Two finals from today

Boom, two papers that I turned in today. I hope it works out alright, I need good grades on both to pass each class respectively. Despite my inability to focus and all my new liver medicine and pretty much the world is raining shit I still cranked both of these out today. Wish me luck, robot me wrote them, I couldn’t do otherwise. If it was a test, I rolled it up and smoked it. I’m not sure if that’s what we were supposed to do, but whatever. Boom.

 

 

 

 

Hip Hop Culture from an Ethnographical Perspective:

Examining the Underground with a Mainstream Lens

 

Tuscanooga B. Keith

University of New Mexico

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abstract

This paper explores the subculture of hip hop, spending careful time to address it in comparison to other relatively recent global artistic movements. Subcultures offer a unique opportunity for anthropological research, complicating the science from its fundamentals by defining their members via different parameters and qualifications. Present during one of the most massive technological shifts in human history, hip hop offers cultural and anthropological opportunities never present before and defines a large and ever increasing group of people in an ever unfolding world. Positioned uniquely on either side of the border of a mass technological diffusion, the genre and its peoples offer insight into human existence like never before seen. The same principles can be transposed to smaller scenes. The study of these smaller scenes movements in relation to global trends shifts as if meteorological or tidal, shifting with currents, the social mapping of which could reveal a great deal about humanity.

Hip Hop Culture from an Ethnographical Perspective: Examining the Underground with a Mainstream Lens

Music as a Mode of Cultural Transmission

Music plays an interesting role in the transmission of ideas and thoughts. Many have postulated on the usage of musical abilities as a gauge for other competencies, yet on the other hand the ‘savant’ is a known phenomenon as well. Much research has been done on the subject of the ‘savant,’ revealing various focused, specialized, intensified, and isolated abilities in individuals who are often defined as disabled (Heaton 1998). If music is viewed within its parameters as a culture, one could conceivably map out the world in entirely new dimensions. Music, in many cases, goes so far as to influence other normally visual arts. It can also influence the attitudes of people or peoples, and even upon occasion the policy making of lawmakers.

Hip Hop and Its Unique Role in the World

It is interesting to ‘view’ one musical cultural phenomenon at a time. As the predominant genre during a global shift for the global power of its time, hip hop is interesting to ‘view.’ In a similar way, other world musics are interesting to view as basis for demographic mapping as well. Rock and roll and jazz were also global genres, but more specified and localized mapping based on musical tastes could provide interesting objectivity and insight about the cultures and peoples that are so traditionally mapped based on archaic genetic lineage and geographic positioning. The appropriation hip hop’s, cultural attitudes, ideals, practices, and beliefs amongst the global population is astounding, reflecting a mass movement (Bennet 1999). Hip hop was also poised as the vessel for the electronic and information ages and played a very interesting role in a key period of human development. Hip hop is additionally interesting to view because of the potential neurological correlates that it seems to so readily map itself onto, those of syntax, cadence, volume, etc.

Hip Hop as a Means of Cultural Definition

However, hip hop is more than just music, and both visual and kinetic aspects of the culture add to the auditory influence. Remaining widely misunderstood, the genre of music has become its own sort of institution, a movement acting independently of one individual force, expanding to the horizons (Forman 1997). Hip hop dance is said to predate the entire genre and to have been the foundational building block upon which the culture was carefully yet capitalistically built. The classic ‘deejay’ element was the first of its kind, building both an instrument out of a turntable on the one hand and a vehicle for social movement on the other (meaning the role of the ‘deejay,’ or disc jockey, was a recently developed position in society based upon technological advances which flourished during the hip hop age). So called ‘aerosol art,’ or graffiti, utilized similar advances, the new, postmodern, almost space age versions of classical arts morphed and subsequently dubbed ‘hip hop.’ But this was more than just classical art, it was a renaissance in its own right, a culture overarching several artistic, social, and economic movements. Hip hop was the future, and everything about it screamed that. Largely based in American ideals, the subculture embraces the new and the old in strangely sustainable materialistic culture (Forman 1997). Archetypes and characters are created and entire pieces could be divulged simply based upon individual caricaturized versions of hip hop’s time tested roles, hip hop borders on voodoo and Santeria with one hand while embracing spiritualism with the other. Representative of the selective spiritualism of modern developed cultures, hip hop is infamous for recycling and shaping old ideas into new ones (Forman 1997). Created alongside the technology that embraced it, hip hop paired seamlessly alongside the increasingly urban lifestyles of much of the world’s populations.

