Breastfeeding studies: culture, biomedicine, and methodology

The research and literature focusing on aspects of human lactation and infant feeding are dominated by a biomedical orientation. This paper posits that such a manner of delimiting the data to be acquired and analysed represents a peculiarly Western mode of thought. An overview and classification of the types of cultural studies on human lactation and infant feeding confirms the domination of a biomedical approach to the subject and allows the identification of areas which have received little attention. Thus many English language cultural studies of breastfeeding by employing this same methodology against different cultural backdrops offer little or no fresh knowledge or insight into that culture's view of breastfeeding.