Tired of Weeping: Mother Love, Child Death, and Poverty in Guinea-Bissau
Tired of Weeping: Mother Love, Child Death, and Poverty in Guinea-Bissau
by Jonina Einarsdottir
University of Wisconsin Press, 2004 Paper: 978-0-299-20134-0 | eISBN: 978-0-299-20133-3 | Cloth: 978-0-299-20130-2 Library of Congress Classification DT613.45.P36E56 2004 Dewey Decimal Classification 305.235086942097
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
In this comprehensive and provocative study of maternal reactions to child death in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, anthropologist Jónína Einarsdóttir challenges the assumption that mothers in high-poverty societies will neglect their children and fail to mourn their deaths as a survival strategy. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted from 1993 to 1998 among the matrilineal Papel, who reside in the Biombo region, this work includes theoretical discussion of reproductive practices, conceptions of children, childcare customs, interpretations of diseases and death, and infanticide. Einarsdóttir also brings compelling narratives of life experiences and reflections of Papel women.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jónína Einarsdóttir is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland. Since 2001, she has conducted research on the ethical questions related to the treatment of underweight infants born in Iceland and the implication of such births for the families involved. She has done extensive fieldwork among the Papel of Guinea-Bissau.
REVIEWS
“A fascinating study of the facts of life surrounding child death and the parental responses to it.”—Dorothy D. Wills, American Anthropologist
“A well researched and clearly written critical study, narrated in an engaging style . . .”—Peter Karibe Mendy, International Journal of African Historical Studies
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Marriage Relations
2 Burdens of Birth
3 Conceptualization of Children
4 Diseases and Death
5 Nonhuman Children
Conclusion
Notes
Glossary
References
Index
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