When examining a culture that spans as broad in range as one which hip hop’s parameters span, it is important to note other similar cultures. From a global paradigm, hip hop culture has helped urban youth the world over to reestablish themselves and their neighborhoods as creative and empowered individuals in a social context, shattering old stereotypes of low income families. Hip hop is rooted in grass roots and word of mouth folk movement ethos (Mitchell 2002). In order to best qualify and quantify the cultural effects of the movement, it is practical to compare hip hop with other dance, music, visual art, and poetry movements both domestically and globally, historically and presently, as a means of examining the culture on a functional level. Demographically speaking, hip hop spans a wide variety of other subcultures and modes of categorization (Forman 2002). It may be prudent to view alternative means of demographic redistribution in order to better analyze peoples from a variety of different angles.

A New Basis for Trait and Demographic Analysis

When ‘viewing’ music as a cultural phenomenon, one may find new basis for trait grouping. Local heroes are idealized and deified within the culture and values differ greatly from mainstream norms (Forman 2002). Hip hop often values the ‘grind,’ preferring snub-nose stubborn stick-to-it-iveness over inherited ability or wealth (Forman 2002). As traits may be reorganized, a fuller understanding of human interaction may emerge. What this means is that, in stark contrast to both structuralism and functionalism, hip hop has redefined itself so many times and thusly revealed a strange, ethereal, zen-like value system occurring virtually naturally. The hip hop culture’s fermentation and recycling of old ideals is indicative of entirely new yet classically familiar means for demographic purposes, perhaps allowing for perspective into certain realms of human existence not visible or comprehendible otherwise. In other words, certain cross cultural commonalities may reveal themselves amongst partakers in a subculture or counter culture. Modern culture has folded back onto itself so many times as to make it a sort of structural functionalism multiplied times itself. When a culture as focused on recording itself as hip hop starts to look at itself, it gains its own sort of ‘institutional consciousness,’ utilizing the Pythagorean theorem as well (in reference to the ability to view similar if not the same phenomena through multiple lenses and from multiple viewpoints in order to best determine what is actually happening).

Hip hop as a culture is filled with a diverse group of people spanning across many languages, continents, cultures, peoples, ages, and more. As a subculture and in some cases a counter culture, hip hop is unparalleled in its ability to unite people in pursuit of positivity. As an example of a culture influencing language, hip hop demonstrates the abilities of a culture to provide not just one but multiple forms of language and, indeed, lifestyle manipulation. Hip hop as a ‘scene’ exists in a supernatural realm, as in the idea that while it may have been more materialistic than any other culture before it the culture itself is based strictly on the nonphysical, the ideal, the ‘swagger’ of various innovators (Forman 2002). The concept of fame being a central theme in hip hop, graffiti, breakdancing, emceeing, deejaying, and all of the subsequently adopted elements share a love for the obscure, its practitioners utilizing nicknames and aliases oddly reminiscent of superheroes, avatars, and mobsters.

Hip Hop and the People’s Pursuit of Positivity

The music’s listeners and specialists share many traits, lifestyles, and artistic tastes. Could they share other traits, such as neurophysiological phenotypic similarities? Current research has shown that cadence, rhythm, pitch, and many other factors can have specific neural correlations. Melodies do, in fact, spark specific reactions on a neurophysiological level. As a culture, music is a form of transmission, perhaps to the level of being a source of sexual selection. Perhaps it could be postulated that the preference for or ability with music may be indicative of high quality neurophysiological capabilities and thus be a form of accelerated self-selection in humans. If nothing else, it does seem to be a mode of selection.

In addition to the social contexts influenced by hip hop, the music itself seems to lend itself to a sort of therapeutic use. The poetic cadences utilize older folk methodology and make reference to both the sacred and the mundane, dancing over imagery and inciting movement in its listeners. The instrumentals sample the most vivid of moments, capturing nostalgia and building tension all towards painting a new, abstract world of feelings and thoughts, beliefs and ideals for the peoples.

