A World of Babies

by Edited by Judy S. DeLoache , Alma Gottlieb

• ISBN13: 9780521664752
• ISBN10: 0521664756
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-18
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Are babies divine, or do they have the devil in them? Should parents talk to their infants, or is it a waste of time? Answers to questions about the nature and nurture of infants appear in this book as advice to parents in seven world societies. Imagine what Dr Spock might have written if he were a healer from Bali ... or an Aboriginal grandmother from the Australian desert ... or a diviner from a rural village in West Africa. As the seven childcare 'manuals' in this book reveal, experts worldwide offer intriguingly different advice to new parents. The creative format of this book brings alive a rich fund of ethnographic knowledge, vividly illustrating a simple but powerful truth: there exist many models of babyhood, each shaped by deeply held values and widely varying cultural contexts. After reading this book, you will never again view child rearing as a matter of 'common sense'.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Jerome Bruner
Editors' Acknowledgments	xiii
Note to the Reader	xv
If Dr. Spock Were Born in Bali: Raising a World of Babies	1	(28)
Judy S. DeLoache
Alma Gottlieb
A Parenting Manual, with Words of Advice for Puritan Mothers	29	(26)
Debbie Reese
Luring Your Child into This Life: A Beng Path for Infant Care	55	(36)
Alma Gottlieb
Gift from the Gods: A Balinese Guide to Early Child Rearing	91	(26)
Marissa Diener
Making Babies in a Turkish Village	117	(28)
Carol Delaney
Infants of the Dreaming: A Warlpiri Guide to Child Care	145	(26)
Sophia L. Pierroutsakos
The View from the Wuro: A Guide to Child Rearing for Fulani Parents	171	(28)
Michelle C. Johnson
Never Leave Your Little One Alone: Raising an Ifaluk Child	199	(22)
Huynh-Nhu Le
Note to Chapter One	221	(2)
About the Contributors	223	(4)
Authors' Acknowledgments	227	(6)
Citations and Sources Cited	233	(34)
Index	267