Militant Lactivism?: Attachment Parenting and Intensive Motherhood in the UK and France | BERGHAHN BOOKS
Join our Email List Berghahn Books Logo

berghahn New York · Oxford

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
Browse
Militant Lactivism?: Attachment Parenting and Intensive Motherhood in the UK and France

View Table of Contents


Series
Volume 24

Fertility, Reproduction and Sexuality: Social and Cultural Perspectives



See Related
Anthropology Journals

Email Newsletters

Sign up for our email newsletters to get customized updates on new Berghahn publications.

Click here to select your preferences

Militant Lactivism?

Attachment Parenting and Intensive Motherhood in the UK and France

Charlotte Faircloth

278 pages, 5 illus. & 1 table, bibliog., index

ISBN  978-0-85745-758-5 $135.00/£99.00 / Hb / Published (March 2013)

ISBN  978-1-80073-013-7 $34.95/£27.95 / Pb / Published (July 2021)

eISBN 978-0-85745-759-2 eBook

https://doi.org/10.3167/9780857457585


View CartYour country: - edit Request a Review or Examination Copy (in Digital Format)Recommend to your LibraryAvailable in GOBI®

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2014 BSA PHILIP ABRAMS MEMORIAL PRIZE

Reviews

“This is a fascinating topic and a very interesting study and would be a worthwhile and relevant read to those interested in research linked to motherhood, parenthood, family and gender. The book is well written, and the author adopts an engaging writing style that is easy to follow…The quotations used in the book provide a useful and real insight into these women’s experiences, as their mindsets and attitudes towards breastfeeding really brought the book to life…The appeal of this book is clearly far reaching, be it from an individual and general interest in the subject matter, or to gain a more theoretical knowledge and understanding of the debates it touches on and explores.” • Sociological Research Online

This is an attentive ethnography of women in London and Paris who are members of the international breastfeeding support organisation La Leche League (LLL)… The book is written in a clear and engaging way and can be recommended to students and scholars interested in kinship and family studies, as well as for those looking for a good anthropological study on contemporary motherhood.• Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale

This is a captivating, original, and methodologically sound study, which will make an important contribution to anthropological work on contemporary motherhood. It deserves to be much more widely read, however, by scholars in many other disciplines and outside the academy.• Ellie Lee, University of Kent

The cross-cultural dimension is one of the things that make this book unique and especially valuable…Overall, the book is on an important topic, based on sound research. This is a major contribution to scholarship on parenting, and a compelling study of a subject now in the forefront of public debate.” • Linda Layne, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/University of Cambridge

Description

Following networks of mothers in London and Paris, the author profiles the narratives of women who breastfeed their children to full term, typically a period of several years, as part of an 'attachment parenting' philosophy. These mothers talk about their decision to continue breastfeeding as 'the natural thing to do': 'evolutionarily appropriate', 'scientifically best' and 'what feels right in their hearts'. Through a theoretical focus on knowledge claims and accountability, the author frames these accounts within a wider context of 'intensive parenting', arguing that parenting practices – infant feeding in particular – have become a highly moralized affair for mothers, practices which they feel are a critical aspect of their 'identity work'. The book investigates why, how and with what implications some of these mothers describe themselves as 'militant lactivists' and reflects on wider parenting culture in the UK and France. Discussing gender, feminism and activism, this study contributes to kinship and family studies by exploring how relatedness is enacted in conjunction to constructions of the self.

Charlotte Faircloth is Associate Professor of Social Science in the UCL Social Research Institute, UK.

Subject: Medical AnthropologyGender Studies and Sexuality
Area: Europe


Contents

Download ToC (PDF)

Back to Top



Library Recommendation Form

Dear Librarian,

I would like to recommend Militant Lactivism? Attachment Parenting and Intensive Motherhood in the UK and France for the library. Please include it in your next purchasing review with my strong recommendation. The RRP is: $135.00

I recommend this title for the following reasons:

BENEFIT FOR THE LIBRARY: This book will be a valuable addition to the library's collection.

REFERENCE: I will refer to this book for my research/teaching work.

STUDENT REFERRAL: I will regularly refer my students to the book to assist their studies.

OWN AFFILIATION: I am an editor/contributor to this book or another book in the Series (where applicable) and/or on the Editorial Board of the Series, of which this volume is part.