Syntactical Similarities and Differences with Language

As a form of syntax, music demonstrates similar neurophysiological reactions to language. Indeed, it, amongst other things, is referred to as a ‘universal language.’ Other things include love, money, and slapstick (hip hop has many famous clowns). On the other hand, individuals can develop ‘amusia,’ a musical version of aphasia, and not exhibit aphasia. The opposite is true as well, particularly and notably of the composer Shebalin. Current research, however, has not yet revealed significant differences in response. Syntactically similar in nature, these two do indeed demonstrate strange correlation.

Approaching Hip Hop from Economic and Social Points of View

The economics of the ‘game’ remain much the same today as ever. At once rumored to be almost solely based in the black market, drug and alcohol usage is rampant amongst the hip hop community. The two faces of hip hop represent a vital dualism that is ever present in art, that of aggressive pacifism. Almost Rastafarian in nature, marijuana has been adopted as a substance of leisure and economy by much of the people in this culture.

Like rock and roll, hip hop has played and continues to play a major role in the romantic lives of its people. Much has been made of various ‘star’ musicians lives, and mimicry is prominent amongst practitioners. Indeed, the archetypes of various figures have morphed with time, as with rock and roll and jazz. Much is made of ‘street credibility,’ ‘keeping it real,’ and other raw, gritty ideals. Hip hop has its own versions of other subcultures, containing various offspring with skateboarding, sport, and club lifestyles amongst others. Race, sex, crime, morality, religion, homosexuality, life, death, politics, and many other topics are addressed to varying degrees by the genre and a single and unified belief about any one subject is impossible to nail down. Instead, an almost Zionist sort of manifest destiny overtakes the movement and slowly winds the world down the road, like all things.

Possibilities and Future Directions

As far as possible future directions, electronica offers a diverse variety of opportunities in many fields, the combination of the knowledge from which may lead to more understanding of human nature. The various genres and subgenres, niches and cliques and scenes all carved out of one another, look similar to tribes and families from a superficial standpoint. Material possessions, economics, social mobility, and much more all appear to mimic older forms of social division. Much of the world could be deduced by determining which music people listen to at different times, new and more precise modes of bias could be snuffed out for good. The almost tribal nature of many of these ‘trends,’ ‘scenes,’ and ‘movements’ offers modern anthropologists opportunities to update older techniques of study to fit modern speed and dynamics.

Additional research could be done into specific genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of various subcultures’ practitioners. Precise mapping of the culture in a multi-dimensional realm could provide more specified and accurate data about specific economic functions of hip hop in capitalist societies as compared with non-capitalist societies and the exact role of the black market in an astoundingly large subculture. Specific value systems could be charted in order to determine the whether trait values differ and if so to what degree they differ from mainstream trait systems. Further research could be done to see the degree to which neurophysiological similarities and response to the actual sensory stimulation process caused by hip hop and indeed other cultural movements’ artistic mediums play a role in determining which movement an individual will demonstrate a preference towards, perhaps indicating underlying personality types impossible to comprehend from a traditional standpoint.

Conclusions

To conclude, hip hop is a group of diverse people united over seemingly artificial items. The songs and art is frequently ephemeral and the culture lives for the present. Interesting similarities may arise for people of seemingly different ‘types’ from a structural point of view, indicating a wider dimension of possible evaluative tools. This paper suggests that approaching ethnography and anthropology with different demographic dividing themes may be beneficial to a researcher’s overall understanding and conceptual solidarity. In other words, further research in the realms of alternative demography methods could yield great anthropological gains, possibly implying usefulness in a variety of academic and nonacademic realms.

Additionally, hip hop’s practitioner’s preferences may be indicative of larger human adaptive themes and motifs. For one, human self-selection has yielded many serendipitous advances, the exact functions of which have yet to be firmly defined. Music, as well as other art forms and perhaps even science, is one of these advances. Language is also one of these advances and the neural links between music and language indicate the need for further research. What exactly is it that differentiates the two? Are humans primed for language? Are humans primed for music? Is this indicative of historical phenomena? There are many questions to be asked.

