Biopower, Nutrition, and Motherhood: The Cultural and Political Appearances of Breastfeeding

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 40 Sayı: 1, 219 - 248, 23.07.2020

Meral Timurturkan

Öz

This study aims to discuss how motherhood, infant nutrition, and the female body have become open to various regulations and discourses using the case of breastfeeding as the basis for reinforcing socio-political processes and ensuring the continuity of the patriarchal system. Today, nutrition and the body have become the focus of socio-political processes and discourses on these subjects with effects on the developments in natural diet, ecological life, and technological and medical knowledge. In this context, while infant nutrition with healthy and additive-free features on one hand has become important again, on the other hand it has been drawn into the center of new market and consumption processes by emphasizing these features and has been commercialized and commoditized within market relations. In this way, motherhood is being constructed normatively, and the female body has become open to supervision through discussions about breastfeeding, breast milk, and infant formula usage. From this point of view, the study will discuss issues regarding motherhood, breastfeeding, and infant nutrition in terms of the micropower relations that have control over the body as well as the concepts of biopolitics and medicalization. In this regard, the study’s main argument is that the processes concerning motherhood have been morally disciplined and constructed through the biopolitical, cultural, and medical discourses generated about motherhood and infant nutrition, despite transformations in social structures and the struggles of feminist efforts.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Nutrution, Body, Breastfeeding, Motherhood, Biopower, Health

Biyoiktidar, Beslenme ve Annelik: Emzirmenin Kültürel ve Politik Görünümleri

Öz

Bu çalışma; anneliğin ve bebek beslenmesinin, kadın bedeninin sosyo-politik süreçlerin pekiştirilmesinin ve ataerkil sistemin sürekliliğinin sağlamasının zemini olarak çeşitli düzenlemelere ve söylemlere nasıl açık hale geldiğini emzirme örneği üzerinden tartışmayı amaçlamaktadır. Günümüzde doğal beslenme, ekolojik yaşam, teknolojik ve tıbbi bilgideki gelişmelerin etkisiyle beslenme ve beden sosyopolitik sürecin ve bu alandaki söylemlerin odağına yerleşmiştir. Bu bağlamda bebek beslenmesi ve emzirme bir yandan doğal, sağlıklı ve katkısız özellikleriyle yeniden önemli hale gelirken, diğer yandan bu özelliklerine vurgu yapılarak yeni piyasa ve tüketim sürecinin merkezine çekilmekte, ticarileşmekte ve piyasa ilişkileri içinde metalaşmaktadır. Böylelikle anne sütü, hazır mamaların kullanımı ve emzirme tartışmaları üzerinden annelik normatif olarak inşa edilmekte ve kadın bedeni denetime açık hale getirilmektedir. Çalışma buradan hareketle, annelik, emzirmeye ve bebek beslenmesine ilişkin konuları, beden üzerinden işleyen mikro iktidar ilişkileri, biyopolitika ve tıbbileştirme kavramları üzerinden tartışacaktır. Bu bağlamda çalışmanın temel argümanı; toplumsal yapılardaki dönüşümler ve feminist çalışmaların tüm kazanımlarına rağmen; annelik ve bebek beslenmesine ilişkin oluşturulan biyo-politik, kültürel ve tıbbi söylemler aracılığıyla anneliğe ilişkin süreçlerin disipline edildiği ve ahlaki olarak inşa edildiğidir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Beslenme, Beden, Emzirme, Annelik, Biyoiktidar, Sağlık

Kaynakça

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