Modern Maternities: Medical Advice about Breastfeeding in Colonial Calcutta
brings to light rare textual and visual materials on medical opinions about breastfeeding by memsahibs (European women),
dais
(indigenous midwives and/or wet nurses) and the
bhadramahila
(here the focus is on ‘respectable’ Bengali-Hindu women). With the help of archival resources, the author discusses themes like:
modernity, maternities and medicine
intersections of ‘race’, gender, class, caste, community and age in diet
artificial foods versus wet nursing
‘cleanliness’, corporeality and culture
‘clean midwifery’ versus ‘dirty midwifery’
customary breastfeeding practices
child-mothers and childcare
breastfeeding, mothercraft and modern clocks
exhibitions, baby shows and baby weeks
colonialism and anti-colonial nation-building
The book offers critical insights into social histories of medicine, motherhood and childcare in nineteenth and early twentieth century colonial Calcutta. It is intended for anyone interested in the book’s interdisciplinary focus on the regional, national and global resonances of childrearing advice. In particular, it will interest scholars and researchers from modern Indian history, global history, health history, medical anthropology, gender studies and South Asian studies.