Andrea S. Wiley

Re-imagining milk

Milk is a fascinating food: it is produced by mothers of each mammalian species for consumption by nursing infants of that species, yet many humans drink the milk of another species (mostly cows) and they drink it throughout life. Thus we might expect that this dietary practice has some effects on human biology that are different from other foods. In Re-imagining Milk Wiley considers these, but also puts milk-drinking into a broader historical and cross-cultural context. In particular, she asks how dietary policies promoting milk came into being in the U.S., how they intersect with biological variation in milk digestion, how milk consumption is related to child growth, and how milk is currently undergoing globalizing processes that contribute to its status as a normative food for children (using India and China as examples). Wiley challenges the reader to re-evaluate their assumptions about cows' milk as a food for humans. Informed by both biological and social theory and data, Re-imagining Milk provides a biocultural analysis of this complex food and illustrates how a focus on a single commodity can illuminate aspects of human biology and culture.

Cultural and Biological Perspectives

Re-imagining Milk

John Scott Allen

Intended as the primary text for introductory courses on medical anthropology, this book integrates human biological data relevant to health and disease with both evolutionary theory and the social environments that more often than not produce major challenges to health and survival. Becausestudents who take this fastest-growing anthropology course come from a variety of disciplines (anthropology, biology, especially pre-med students, and health sciences, especially), the text does not assume anything beyond a basic high-school level familiarity with human biology and anthropology. Theauthors first present basic biological information on a particular health condition and then expand their analysis to include evolutionary, historical, and cross-cultural perspectives. Among the topics covered are nutrition, infectious disease, stress, reproductive health, behavioral disease, aging,race/racism and health, mental health, and healers and healing.

A Biocultural Approach

Medical Anthropology

This book examines the low birth weight and infant mortality in high-altitude Indian region Ladakh.

A Biocultural Perspective

An Ecology of High-Altitude Infancy

Andrea Wiley contrasts the practices of the world's leading milk producers, India and the United States. In both countries, milk is considered to have special qualities. Drawing on ethnographic and scientific studies, popular media, and government reports, she shows that the cultural significance of milk goes well beyond its nutritive value.

Andrea S. Wiley

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