Death Without Parenting Analysis
Question 1 In Nancy Scheper-Hughes’s article “Death Without Weeping”, Nancy’s main role was to be an anthropologist who simply observes the culture she studying. However, the group concluded that Nancy served as both an observer and a helper. Her role as an observer was exemplified by the ethnographic work and article written about the shantytowns. On the other hand, she aided the culture by feeding and nursing back to health Zezinho, a 13 month-old toddler deemed doomed for the death by his mother. After the little boy became healthy and was returned to his mother, Nancy felt intense guilt on whether rescuing Zezinho from his near death was fair to him or his new little brother. The group remained in unison that all anthropologists face this
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As noted by the group, mothers in the shantytown must leaving their babies alone while they go to work is viewed as culturally acceptable due to the level of poverty and oppression they face. Shantytown mothers are unwilling to sacrifice very much for their children, as their own survival to continue to produce offspring proves more essential. Meanwhile, Western mothers hire babysitters or enlist their children in daycare, which are not available to shantytown mothers due to their low incomes. Additionally, the group mentioned the stark differences in the health care of the babies in both cultures. In a shantytown, doctors believe that a baby may be destined to die, so they only prescribe either tranquilizers to stop a baby’s crying or vitamins that create only a small positive impact on health. At the same time, Western cultures spend millions of dollars on state of the art NICU equipment to ensure that even 5lb babies have a chance of living. The group mentioned that social factors such as poor living conditions that encourage the spread of diseases, unfair wages which basically force mothers to not have adequate food for their children, and their religion that accepts that allowing a weak baby to die is part of God’s plan. The way the mothers their babies was decided by the group as being adaptive to their environment as the babies who are more likely to survive in these harsh living conditions are the babies who are given more attention and
As noted by the group, mothers in the shantytown must leaving their babies alone while they go to work is viewed as culturally acceptable due to the level of poverty and oppression they face. Shantytown mothers are unwilling to sacrifice very much for their children, as their own survival to continue to produce offspring proves more essential. Meanwhile, Western mothers hire babysitters or enlist their children in daycare, which are not available to shantytown mothers due to their low incomes. Additionally, the group mentioned the stark differences in the health care of the babies in both cultures. In a shantytown, doctors believe that a baby may be destined to die, so they only prescribe either tranquilizers to stop a baby’s crying or vitamins that create only a small positive impact on health. At the same time, Western cultures spend millions of dollars on state of the art NICU equipment to ensure that even 5lb babies have a chance of living. The group mentioned that social factors such as poor living conditions that encourage the spread of diseases, unfair wages which basically force mothers to not have adequate food for their children, and their religion that accepts that allowing a weak baby to die is part of God’s plan. The way the mothers their babies was decided by the group as being adaptive to their environment as the babies who are more likely to survive in these harsh living conditions are the babies who are given more attention and