Finally, the connection to the Earth which hip hop endows its practitioners is indicative of the individual integrating with the society, a reoccurring theme in an increasingly global world. Hip hop has good sides, bad sides, and in between, all of which differ from the mainstream and other subcultures. Hip hop, like other genres, has a value system unique to itself, existing partially hidden from the entire mainstream, different from the norm. Simultaneously playing to the global and local perspective, hip hop is the glorified projects of the subculture world, provided a diverse array of specialized niches for its ‘users’ to inhabit.

Works Cited

 

Heaton, Pamela and Hermelin, Beate and Pring, Linda.

1998 Autism and Pitch Processing: A Precursor for Savant Musical Ability?

Music Perception 15 (3): 291-305.

Bennet, Andy.

1999 Hip Hop Am Main: the Localization of Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture.

Media Culture Society 21 (1): 76-91.

Forman, Murray.

2010 Hip-Hop Culture, Youth Creativity, and the Generational Crossroads. In

Art and Human Development. Cynthia Lightfoot and Constance Milbrath,

eds. Pp. 59-65. New York: Psychology Press.

Mitchell, Tony and Pennycook, Alastair.

2009 Hip Hop as Dusty Foot Philosophy. In Global Linguistic Flows: Hip Hop

Cultures, Youth Identities, and the Politics of Language. H.Samy Alim

and Awad Ibrahim and Alastair Pennycook, eds. Pp. 25-42. New York:

Routledge.

Forman, Murray.

2002 The ‘Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop.

Connecticut: Wesleyan.

Second one now, this one was, ugh, brutal to write. Definitely not what I want to study, one of those classes that kills you to take it, knowledge you don’t really want but a ‘well rounded’ person would have…I don’t mean to make it seem like drudgery, but the class cornered me and a subject that I have a lot of ideas about really, uh, really came through in the clutch is what I meant to say. Here it is…be warned, it’s depressing subject matter, kinda like building a treehouse out of dead elephant bones.

Breastfeeding, Co-sleeping, and a Healthy Baby: A Review of Current Infant Health Practices

 

Tuscanooga B. Keith

University of New Mexico

Abstract

 

This paper aims to superimpose current health practices with archaeological findings, analyze the data, and suggest possible directions for further research. Five different articles were analyzed in order to collect data for this paper. The papers were cross examined with one another to determine possible correlations, the implications of which could extend to better understanding of optimum infant health circumstances. Areas of interest prior to examination of the articles include optimum breast feeding patterns across cultures, the effects of co-sleeping on infant health and possible correlations between breast feeding, bed sharing, and co-sleeping. Prevention of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and encouragement of healthy mental and physical development of both mother and infant are of primary concern. The relationship that these outcomes may have with possible factors breast feeding, co-sleeping, and bed sharing, is discussed.

Breastfeeding, Co-sleeping, and a Healthy Baby: A Review of Current Infant Health Practices

 

            Throughout history there have been many factors influencing human development. Specifically in the realm of nutritional health and overall absence of deficiencies, humans, like many other mammalian living organisms, have utilized milk as a form of transmitting nutrition from the maternal unit to its young (Schwarcz 1998). Environmental factors, such as co-sleeping, can be indicative of other health behaviors (McKenna 1997). Of primary concern is the prevention of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, operationally defined as an unexpected and sudden death of a child under the age of one year old for which an autopsy does not reveal an explainable cause of death (Ball 2007). This can be due to a number of factors, such as problems with the ability to wake up, inability to properly regulate carbon dioxide levels in the blood, and more. Because of the complex nature of the diagnosis, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome can be difficult to differentiate from accidental crushing or suffocation (Ball 2007). This is especially true as one takes into account the reluctance that parents involved in such accidental deaths may exhibit both internally and externally to attributing causal factors to themselves. Infants are at an increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome if they are around cigarette smoke while in the womb or shortly after being born, if they share a bed with one or more parents, if they sleep on their stomach (however, experts also note that infants are an increased risk of choking and strangulation if they sleep on their back), if they are a twin, if they were born prematurely, if they are impoverished, if they were born to a teen mother, if a sibling had Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, if their mother smokes or uses illegal drugs, if they received late or no prenatal care, or if there is soft bedding in the crib. Many of these, however, correlate highly with bed sharing (McKenna 1997). The effect of bed sharing should be controlled for in future research. Being a twin may correlate highly with bed sharing and thus the actual effects of being a twin may prove to be negligible, but further research is required.

