk Banking in Darfur, Sudan / Abdullahi El Tom, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland -- 8. Between Proscription and Control of Breastfeeding in West Africa: Women's Strategies Regarding Prevention of HIV Transmission / Alice Desclaux and Chiara Alfieri, both of Université d'Aix-Marseille, France -- 9. 'Impersonal Perspectives' on Public Health Guidelines on Infant Feeding and HIV in Malawi / Anne Matthews, Dublin City University, Ireland -- 10. Breastfeeding and Bonding: Issues and Dilemmas in Surrogacy / Sunita Reddy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, Tulsi Patel, University of Delhi, India, Birgitte Bruun Nielsen, Aarhus University, Denmark, and Malene Tanderup, Aarhus University, Denmark -- 11. Breast Milk Donation as Care Work / Katherine Carroll, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia -- 12. Women and Children First?: Gender, Power and Resources, and their Implications for Infant Feeding / Vanessa Maher, University of Verona, Italy.

"Studies of breastfeeding have proliferated over the last decade. Breastfeeding is an intimate and deep-rooted bodily practice and yet also a highly controversial sociocultural process, invoking strong reactions from advocates and opponents. Whilst breastfeeding practices and experiences vary greatly in different parts of the world, reducing infant mortality is a pressing international goal for governments and societies. Representing cross-cultural concerns of researchers, policy-makers and mothers, this important book takes a rich ethnographic survey of breastfeeding all over the world. Breastfeeding is shown to highlight various links between gender, power and resources in culture. Each chapter covers a new topic and ethnic or national group, and major topical themes of research such as the rise of milk banks, mother-to-mother sharing networks facilitated by social media, breast milk and HIV are explored."--Publisher's website.