dc.description.abstract | This thesis concerns with the shifting of the feeding habits from breastfeeding to infant formula in the 1970s; that''s, to explore the social-political conditions of the 1970s Taiwan, where the infant formula replaced breast milk as the main food source for infants. I will discuss this issue from three dimensions: policy, marketing strategies of infant formula companies, and feeding discourse on newspapers and magazines; and use data from oral interviews to investigate how mothers were influenced by these factors when making feeding decisions, before I analysis how this shifting reflected the changing of the “good mother” images in Taiwan. My research begins with explorations into the situations and discussions about breastfeeding during Japanese rule period. Statistically speaking, breastfeeding, which was called “human milk”, was the main feeding habit at that time, and yet, there was still an ongoing discussion on whether breast milk or milk would be better for infants. The medical professed that breast milk was better than milk for two main reasons: one was the lower mortality rates of infants nurtured from breastfeeding; the other was the higher nutritional value of breast milk. Doctors then preached this idea on newspapers and via magazines, of which the target audience was not Taiwanese mothers but Japanese mothers in Taiwan, who, ever since the immigration, had lost their sources of the breastfeeding knowledge conventionally handed down from older generations or circulated among mothers. As for the emergence of infant formula in post-war Taiwan, I proceed to investigations into the social-cultural conditions of 1970s. In terms of governmental policy, in 1973, to balance the trade deficit with Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs allowed the establishments of factories and the imports of infant-formula. The milk-powder companies used “similar to breast milk” as the slogan and cooperated with hospitals to promote the infant formula and attract consumers. In the newspapers and magazines, the breast milk was generally acknowledged as the best food source, the infant formula was gradually considered a reasonable choice when there was no breast milk. In answer to the question about why mothers would choose infant formula even when they knew breast milk was better, I conclude that such decisions were made under the circumstances where mothers were informed by the feeding discourse that infant formula was a reasonable alternative to breast milk, ever since they had lost their access to the basic breastfeeding knowledge after they left their hometown during urbanization. Once the infant formula was made more affordable, it witnessed the rise and popularization of infant formula. Finally, with observations from the discourse of “human milk” as the best infant food source, the emergence of infant formula as a reasonable/preferable choice, and the resurgence in breastfeeding, I intend to demonstrate how breastfeeding comes to mean mother’s love, and would contend that the “good mother” image also shifts through feeding discourses, and is gradually constructed or associated with mothers’ feeding choices. | en |