ANTH 331 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Marvin Harris, Gravedigger
2 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
Lifeboat ethics: mother love and child death in northeast brazil. Alto do cruzeiro, a shantytown surrounding the large market town of bom jesus in the sugar plantation zone of pernambuco in northeast brazil. Marriages are brittle, single parenting is the norm. Women are forced to work in the sugar plantations or homes of the rich with wages of usually per day. Women are forbidden to bring their babies in the homes of the wealthy, as they are often seen as carriers of parasites and diseases, since women carry their babies while they work can"t afford babysitters. Older siblings who do not attend school may care for these babies, but often times they are also expected to work. Babies are left at home, with their doors secured they often die alone and unattended. Author"s research questions formed during the die-off of infants in the severe drought of 1965: More than 350 babies died in a town of 5,000 people.
