'Towards an anthropology of babies’ by Natacha Collomb (CNRS)

Views of a Foetus in the Womb by Leonardo da Vinci

A traditional anthropological discourse on infants insists on their liminal status as beings on the way of being humanized. This perspective rests on extensive ethnographic materials gathered all around the world. In occidental contemporary societies, though, a certain scientific culture embodied in psycho(patho)logies of babies and neurosciences produces a baby equiped with ultra-early sensory, relational and cognitive skills. As such, it is characterized as inherently human as soon as in utero. A liberal humanbeing, one should precise, since (future) parents, embryos, fetuses, and babies are subject to a cult of performance that demands that human beings dispose of the means to express their full potential.

A contemporary anthropology of babies must examine the forms of these authoritative constructs and their implications at the ideological, political, and societal levels, as well as in practical terms, at the level of everyday life.