INFANT TOILETING IN CHINA “Holding Out” Against Westernisation Kelly Dombroski Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy University of Western Sydney Photo courtesy of The Wu’s Photoland on Flickr, 2007
Jul 26, 2015
INFANT TOILETING IN CHINA“Holding Out” Against Westernisation
Kelly DombroskiCentre for Citizenship and Public Policy
University of Western Sydney
Ph
oto
cou
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of T
he W
u’s P
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20
07
EVIL WESTERN MULTINATIONALS TAKE OVER THE WORLD(?)
Worried parents waiting to get their bottle-fed babies checked following the melamine contamination scandal of 2008.
Pictu
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ARTIFICIAL FORMULA IN XINING
Marketing success? Or… Awkward engagements between different
‘universals’ of the infant body in Traditional Chinese Medicine and biomedicine TCM post-partum delay in breastfeeding +
biomedicine performance of hypoglycemia = anxiety around baby’s hunger
Biomedicine denial of ‘low supply’ or ‘poor quality’ breastmilk + TCM concerns with depleting effects of breastfeeding on women’s health = gap in treating breastfeeding difficulties
TCM focus on digestion + biomedicine focus on nutrition = conflict over appropriate first foods
Success of artificial formula complexly over-determined and produced in place.
DISPOSABLE NAPPY USE IN XINING
Marketing failure? Or…complex interaction between local and
global processes? What do local practices of infant toilet
hygiene look like? How have disposable nappy companies tried
to market their product? Why has this been less successful than
artificial formula use? What implications does the resistance of
baniao practices have for globalisation processes?
BA NIAO (HOLDING OUT)
Ba niao lit: ‘to hold out to urinate’
How does it work? niaobu (nappy-
rags) and kaidangku (split-crotch pants)
Two-way communication
Places and spaces of elimination and hygiene
Journey to toileting independence
MARKETING DISPOSABLE NAPPIES
Proctor & Gamble ‘Golden Sleep’ Campaign
Evil companies taking over the world?
Yet most families in China only use one nappy a day
Photo mosaic of 200,000 sleeping babies as part of P&G’s Golden Sleep Campaign
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BABIES’ BOTTOMS
“Just sticking them in disposable nappies, that kind of sealing up I think is not good, too airtight!”
BABIES’ BOTTOMS
Delicate skin needs to be clean and dry needs to have airflow nappies bad for skin even if clean
BABIES’ BOTTOMS
“Sleeping on the kang, the blood does not flow smoothly in its vessels. And then if you add plastic [nappies] to that its not good.”
BABIES’ BOTTOMS
Delicate skin needs to be clean and dry needs to have airflow nappies bad for skin even if clean
Coagulating Blood/damp heat (TCM) reduced airflow and damp heat coagulates blood contributes to other skin conditions contributes to colic and phlegm
BABIES’ BOTTOMS
“If she got her clothes wet, then you just changed them. After all, she was just a child. It was natural for her to wet her clothes. Just wash the clothes, and change her into some new ones…[it] was not troublesome, no trouble at all.
This is just what you have to do. No trouble.”
BABIES’ BOTTOMS
Delicate skin needs to be clean and dry needs to have airflow nappies bad for skin even if clean
Coagulating Blood (TCM) reduced airflow and damp heat coagulates blood results in other skin conditions results in colic
Keeping babies’ bottoms dry and clean important for overall health. Nappies thus considered inconvenient compared with baniao.
RESISTING AND AFFECTING THE GLOBAL
Characteristics of babies bottoms are considered to be universal Challenges universalism of biomedical
development model Existence of contemporaneous alternatives
to nappying part of inspiration for Australasian Elimination Communication practice
Backward or progressive? Reimagining baniao as a progressive practice Science ‘catching up’ Possibilities for widespread change in
Australasia? Environmental and social consequences