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Body symbolism has been an important subject of anthropological inquiry. The body provides a complex structure available to all cultures, one that can "stand for any bounded system," and "the functions of its different parts and their relation afford a source of symbols for other complex structures" (Douglas 1966:138) that are important in particular cultural contexts. As such, the body has always been one important means of metaphoric expression and symbolic communication, transmitting "information for and from the social system" (Douglas 1971:387). The meanings attached to the body, its boundaries and fluids, are constructed on the basis of cultural understandings rather than universal physiologic facts. Consequently, societies differ in their interpretations of bodily functions in ways that reflect social organization, the natural world (Bastien 1985), and other culturally meaningful symbols. For example, perceptions of the body often mirror kinship and other aspects of social organization. In their excellent review of the "ways in which society is inscribed on the expectant canvas of human flesh," ScheperHughes and Lock suggest (1987:19) that until recently, when the mechanics of reproduction came to be better understood, Western theories of reproduction reflected the prevailing bilateral kinship system more than scientific evidence. At the other end of the spectrum, O'Neill has suggested that social institutions themselves are created in the image of the human body; people Societies differ in their interpretations of the body and its fluids in ways that seem to reflect the organization of society, the natural world, and other culturally meaningful symbols. However, portrayals of these interpretations, often both static and concealing, mask internal diversity, change over time, and methodologic forces for consistency. This article reports on beliefs about breastfeeding gleaned from ethnographic interviews with 35 Navajo men and women, and from survey interviews with 250 postpartum Navajo women. Working with Navajo consultants, the authors developed a "cultural text," a coherent portrayal that synthesized respondents' beliefs. The text stressed certain beliefs: that breastfeeding is proper behavior, that it is a means of passing on the mother's attributes, and that it is a means of showing children they are loved. However, only a minority of the ethnographic interviews elicited these beliefs, and only about half the Navajo women surveyed agreed with them as statements. These findings suggest that meanings attached to the body are dynamic, changing over time as aspects of the cultura I context are a tered; diverse, reflecting individual experiences and exposure to varied beliefs; and contingent, being influenced by data collection and interpretation techniques. [Navajo, breastfeeding, methodology, beliefs] |
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