An Exploration of Positive and Maternal Deviance: Self-Identified African-American Mothers’ Breastfeeding in Public Accounts

• In Event: 186 - Regular Session. Parenthood 1

Abstract

The health benefits of breastfeeding are largely undisputed. Exclusively breastfeeding up to six months of age, and continuing the practice with supplemental foods up to two years of age and beyond, is recommended. Despite the prevalence of pro-breastfeeding discourses, vast racial disparities persist among breastfeeding mothers in the United States. Although cultural norms support breastfeeding, symbolic boundaries dictate social spaces where breastfeeding is constructed as acceptable. Past research shows that mothers who breastfeed in public manage feelings of stigmatization, anxiety, nervousness, embarrassment, discomfort, and body exposure. Less understood than public breastfeeding generally are the ways self-identified African-American mothers construct stories on breastfeeding in public. The current study addresses this gap in the literature by examining self-identified African-American mothers’ narrative strategies in discussing breastfeeding in public. Given the inclusion of the techniques of neutralization and impression management within these narrative accounts, we argue that these self-identified African-American mothers engage in positive deviance by breastfeeding altogether and maternal deviance by breastfeeding in public.

Authors

• Nicole Lynne Owens, University of Central Florida

• Chelsea Nordham, University of Central Florida

• Shannon K. Carter, University of Central Florida

• Jason A. Ford, University of Central Florida