Week 6 - Charles Miin
The gift of life is one of the most precious things in our world. In the early days of humankind, childbirth was clearly no less important, but much less certain that in it is in the modern age. Lack of contemporary knowledge in medicine, agriculture, and other aspects of society gave rise to many complications such as bacterial infection of both mother and child. This caused mortality of both groups to be in the double digits across many societies for most of history. A sign of progress occurred in the 19th century when Louis Pasteur discovered that pasteurization of milk severely minimizes foodborne illness. Individuals like Nathan Straus then took this a step forward and introduced milk pasteurization into orphanges and schools and helped to save countless lives as children stopped dying from the consumption of raw milk. Abuidhail sought to examine this general phenomenon in sorts in regards to rural Jordanian motehrs and their postnatal cultural health beliefs, knowledge, and practices. While the country of Jordan is for the most part very modern, 20% of the population is still considered rural and their postnatal practices often were very different when compared to that of modern Jordanian society. The team that conducted the study interviewed 13 postpartum mothers (known as informants) who were educated until at least high school and had experience bearing children. They also brought in close individuals such as mothers along with elderly mothers who were seen as fulfilling the role of wise matriarchs. An interesting aspect of note is that these informants believed their breast milk was both very normal and vital for the health of their young but did not really consider the psychological ramifications. This is somewhat different from western societies where breastfeeding is seen as having benefits, both psychologically and physically, but is not necessarily allowed in public.
Outcry has emerged across years of the controversial debate regarding whether mothers should be allowed to breastfeed in public or if that is to be considered "indecent." I stand to say that it is interesting that a society (the U.S.) that cites more advantages of breast milk is more repressive in its practice than Jordanian society where it is normal social behavior. Another practice is the salting of babies soon after they're born to prevent bad odors, described similarly to the process of curing meats and preventing decay. And here, despite consistent scientific basis and possibly personal intuition saying otherwise, the new Jordanian mothers were pressured into doing so by their own mothers based on tradition and filial piety.
I believe that one of the reasons practices such as these are not as prevalent in the west is because familial ties are not necessarily as strong or pervasive. Families are generally more nuclear with only parents and children while in many other parts of the world the grandparents are often part of, and head the family unit at a minimum. This familial relationship was also studied in regards to the practice of eye care with "Kohla" which is a cosmetic. However, this substance is made of ground lead and other ingredients. Culture in the west is highly opposed to the presence of lead in the paint of toys, much less deliberately placed into the eyes of children as is done with Kohla. Again Abudhail mentions that Jordanian grandmothers passed this belief to their daughters and maintained the practice as a tradition. Informants only were convinced otherwise when pediatricians described the potential health risks involved with such a deadly substance being introduced to sensitive sites in the child's body. What this implies is that rural Jordanian mothers are not less intelligent or prepared by any means, but rather that they are relatively responsive to reason. It is simply that the familial ties and overall culture of their society mediates the passage of tradition that, in cases such as the use of Kohla and salt bathing can actually hurt their children. This incidence can likely be reduced with the implementation of widespread education by these trusted healthcare professionals in specific regards to postnatal practices and beliefs.
Though it is not explicitly mentioned or possibly even intentional, I believe these rural Jordanian mothers also are striving to combat postpartum depression without really knowing what it is or why. Yet they follow the advice of their elderly mothers to a tee even with a clear the ability to have a modern understanding of disease. This tells me that the strength of human spirit can sometimes supersede that of anything else, which may bode both great joy and certain ills as we've seen.
Is there a way to maintain the strong familial relationships that Jordanian mothers experience while also making them more educated in the demonstrable science behind postnatal care?
Works Cited
Abuidhail, Jamila, (2014). “Rural Jordanian Mothers’ Beliefs, Knowledge and Practices of Postnatal Care.” Quality in Primary Care (2014)22(6): 285-93.
"1892 Millions of Lives Saved by Pasteurized Milk." Economic & Social Prosperity | The Philanthropy Roundtable. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.
Outcry has emerged across years of the controversial debate regarding whether mothers should be allowed to breastfeed in public or if that is to be considered "indecent." I stand to say that it is interesting that a society (the U.S.) that cites more advantages of breast milk is more repressive in its practice than Jordanian society where it is normal social behavior. Another practice is the salting of babies soon after they're born to prevent bad odors, described similarly to the process of curing meats and preventing decay. And here, despite consistent scientific basis and possibly personal intuition saying otherwise, the new Jordanian mothers were pressured into doing so by their own mothers based on tradition and filial piety.
I believe that one of the reasons practices such as these are not as prevalent in the west is because familial ties are not necessarily as strong or pervasive. Families are generally more nuclear with only parents and children while in many other parts of the world the grandparents are often part of, and head the family unit at a minimum. This familial relationship was also studied in regards to the practice of eye care with "Kohla" which is a cosmetic. However, this substance is made of ground lead and other ingredients. Culture in the west is highly opposed to the presence of lead in the paint of toys, much less deliberately placed into the eyes of children as is done with Kohla. Again Abudhail mentions that Jordanian grandmothers passed this belief to their daughters and maintained the practice as a tradition. Informants only were convinced otherwise when pediatricians described the potential health risks involved with such a deadly substance being introduced to sensitive sites in the child's body. What this implies is that rural Jordanian mothers are not less intelligent or prepared by any means, but rather that they are relatively responsive to reason. It is simply that the familial ties and overall culture of their society mediates the passage of tradition that, in cases such as the use of Kohla and salt bathing can actually hurt their children. This incidence can likely be reduced with the implementation of widespread education by these trusted healthcare professionals in specific regards to postnatal practices and beliefs.
Though it is not explicitly mentioned or possibly even intentional, I believe these rural Jordanian mothers also are striving to combat postpartum depression without really knowing what it is or why. Yet they follow the advice of their elderly mothers to a tee even with a clear the ability to have a modern understanding of disease. This tells me that the strength of human spirit can sometimes supersede that of anything else, which may bode both great joy and certain ills as we've seen.
Is there a way to maintain the strong familial relationships that Jordanian mothers experience while also making them more educated in the demonstrable science behind postnatal care?
Works Cited
Abuidhail, Jamila, (2014). “Rural Jordanian Mothers’ Beliefs, Knowledge and Practices of Postnatal Care.” Quality in Primary Care (2014)22(6): 285-93.
"1892 Millions of Lives Saved by Pasteurized Milk." Economic & Social Prosperity | The Philanthropy Roundtable. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.
Comments
Post a Comment