Articles · Vol. 8 No. 1 (2004): African Sociological Review

Mother's Milk, An Ambiguous Blessing in the Bra of AIDS: The Case of'the Chagga in Kilimanjaro

Vol. 8 · 2004 No. 1 African Sociological Review ASR

Abstract

HIVIAIDS has renewed the need for a critical interpretation of hreast­feeding in social and cultural terms. The issue that this study addresses is how medically informed knowledge o_f HIV transmission through breast­feeding is interpreted and transformed in a local rural community in Kilimaryaro Region in northern Tanzania. The paper explores the articu­lation between a medical discourse on risk and a local dis course on moth­erhood which infrJrms the choice of infant jèeding method. Jt dis eusses the complexities involved in making an appropriate decision on breasiféed­ing, and argues that breas(feeding must be understood as close/y tied to the cultural elaboration of the female body and of motherhood. lt shows that the body of the mother and the body ()/'the newborn child are subject to close scrutiny and local diagnostic processes. Not breasifèeding is not only perceived as a significant fàilure of motherhood, but also rais es sus­picion of a likely HIV positive status on the part of the mother.

Keywords

Mother's Milk Ambiguous interpretation Tanzania breas(feeding

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Author Biography

  • Karen Marie Moland

    Karen 1lfarie Moland
    Faculty ofHealth and Social Science
    Bergen University College
    Bergen
    Norway.

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