Breastfeeding Campaigns and Ethnic Disparity in Brazil: The Representation of a Hegemonic Society and Quasiperfect Experience

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the ethnic, cultural, and social disparity in the presentation of key messages and themes of breastfeeding campaigns in Brazil. Particularly, this article aims at deconstructing the themes and examining the extent that dominant practices of breastfeeding campaigns create and maintain conditions of cultural subjugation and marginalization. Two questions guided this investigation: To what extent was ethnic, class, and social diversity exemplified in the official posters for the Breastfeeding Week campaigns? (Research Question 1) and what contexts are realized and enacted through the images? (Research Question 2). The method used was qualitative document analysis, and I found that there was a considerable ethnic, class, and social disparity displayed in breastfeeding campaigns in Brazil. Key messages enacted the social reality and lifestyle of wealthier women of European descent, while women of African descent lagged in breastfeeding rates.