Thanks, Susanna, for your message of introduction. Although I know only
little about it, I find the subject of the history of infant mortality and
breastfeeding very interesting. And it brings up a set of questions I've
been thinking about posing to this list:
How many of you history-of-childhood folks out there (that is, on this
list) use demographic history techniques? To what degree do you use
"hard-core" demographic history techniques (that is, census materials
and/or church baptism and burial registers, family reconstitutions) in your
work? Susanna -- do you use these materials for your work on Stockholm? I
remember reading one article (I think -- or maybe it was a book?) by John
Knodel about breastfeeding practices in a number of Bavarian villages.
Knodel (if I'm remembering correctly) studied breastfeeding as a potential
pregnancy-prevention/birth spacing technique rather than as a means of
offering special care to infants. Are you using any of those demographic
models, Susanna, or anyone else? Or do you rely on the family
reconstitutions and other demographic work done by "population experts"?
(Or have you sidestepped these materials altogether?)
Since I never hear people talking about demographic methodologies, I wonder
whether they're in use or not.
Cheers,
Kristen Dombkowski
Ph.D. Candidate
University of Michigan
Department of History
At 13:00 21.01.00 +0100, you wrote:
>As a new member I would like to introduce myself and my research to the
>members of the list. I work at the Department of Economic History at
>Stockholm University in Sweden. In 1997 I presented my PhD thesis. It is a
>study of the history of childhood in Stockholm in the 18th century. The
>purpose was to find out how childhood was defined during the time, both on
>a practical and on a discourse level. To study the definition of childhood
>I tried to find a few ceasures; when did children leave their parental
>homes, at what age did children begin to work and at what age did they
>start school. A study of laws concerning children and childrens literature
>are also included.
> Right now I study infant mortality, breastfeeding habits and how children
>were taken care of i Stockholm 1750-1850.
> Through this list I hope to get in contact with other resaerchers
>interested in the same subjects, hope to here from you Susanna Hedenborg
>
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