Of care and commodities: breast milk and the new politics of mobile biosubstances
Of care and commodities: breast milk and the new politics of mobile biosubstances
Advances in lactation technology in recent years have changed the ontological status of breast milk, giving it new-found mobility. This paper considers the contested meanings over breast milk’s ‘proper place’ in US and UK society. By synthesizing scholarship from geography, gender studies and science and technology studies, I use the case of mobile breast milk to propose a new framework for how geographers might conceptualize mobile biosubstances. Drawing on the work of Waldby and Mitchell (2006), I suggest that the ways in which breast milk now travels reflect how mobile biosubstances increasingly function as a hybrid form, drawing together elements of both gift-exchanges and commodity-exchanges.
biosubstances, breast milk, geographies of care, infant feeding choices, work/life balance
5-20
Boyer, Kate
58353460-e5b0-47f3-a7a3-27df98b2318b
1 February 2009
Boyer, Kate
58353460-e5b0-47f3-a7a3-27df98b2318b
Boyer, Kate
(2009)
Of care and commodities: breast milk and the new politics of mobile biosubstances.
Progress in Human Geography, 34 (1), .
(doi:10.1177/0309132509105003).
Abstract
Advances in lactation technology in recent years have changed the ontological status of breast milk, giving it new-found mobility. This paper considers the contested meanings over breast milk’s ‘proper place’ in US and UK society. By synthesizing scholarship from geography, gender studies and science and technology studies, I use the case of mobile breast milk to propose a new framework for how geographers might conceptualize mobile biosubstances. Drawing on the work of Waldby and Mitchell (2006), I suggest that the ways in which breast milk now travels reflect how mobile biosubstances increasingly function as a hybrid form, drawing together elements of both gift-exchanges and commodity-exchanges.
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Published date: 1 February 2009
Keywords:
biosubstances, breast milk, geographies of care, infant feeding choices, work/life balance
Organisations:
Geography, PHEW – C (Care)
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 150893
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/150893
ISSN: 1477-0288
PURE UUID: fc249f54-402e-46a1-b280-c97d803b5312
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Date deposited: 06 May 2010 15:03
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 01:18
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Author:
Kate Boyer
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