Dear All: There are two basic assumptions that have been running through the discussion of cultural beliefs about breastfeeding that are flawed: that you can extrapolate culture to the continental level and that if you are extremely poor you have no other option than to breastfeed. Too often, Africa is viewed as a country instead of a continent with a rich and diverse array of cultures. Even within countries, there is tremendous diversity. There were over 200 different languages spoken in the first African country that I lived in and 7 different languages spoken in the town of 15,000 that I lived in. I spoke a mere 2 of those languages, but could say hello in all of them. Furthermore, on a genetic level -- Africans are far more diverse than some of the other pockets of the planet that we migrated too. Morgan rightly pointed out that being African doesn't mean that you are "black". But I would take this even further, not all "whites" in Africa migrated there. In the northern part of subsaharan Africa, one of the tribes is much lighter skinned than the others and this tribe is considered the "slave" tribe. The slave tribe looks "white" to me, but in some cultures they might be considered the intermediate term of "colored" and in some cultures with more extreme definitions, "black". I discovered fairly quickly when I first went to Africa that classification of "white" and "black" is highly subjective. When the new Peace Corps volunteers arrived, ALL of the African American volunteers looked "white" to me. It was only through conversation, NOT the color of their skins, that I discovered they were culturally "African American". In that particular country they were considered "mundele" or white. So, I agree with those biologist that believe that race is a cultural construct. I'll deal with the second assumption in my next post (my husband bumped the computer and lost the first draft -- so I want to make sure that I don't lose this one). Susan Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome