Work

The First Thousand Days: Motherhood, Scientific Knowledge, and Local Histories

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: Since 2013, South African nutrition policy focuses on "the first thousand days," (conception to two years), informed by Developmental Origins of Health and Disease research. Drawing on ethnographic research, we show how policy foregrounds certain categories of persons and casts "the maternal" as a time frame for interventions to secure future health and argue that this constitutes a "knowledge effect" - the outcome of framing questions in a particular way and with specific knowledge horizons.

Source: Medical Anthropology

DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2019.1590825

Authors: Michelle Pentecost, Fiona Ross

Institutions: University of Cape Town, King's College London

Language: English

Topic: Anthropological Studies and Insights

Subfield: Anthropology

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Zero hunger, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, National Research Foundation, University of Cape Town