Food Study Group
The BSA Food Study Group joined forces with the Scottish Colloquium on Food and Feeding (SCOFF) in 1994. The group aims to encourage the sociological analysis, both theoretical and empirical, of all aspects of food production and consumption.
The Food Study Group holds hour long seminars and longer, themed, events throughout the UK. The aim is to provide a forum for stimulating debate amongst academics, practitioners and others interested or involved in social science research on food, diet and eating.
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London Lunch and Seminar Series
All meetings are held on Mondays, starting with coffee at 11.30am and ending in time for a late lunch at a local restaurant. Seminars are free for study group/BSA members to attend. Please contact Wendy Wills (Tel: 01707 286165) for further details or to reserve a place. All meetings are held at the University of Westminster.
15 February 2010
Living with risk in the age of ‘intensive motherhood’: maternal identity and infant feeding
Ellie Lee, University of Kent
Abstract
Socio-cultural studies have suggested that, even in societies where it is a commonplace practice, infant feeding with formula milk can compromise women’s identity as ‘good mothers’. This proposition is explored in this paper. We first provide a brief review of literature that has considered the broad socio-cultural context for infant feeding, that of ‘intensive motherhood’. Attention is drawn to the idea that this context is one in which feeding babies formula milk is constructed as risky, for physical health but also for the mother-child relationship. Drawing on data from a study of mothers living in Great Britain, the paper then explores how mothers actually experience infant feeding with formula milk; how they live with a context that deems their actions risky. Maternal experience is found to include variously moral collapse, feelings of confidence, expressions of defiance and defensiveness, and opting to go it alone in response to ‘information overload’. Despite these variations in how mothers live with risk, the conclusion is drawn that the current cultural context does appear to be one overall in which mothers who formula feed often have to struggle hard to maintain a positive sense of themselves as mothers.
All London seminars are held on Mondays, starting with coffee at 11.30am and ending in time for a late lunch at a local restaurant. Seminars are free for study group/BSA members to attend. Please contact Wendy Wills (Tel: 01707 286165) to reserve a place. Seminars are held at the University of Westminster. Room details/directions are sent out just before seminars to those who have reserved a place.
Please visit our Past Events page for further details of our activities.
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The Food Study Group Annual Report for 2008 is now available.
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New members, including students, are very welcome to join the Group. To put your name on the Food Study Group mailing list please contact Wendy Wills or
download and complete this form.
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Offers of help, venues or ideas for future events are always welcome. Please forward relevant/appropriate reviews of books/articles for inclusion on this site. Links to other organisations also considered.
Dr Wendy Wills
Centre for Research in Primary & Community Care (CRIPACC)
University of Hertfordshire
College Lane
Hatfield
AL10 9AB
Tel: 01707-286165
Send an email.
Dr Debra Gimlin (co-convenor, Scotland)
Department of Sociology
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
AB24 3QY
Tel: 01224-272771
Send an email.
Dr Susan Gregory (co-convenor, Scotland)
Research Unit in Health, Behaviour and Change
University of Edinburgh
Teviot Place
Edinburgh
EH8 9AG
Tel: 0131 650 6199
Send an email.
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Food Stories is an interactive website, designed primarily for KS3 and KS4 citizenship and geography students. It traces the changes that have taken place in the UK's food culture over the last century. Students can play with colourful animations and listen to audio interviews from the British Library Sound Archive to investigate the ways in which food relates to identity, cultural diversity, the environment, technology, farming, shopping, travel and much more.
The Association for the Study of Food and Society is a multidisciplinary international organisation dedicated to exploring the complex relationships among food, culture, and society. The ASFS publishes a useful list of course outlines with bibliographies on topics relevant to the sociology of food, food anthropology, agriculture and society etc, which some members might find useful.
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