Culture, Scarcity and Maternal Thinking By Nancy Schleper-Hughs

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts

When was this essay released?

A 1985 award-winning essay by Nancy Scheper-Hughes that explores the impact of poverty and high child mortality on maternal thinking in Northeast Brazil.

Culture, Scarcity, and Maternal Thinking

Explores maternal beliefs, sentiments, and practices bearing on child treatment and child survival among women in Alto do Cruzeiro, Brazil, highlighting the effects of scarcity on maternal behavior.

Nancy Scheper-Hughes

The author of the essay, an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, who conducted ethnographic research in Alto do Cruzeiro.

Alto do Cruzeiro

A hillside shantytown in Northeast Brazil where Scheper-Hughes conducted her research, characterized by extreme poverty, high child mortality, and the normalization of infant death.

Northeast Brazil

A region in Brazil marked by a history of semifeudal plantation economies, leading to severe social inequality, poverty, and high rates of child mortality, as depicted in Scheper-Hughes's essay.

Rural Proletariat

A new class of landless laborers created by the decline of semifeudal plantations, often migrating to shantytowns like Alto do Cruzeiro in search of work and survival.

Maternal Thinking

A form of rationalization employed by mothers in Alto do Cruzeiro to cope with high child mortality, often involving emotional detachment from infants perceived as unlikely to survive, as explored in the essay.

Child Survival