Beloved Burden

2288.bk.BelovedBurden.W2GB_Opmaak 1 10-10-11 02:39 Pagina 2

Beloved Burden –

Baby-wearing around the world first appeared to accompany the exhibition Lieve

Lasten in the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, 17 December 1993 – 28 August 1994. The exhibition and this publication would not have been possible without the enthusiastic and positive support of an international group of experts. Rita Bolland and Attie Tabak made important contributions to the development of the idea of making cultural comparisons between the methods of carrying children. Various colleagues, from both within the Tropenmuseum and elsewhere, have played a critical and supportive role in the compilation of the book, in particular David van Duuren, Tony Lith and Hester Poppinga. In addition, we are grateful to the following museums for their cooperation: Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden; Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam; Museon, The Hague; Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin; Museum of Mankind, London; Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; Musée de l’Homme, Paris; Musuem für Völkerkunde, Vienna; Russian Museum of Ethnography, St Petersburg; Museum of the American Indian, New York; Museum of Natural History, Washington. This publication was realised with the financial and practical support of the Tropenmuseum (part of the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam) and the Nationale Commissie voor internationale samenwerking en Duurzame Ontwikkeling (NCDO) [National Commission for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development]. – Itie van Hout, 1993

Front cover photograph: Jannie Spruit-Engels, Studio Novum

Title page photograph: carry-cot from the Marind-Amim,

Irian Jaya, made of strips of palm leaf and decorated with shells, teeth, feathers and a miniature

Unrefised reprint from the 1993 edition

bow with a bundle of arrows. This cot was used for a newborn boy. (Tropenmuseum collection)

Translation from Dutch: Steve Green Final editing: Michael Blass

This publication was realised with the suport of

Original translations into Dutch: from Russian – Gertruud

Kirsten Minnen, forum voor Natuurlijk Ouderschap

Alleman; from French – René de Graaff, Marieke

(www.dragen-en-voeden.nl) and Karin Jeucken, Little Shop around the Corner, voor moeder en kind

Kehrer; from English – Wim Hart Final editing of Dutch version: Geke van der Wal

natuurlijk (www.littleshoparoundthecorner.nl). © Photos and illustrations: the copyright of the photos Beloved Burden – Baby wearing around the world Ed. I.C. van Hout – Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute

and illustrations in this publication remains with the persons and institutions credited. Photos of objects: Fotobureau KIT, Irene de Groot / Paul

ISBN: 9789068321746

Romijn Drawings: Frans Stelling, after originals by the authors

Keywords: baby slings / carry-cots / baby care; cultural

Map: J. ter Haar, Hoofddorp, the Netherlands

anthropology / childcare; cultural anthropology

Cover and graphic design: Grafisch ontwerpbureau Agaatsz, Meppel Production: High Trade, Zwolle

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Beloved Burden

Published on Oct 9, 2011

LM Publishers

Slings and baby carriers could hardly be called 'new baby gadgets', since they have been used in many cultures around the world for thousands of years. However, in today’s world, they are sometimes perceived as new - or on the contrary: very old - and in any case not good for your baby’s health. For decades now, we have been taught to believe that holding babies too much "spoils" them, even though in much of the rest of the world, babies are and always have been carried or worn in a sling all day until they could walk. Recent research confirms that carrying infants develops their intelligence and their capacity for trust, affection, intimacy, love and happiness. Intriguingly, research also shows that the countries that are the least violent are the countries where babies are constantly carried or worn on the body of the mother/caregiver.