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Tribal Lessons ‘The World Until Yesterday,’ by Jared Diamond

January 11, 2013 /

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The custom among the Pirahã Indians of Brazil is that women give birth alone. The linguist Steve Sheldon once saw a Pirahã woman giving birth on a beach, while members of her tribe waited nearby. It was a breech birth, however, and the woman started crying in agony. "Help me, please! The baby will not come." Sheldon went to help her, but the other Pirahã stopped him, saying that she didn’t want his help. The woman kept up her screams. The next morning both mother and baby were found dead.

By DAVID BROOKS

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/books/review/the-world-until-yesterday-by-jared-diamond.html?hp&_r=0