I've been spending some time looking for Black and African American anthropologists – for people of African descent, and women of color who are also lactation advocates -- for practicing anthropologists, or those who have taken any anthropology courses or who have learned about the discipline in any other way, and integrate this important angle into their work. I’m even interested in finding those whose work is closely related to lactation, such as doulas, midwives, or other birthworkers -- just to know we exist in this realm. I'm not hoping to find a large amount, obviously, since I know we're scarce; the Association of Black Anthropologists and other closely related organizations continue to make efforts to increase the amount of people of color who study anthropology overall -- the last I heard there were only between 600-800 Black anthropologists in this country – and a Black woman anthropologist is rare.
Besides myself and Nisha – an IBCLC, doula and owner of Mother Rites which is here in town, I can't think of many others who have combined anthropology with lactation. In fact, between searching the internet and even asking for leads from others from an online space filled with Black women who are anthropologists, or who at least have an interest in the discipline, below is the list of others I found across the U.S.:
Besides myself and Nisha – an IBCLC, doula and owner of Mother Rites which is here in town, I can't think of many others who have combined anthropology with lactation. In fact, between searching the internet and even asking for leads from others from an online space filled with Black women who are anthropologists, or who at least have an interest in the discipline, below is the list of others I found across the U.S.:
I'm convinced there's more.