When examining maternal patterns across cultures, various patterns can be ascertained from the wide, diverse variety of practices. These practices include infant rearing, education, nutrition, housing, and much more (Rowshan 1997). This paper specifically examines breastfeeding practices that have been common in the past, are common today, and other activities such as bed sharing and co-sleeping in order to determine a possible optimum infant sleep environment. Bed sharing is defined as an infant or child sleeping in the same bed, couch, or other surface upon which parents also sleep; parent and child habituating the bed for the purpose of sleep at the same time (Ball 2007). Co-sleeping is defined as the sharing of the same room but not necessarily the same bed unit by one or more parents and the infant (McKenna 1997). Again, this involves simultaneous timing, both infant and parent spending more or less what amounts to the same time and times in bed and attempting to sleep (Ball 2007). According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, co-sleeping is recommended as it encourages breast feeding. Bed sharing, however, is not recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Additionally, several other articles are reviewed in a literature review fashion in order to better explain the findings of this process. In spite of the predominance of such healthy behaviors as diurnal breastfeeding, nocturnal breastfeeding, and supposedly bed sharing, misinformation is rampant amongst many new mothers (Rowshan 1997). Specifically in the case of the Bangladesh mothers, individuals may place more responsibility on the supposed ‘quality’ of the mother’s breast milk in regards to infant health outcomes, specifically blaming the mother for sudden infant death or deaths (and perhaps the syndrome which can accompany it) (Rowshan 1997). As this paper discusses, mothers may seek out resources or options to ensure maximum breast milk intake for the infant. One such optional behavior could be seen as bed sharing (Ball 2007). Bed sharing is shown to correlate with increased nocturnal breastfeeding (Ball 2007). Co-sleeping is also shown to correlate with increased nocturnal breastfeeding (McKenna 1997), but not to the same degree as bed sharing (Ball 2007). However, bed sharing correlates with increased risk of infant death (McKenna 1997). Increased nocturnal breastfeeding without bed sharing is shown to be the best option in reducing accidental infant fatality (McKenna 1997).

Knowledge is often an indicator of ability to provide care (Rowshan 1997). The prevention of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or other accidental infant death is often generalized as heavily influenced by the ‘quality’ of the provider’s breast milk (Rowshan 1997). Knowledge from these articles effectively minimizes and debunks colloquial and false information and beliefs about breast milk ‘quality’ (which is not measured, operationalized, or defined in said colloquial circumstances) and the prevention of infant death (Rowshan 1997). The quality of breast milk was not demonstrated in these articles to quantitatively affect infant development outcomes, though the possibility of breast milk quality having influence over these processes should not be ruled out indefinitely (Rowshan 1997). Specifically links which show the ability of bed sharing to influence nocturnal breastfeeding without emphasizing the possible deleterious effects of said bed sharing can be misleading (McKenna 1997). Neglecting to recognize that almost triple the breastfeeding occurred for bed sharing families, new mothers may falsely believe that bed sharing and not increased breast milk consumption is responsible for many nutritional benefits (Ball 2007).

Breastfeeding Patterns across cultures

 

Many experts today agree that breastfeeding is an unparalleled manner of integrating a necessary mother-infant bonding process with a specialized nutritional intake process that often leads to high levels of healthy growth for the infant involved in the equation (Schwarcz 1998). The World Health Organization recommends as a global health measure that infants be breastfed exclusively for six months beginning at birth to achieve the best outcome in regards to development of the infant. While maternal report of breastfeeding has proven to be unreliable (McKenna 1997), self-report measures have been shown to correlate with higher levels of bone density in infant skeletal remains (Herring 1998), presumably indicating better skeletal health. The implication here is that increased breast feeding provides necessary nutrients which are specialized in human breast milk to encourage healthy bone growth in infants. Fragile, frail bones are combatted with the nutritional components of breast milk, the exact formula for which cannot be replicated in a lab (Ball 2007). With variable levels of different essential nutrients at different times of the day, month, and infant’s life, breast milk provides a shifting and customized ingredient in order to best encourage infant growth and development. When discussing pediatric nutrition, note that breast-fed children have exhibited a higher resistance to disease and infection early in life, more so than a control group fed only formula. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, breast-fed children are also less likely to contract diseases later in life, including cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and juvenile diabetes. An interesting aside is that mothers who breastfeed are less likely to develop osteoporosis, experience lower risk levels in regards to breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer, and report an easier time losing weight gained during pregnancy.

Past findings indicate that breastfeeding may have been practiced for a longer duration of time than is currently commonly practiced (Schwarcz 1998). With working mothers receiving more and more pressure to return to work, many mothers in first world and developed countries do not breastfeed for the six years of infancy once considered commonplace. One such indicating study was the study done in the 19th Century St. Thomas Anglican Churchyard in Belleville, Ontario (Herring 1998). A large infant graveyard with well-preserved skeletal remains was unearthed, the findings of which indicated high levels of breastfeeding (Herring 1998). To be precise, stable nitrogen isotope analyses, colloquially and commonly referred to as ‘carbon dating,’ and historical demographic analysis was used in order to determine the weaning behaviors and the later implications of these behaviors on overall infant survival and death rates (Herring 1998). Ancient findings, such as this indicate that breastfeeding may have been much more prominent in past cultures (Schwarcz 1998). This is to be expected in some aspects if one considers the possible food shortages which may have existed in the not so distant past. When testing carbon and oxygen isotopes, more enriched enamel was discovered on molars present in older infant skeleton, indicating the beneficial effects received for Guatemalan infants when breast feeding between 700 B.C. and 1500 A.D (Schwarcz 1998). Modern practices often include the cessation of breast feeding at the reaching of the second year of life, but archaeological evidence demonstrates that, in the past, breastfeeding was common for infants between the ages of two and six years (Schwarcz 1998).

Many findings may indicate that breast milk provides infants and young children with nutritional advantages when compared with control groups, both historically and today (Herring 1998). The implications here are vast. As a specialized food source, breast milk has historically provided infants with their sole source of nutrition as well as an additional source of nutrients after solid food has already begun to be consumed (McKenna 1997). Increased breastfeeding sessions are commonly believed to provide infants with increased nutritional opportunity (Ball 2007).

Co-sleeping and Bed Sharing: The Differences, Risks, and Benefits of Each

 

            Current evidence indicates that co-sleeping and bed sharing can have mixed effects on overall outcomes of infancy, particularly in regards to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ball 2007). Both bed sharing and co-sleeping are shown to correlate with increased nocturnal breast feeding (Ball 2007). Bed sharing, is defined as the sharing of a single ‘bed’ unit by one or more parents and the infant (McKenna 1997). Current evidence indicates that bed sharing correlates highly with healthy development for the infant except for in extemporaneous death situations (Ball 2007). Further examination indicates that co-sleeping often results in similar levels of nocturnal breast feeding (McKenna 1997). However, frequency of breastfeeding per hour is at its absolute highest when a mother-infant dyad is present and bed sharing occurs (Ball 2007). These levels are even higher than when a crib is attached to the bed, indicating that much of the feeding may be a result of ease of access and proximity for the infant (Ball 2007). Lower levels of infant death during co-sleeping in comparison with bed sharing may be attributable to decreased risk of oxygen deprivation for the infant, accidental crushing death, and other accidental injuries which may occur when a parent rolls over on an infant unknowingly during sleep (McKenna 1997). Risk of death and injury may be perceived to be elevated for parents who experience difficulty waking from sleep or are obese.

The implications of these current studies indicate that breast feeding occurs at a higher rate when a mother sleeps in the same room as the infant (McKenna 1997). This is presumably due to the notion that increased proximity allows for easier responding to signals given off by the infant indicating a willingness to feed. However, despite risks such as crushing injury, bed sharing seems to provide infants with optimum access to the food source (Ball 2007). Co-sleeping coupled with increased attention to infant signals and routine offering of food may provide a safer environment (McKenna 1997).

