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The Afterlife Is Where We Come from: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa
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The Afterlife Is Where We Come from: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa Paperback - 2004 - 1st Edition

by Alma Gottlieb


From the rear cover

When a new baby arrives among the Beng people of West Africa, they see it not as being born, but as being reincarnated after a rich life in a previous world. Far from being a tabula rasa, a Beng infant is thought to begin its life filled with spiritual knowledge. How do these beliefs affect the way the Beng rear their children?

In this unique and engaging ethnography of babies, Alma Gottlieb explores how religious ideology affects every aspect of Beng childrearing practices--from bathing infants to protecting them from disease to teaching them how to crawl and walk--and how widespread poverty limits these practices. A mother of two, Gottlieb includes moving discussions of how her experiences among the Beng changed the way she saw her own parenting. Throughout the book she also draws telling comparisons between Beng and Euro-American parenting, bringing home just how deeply culture matters to the way we all rear our children.

All parents and anyone interested in the place of culture in the lives of infants, and vice versa, will enjoy The Afterlife Is Where We Come From.

Details

  • Title The Afterlife Is Where We Come from: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa
  • Author Alma Gottlieb
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition number 1st
  • Edition 1
  • Pages 404
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of Chicago Press
  • Date 2004-01-01
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Maps, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780226305028 / 0226305023
  • Weight 1.3 lbs (0.59 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.98 x 6.1 x 0.81 in (22.81 x 15.49 x 2.06 cm)
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: African
  • Library of Congress subjects Beng (African people) - Psychology, Beng (African people) - Social conditions
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2003011146
  • Dewey Decimal Code 306.874

About the author

Alma Gottlieb, professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, is the author of Under the Kapok Tree: Identity and Difference in Beng Thought and coauthor of Parallel Worlds: An Anthropologist and a Writer Encounter Africa, both published by the University of Chicago Press. She is also the coeditor, most recently, of A World of Babies: Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies.
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The Afterlife Is Where We Come From : The Culture of Infancy in West Africa

The Afterlife Is Where We Come From : The Culture of Infancy in West Africa

by Alma Gottlieb

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The Afterlife Is Where We Come From : The Culture of Infancy in West Africa

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by Alma Gottlieb

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The Afterlife Is Where We Come From: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa
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The Afterlife Is Where We Come From: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa

by Alma Gottlieb

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The Afterlife Is Where We Come From: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa

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The Afterlife Is Where We Come From: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa

by Gottlieb, Alma

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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The Afterlife Is Where We Come From: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa

by Gottlieb, Alma

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