Motherhood, wet-nursing and nation: nineteenth-century Brazilian medical perspectives.

This paper explores the viewpoints of nineteenth-century Brazilian physicians regarding women's roles as the 'propagators of the race'. It emphasises their perspectives on reproduction, breast feeding, and the involvement of enslaved wet nurses in a society grappling with significant paradoxes and conflicts as it sought to embrace modernisation. It also examines various aspects of women's health and childcare, encompassing topics like miscarriage and Through an analysis of medical discourse, this paper underscores physicians' profound influence in shaping societal assumptions surrounding maternal roles in Brazil.