Hannah Reyes Morales
What the lullabies we sing to our children reveal about us
Patience Brooks holds her daughter, Marta, in Mamba Point, Monrovia. Mothers in her neighborhood tell stories as they prepare dinner for family. What the Lullabies We Sing to Our Children Reveal About Us. November 2020.
By the glow of a phone, or to the thrum of the city, lullabies still charm babies to sleep today. We inherit them, and we pass them on. We carry them across borders and we make new ones along the way. They contain the traces of those who came before us, and they will carry traces of us long after we’re gone.
This story illuminates critical issues facing women and children through the multidisciplinary storytelling of families’ night-time rituals. It explores how caregivers prepare children for sleep in environments fraught with hazard, and the unique role of the lullaby as a vector for sense- and placemaking. The project aims to explore how issues at the top of global agendas – conflict, migration, public health, and climate change – affect and are reflected in the stories of bedtime for children around the world.
National Geographic
