Child Mortality – academic acers
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This assignment requires each student to read Nancy Schepper- Hughes’ (1989) article, “Death Without Weeping: Has Poverty Ravaged Mother Love in Shantytowns of Brazil?” Based on your reading of the article, each student is required to answer the following questions:
According to Nancy Schepper- Hughes, why is there such a high infant mortality rate in Alto, Brazil?
According to the women of Alto, why is there such a high infant mortality rate? What narrative do the women tell themselves to rationalize their response and behaviour towards their children?
Are the midwives and traditional healers complicit in the pattern of passive mortal neglect? How do the midwives justify the advice they give to some of the women in Alto?
What is “passive mortal neglect”?
Are the civil authorities complicit in the pattern of passive mortal neglect? Explain.
Are the city-employed doctors complicit in the pattern of passive mortal neglect? Explain
According to Schepper-Hughes, is the Church complicit in the pattern of passive mortal neglect? How has the narrative the Church has provided to explain the high infant mortality rate changed over the years?
If you were tasked with trying to decrease child mortality, what would you do? What cultural narratives would you need to change? What supports would need to be put into place that did not exist for women in Alto at the time Schepper-Hughes wrote the article.
In one sentence, in your own words, describe what you believe is the author’s main argument about a mother’s affection.
Select a quotation from the article that you feel is the most significant in terms of capturing the main argument of the author.
For more information on Child Mortality read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_mortality
