Childbirth across cultures
ideas and practices of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum
Gedrukt boek
This book explores the childbirth process through globally diverse perspectives in order to offer a broader context with which to think about birth. It addresses multiple rituals and management models surrounding the labor and birth process from communities across the globe. Labor and birth are biocultural events that are managed in countless ways. The authors are particularly interested in the notion of power. Who controls the pregnancy and the birth? Is it the hospital, the doctor, or the in-laws, and in which cultures does the mother have the control? These decisions, regarding place of birth, position, who receives the baby and even how the mother may or may not behave during the actual delivery, are all part of the different ways that birth is conducted.