The First Thousand Days: Motherhood, Scientific Knowledge and Local Histories

Michelle Pentecost, Fiona Ross

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Citations (Scopus)
574 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Since 2013, South African nutrition policy focuses on “the first thousand days,” (conception to two years), informed by Developmental Origins of Health and Disease research. Drawing on ethnographic research, we show how policy foregrounds certain categories of persons and casts “the maternal” as a time frame for interventions to secure future health and argue that this constitutes a “knowledge effect” – the outcome of framing questions in a particular way and with specific knowledge horizons.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)747-761
Number of pages15
JournalMedical Anthropology
Volume38
Issue number8
Early online date4 Apr 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Nov 2019

Keywords

  • DOHaD
  • HIV
  • South Africa
  • epigenetics
  • first 1000 days
  • futures

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