Biopolitics for breastfeeding: an analysis of the global and local movements and their links to social development discourses

• Published in: Cadernos de saúde pública Vol. 34; no. 9; p. e00155117
• Main Authors: Hernandez, Alessandra Rivero, Víctora, Ceres Gomes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Brazil 06.09.2018
• Subjects: Brazil; Breast Feeding - history; Breast Feeding - trends; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Politics; Public Policy - history; Public Policy - trends; Social Change; Brazil
• ISSN: 1678-4464
• DOI: 10.1590/0102-311X00155117

This study aimed to analyze the links between the production of biopolitics for breastfeeding and social development discourses after the post-war period, with a view towards problematizing the nature/culture dichotomy by which breastfeeding is often operationalized. The study adopts an anthropological perspective to compare biopolitics for breastfeeding with the changes in developmentalist discourses. The analysis of global movements by these biopolitics helped explain how a network of distinct entities (e.g., government agencies, multilateral bodies, international development agencies, and nongovernmental organizations) have shaped breastfeeding over time in keeping with the prevailing developmentalist discourses and practices. Initially, the developmentalist discourse focused on industrialization and modernization, and breastfeeding was not the focus of public policies. In the 1970s and 1980s, when the developmentalist discourse shifted the focus to child malnutrition and infant mortality, the first global biopolitics for breastfeeding were launched, and breastfeeding practice began to be operationalized as a means to fight these health problems. Meanwhile, the contemporary social development discourse also evokes a process of individual development. Simultaneously, biopolitics for breastfeeding rely on various technologies for this purpose. The conclusion is that developmentalist discourses act as a sociocultural reference by which breastfeeding is operationalized, and thus that breastfeeding is not only a natural process, but also a political, economic, and social one.