I highly recommend that those of you interested in this subject read pp.
186-197 of Brigitte Jordan's "Birth in Four Cultures" -- this is the
section on "Differing Modes of Knowledge Acquisition: Experiential and
Didactic."  This is a discussion of learning how to be a midwife vs.
learning how to be an OB, but the general lessons apply for learning how to
be a lactation consultant through western-style university classroom
lectures (didactic) vs. an apprenticeship, hands-on approach.  She points
out that in didactic style education, "New knowledge is often not
translated into changed practice, but only into changed ways of TALKING
ABOUT what you are doing."

Interesting stuff, as is Robbie Davis-Floyd's work on "authoritative
knowledge."


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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email:
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Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html

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