While some experts claim that sleep-sharing may actually reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, the subject is heavily debated (McKenna 1997). Bed sharing is thought to have been a prominent practice for many world cultures throughout much of history (McKenna 1997). Bed sharing and nocturnal breastfeeding have commonly been linked and in fact were considered almost exclusive to one another as recently as one hundred years ago according to (McKenna 1997). Overall, bed sharing and co-sleeping have both been common practices throughout history (Ball 2007). Bed sharing allows for increased opportunity for food intake for the infant, but also affords a greater risk of accidental death or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ball 2007). However, with the knowledge that bed sharing infants feed three times more per night than non-bed sharing infants and marginally more than co-sleeping infants, new mothers can take steps toward achieving an optimally nutritionally healthy infant while at the same time reducing the risk of infant death (Ball 2007). Pediatric sleep medicine has provided data and knowledge which can allow for healthier development (McKenna 1997). Possible steps to achieve optimum infant health include increased offering of breast during nocturnal hours, even when the infant does not signal, while simultaneously decreasing bed sharing.

Conclusions

 

 

To conclude, breastfeeding is a prominent practice throughout much of the world and has been for much of history (Schwarcz 1998). Misinformation about the effects of breast milk is common on a global scale (Rowshan 1997). Breast milk provides a specialized, nutrient dense formula which allows for maximum infant development (McKenna 1997). Evidence for this has been provided in infant skeletal remains across cultures (Herring 1998). Co-sleeping and bed sharing have both showed increased nocturnal breast feeding for the infant involved (Ball 2007). Bed sharing, however, correlates slightly more highly with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome than does co-sleeping (Ball 2007). Conversely, bed sharing infants show roughly triple the amount of nocturnal feedings than their non-bed sharing counterparts (Ball 2007). Implications here show that more comprehensive breast milk offering systems as well as possible increased responsiveness to infant signaling in a non-bed sharing environment may provide an optimal infant sleeping and feeding environment.

Further research could be done in the realm of demographic specificity. Additional research could be conducted in infant skeletal remains worldwide in order to determine regional prominence of structures indicative of breast milk usage. Specific contents of breast milk could be analyzed in order to ascertain the specific levels of each individualized element (vitamins, minerals, and essential substances) at different times during infancy, during a monthly cycle, and during a yearly cycle. Contents of breast milk could be analyzed for stressed mothers, mothers with low levels of nutritional resources, mothers who smoke, mothers who drink, mothers who use illegal drugs, mothers who use legal drugs, mothers with conditions such as anemia, lactose intolerance, cancer, or other conditions or illnesses which could cause changes in the levels of nutritional elements present within breast milk. Analyses could be run for older mothers, mothers that experience sleep difficulties, mothers who report being depressed or other psychophysiological conditions, and for many other conditions. Single mothers could be cross-examined in conjunction with traditional mothers. Breast milk could be examined in relation to hormone levels and the effects of birth control on the levels of nutritional element in breast milk could be determined.

Annotated Bibliography

 

Herring, D.A., Katzenberg, M.A., Saunders, S.R. “Investigating the Weaning Process in Past

Populations.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 105.4 (1998): 425-439. Online

Article.

This article contains information regarding an anthropological dig done in Ontario, Canada. A biometric model was applied to infant skeletal bones from the 19^th century St. Thomas’ Anglican churchyard in Belleville, Ontario. Many well preserved infant skeletal bones and high quality record keeping of the church have been evaluated in order to determine primary infant dietary sources and breast feeding practices of the time. The article aims to determine whether or not breast-feeding was a common practice and, if so, at what age was it common for mothers to wean infants.

D. A. Herring has a Ph.D. and is currently on research leave from McMaster University in Canada. Her work focuses on health in Canada, including preventative health. Her primary emphasis is on Aboriginal health. The source is reliable, especially considering the journal within which it is published. The documentation is well done and the source is scholarly, being from 1998 it is current as well.

Ball, H.L., Gettler, L.T., McKenna, J.J. “Mother-Infant Cosleeping, feeding, and Sudden Infant

Death Syndrome: What Biological Anthropology Has Discovered About Normal Infant

Sleep and Pediatric Sleep Medicine.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 134.45

(2007): 133-161. Online Article.

