Dear everyone out there in lactation-land:
  I'm a new subscriber to the list, and in fact a new user of e-mail and the
internet.  I am an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Texas A&M
University.  I conduct research on infant feeding practices and child health
and growth, mostly in the West African country of Mali.  The past two years
I have been working on editing a book, along with another anthropologist, on
breastfeeding from cultural and biological anthropological perspectives.  It
will be published this fall by Aldine de Gruyter, and is titled
Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives.  I contributed two chapters, one
titled "Beauty and the Breast," which is about the cultural context of
breastfeeding in the U.S., and the other titled "A Time to Wean," which
looks at when modern humans would be expected to wean their offspring if you
looked at humans only as primates (without cultural beliefs about when
weaning was appropriate).  The answer: between 2.5 and 7.0 years.  I would
love to chat about these topics e-mail to e-mail with anyone interested.  My
e-mail address is: [log in to unmask]  I am currently working on a paper on
breastfeeding in evolutionary perspective, considering not only age at
weaning, but also frequency and circadian rhythms.  I will be presenting two
talks, based on my book chapters, at the LLLI conference in Chicago this
summer, and a talk based on the evolutionary perspective paper at the
American Anthropological Association meetings in Washington, D.C. this
November.  I am very interested in encouraging health care professionals to
think about humans from the anthropological perspective -- that is, looking
at all cultures around the world, not just U.S., and considering our
evolutionary history as mammals and primates for insight into whether modern
infant feeding practices such as formula use, scheduled nursing, and
solitary night-time sleep (expecting baby to sleep through the night at an
early age) are detrimental to the health of mothers and children.  I look
forward to hearing from you individually or through the LACTNET list.  Thanks!
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Katherine A. Dettwyler                                email:
[log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352