This source discusses pediatric sleep medicine and various variables that have been posited to be linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, including breast-feeding and co-sleeping patterns. The article reviews literature and other previously published sources, data on non-human primates, comparative evolutionary and cross-cultural studies, insights, and perspectives in order to potentially stimulate more research in the area of pediatric sleep medicine.

The source of this article is scholarly. Dr. McKenna received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 1975 and is an esteemed and world-renowned expert on infant sleep. Once again, the journal it is published in is a highly credible source.

The final determination of the article is that more research is needed. Current research indicates that many co-sleeping patterns are not beneficial to the infant and in fact hospitals are now leaning more and more towards recommending separate sleeping habitations for mother and infant. Sustained contact between mother and infant is not recommended despite the fact that sustained contact increases the probability of successful breast-feeding encounters, attachment, and general infant and maternal health. This article recommends further research be done in order to more successfully determine the optimal strategy to decrease the risks involved with co-sleeping while simultaneously reaping the benefits of -feeding (possibly decreased chances of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Bedding infants with other infants is also discouraged and deemed ‘dangerous.’ This article recommends further research.

Rowshan, R., Zeitlyn, S. “Privileged Knowledge and Mothers’ ‘Perceptions’: The Case of

Breast-Feeding and Insufficient Milk in Bangladesh.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly

 11.1 (1997): 56-68. Online Article

This article examines a specific case of breast-feeding in Bangladesh and the effects, positive and negative, that practitioner’s and health care provider’s beliefs and ‘perceptions’ of the efficacy of -feeding had on various health outcomes. The article determines that many popular beliefs attribute the illness of a child to the lack of health of the mother (somewhat falsely), including the implication that the breast-feeding woman whose infant becomes ill may have been affected by spiritual forces. This is a strange and complicated situation due to the combination of modern medical beliefs and traditional beliefs, perhaps leading to false persecution of mothers. While gender roles are changing, some traditionalists imply that female sexuality has a negative effect on overall infant health, attributing perhaps too much credit to breast milk in maintaining infant health when other factors are present.

Both authors of this article appear to be credible and the article is listed on major databases. Both are employed at the International Centre for Diarrhoeah Disease Research in Bangladesh. The article emphasizes the negative effects that limitation of knowledge, medically speaking, can have.

The article is credible but somewhat skewed and biased. It focuses on gender roles and socialization and attempts to evaluate a developing medical practice, one which often combines religion and science, and determine possible reasons for a decline in breast-feeding. The source is credible and focuses on the role that mothers’, doctors’, and societies’ have on encouraging or discouraging breast-feeding. The final conclusion is that there are many factors to be considered, not the least of which are the perceptions of increased maternal responsibility on a physiological level when breast milk is utilized.

McKenna, J.J., Mosko, S.S., Richard, C.A. “Bedsharing Promotes Breastfeeding.” Pediatrics:

Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics 100.2 (1997): 213-220. Online

Article

Breast-feeding is postulated to be protective against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. This article examines practices which encourage breast-feeding, specifically bed sharing and co-sleeping. The study was conducted amongst the Latino population. The study examined practices through videography, amongst other methodologies, and concludes that infants in co-sleeping environments breastfed nearly three times longer than their non-bed sharing counterparts.

This article appears to be credible, again being written by three well established Ph.D. holders. McKenna is a renowned expert. The article concludes by suggesting bed sharing in some contexts as a preventative measure against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Schwarcz, H.P., Wright, L.E. “Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotopes in Human Tooth Enamel:

Identifying Breastfeeding and Weaning in Prehistory.” American Journal of Physical

Anthropology 106.1 (1998): 1-18. Online Article

This article seeks to determine common breast-feeding and weaning practices of prehistoric mother-infant pairs via the utility of carbon and oxygen isotopes in a group of fossils discovered in Guatemala. The article concludes that breast-feeding may have been a common practice (as determined by more rich tooth nutrition and the presence of aforementioned isotopes), even up to the age of six years old. While infants appear to have begun consumption of solid foods at the age of two years old, breast milk appears to have played a major dietary role for several years after this introduction.

This source appears to be credible, being published in such a major journal. Dr. Wright is an associate professor at Texas A&M and received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. She is an esteemed scholar.