Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge

by Davis-Floyd, Robbie; Sargent, Carolyn Fishel; Rapp, Rayna

• ISBN13: 9780520207851
• ISBN10: 0520207858
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-07-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

This benchmark collection of cross-cultural essays on reproduction and childbirth extends and enriches the work of Brigitte Jordan, who helped generate and define the field of the anthropology of birth. The authors' focus on authoritative knowledge--the knowledge that counts, on the basis of which decisions are made and actions taken--highlights the vast differences between birthing systems that give authority of knowing to women and their communities and those that invest it in experts and machines. Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledgeoffers first-hand ethnographic research conducted by anthropologists in sixteen different societies and cultures and includes the interdisciplinary perspectives of a social psychologist, a sociologist, an epidemiologist, a staff member of the World Health Organization, and a community midwife. Exciting directions for further research as well as pressing needs for policy guidance emerge from these illuminating explorations of authoritative knowledge about birth. This book is certain to follow Jordan'sBirth in Four Culturesas the definitive volume in a rapidly expanding field.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Rayna Rapp
Introduction: The Anthropology of Birth	1	(54)
Robbie Davis-Floyd
Carolyn F. Sargent
PART I THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF AUTHORITATIVE KNOWLEDGE IN CHILDBIRTH
Authoritative Knowledge and Its Construction	55	(25)
Brigitte Jordan
An Evolutionary Perspective on Authoritative Knowledge about Birth	80	(11)
Wenda R. Trevathan
PART II INTRACULTURAL VARIATIONS IN AUTHORITATIVE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT BIRTH: BIOMEDICAL HEGEMONY AND WOMEN'S CHOICES
Fetal Ultrasound Imaging and the Production of Authoritative Knowledge in Greece	91	(22)
Eugenia Georges
The Production of Authoritative Knowledge in American Prenatal Care	113	(19)
Carole H. Browner
Nancy Press
What Do Women Want? Issues of Choice, Control, and Class in American Pregnancy and Childbirth	132	(27)
Ellen Lazarus
Authoritative Knowledge and Birth Territories in Contemporary Japan	159	(24)
Deborah Cordero Fiedler
PART III INTERCULTURAL VARIATIONS IN AUTHORITATIVE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT BIRTH: HIERARCHY, COMMUNITY, AND THE LOCAL SOCIAL GROUND
Ways of Knowing about Birth in Three Cultures	183	(26)
Carolyn F. Sargent
Grace Bascope
Authoritative Touch in Childbirth: A Cross-Cultural Approach	209	(24)
Sheila Kitzinger
Authority in Translation: Finding, Knowing, Naming, and Training ``Traditional Birth Attendants'' in Nepal	233	(30)
Stacy Leigh Pigg
Changing Childbirth in Eastern Europe: Which Systems of Authoritative Knowledge Should Prevail?	263	(24)
Beverley Chalmers
PART IV FIGHTING THE SYSTEM: CREATING AND MAINTAINING ALTERNATIVE MODELS OF AUTHORITATIVE KNOWLEDGE
Resistance to Technology-Enhanced Childbirth in Tuscany: The Political Economy of Italian Birth	287	(28)
Jane Szurek
Intuition as Authoritative Knowledge in Midwifery and Home Birth	315	(35)
Robbie Davis-Floyd
Elizabeth Davis
Randomized Controlled Trials as Authoritative Knowledge: Keeping an Ally from Becoming a Threat to North American Midwifery Practice	350	(16)
Kenneth C. Johnson
Confessions of a Dissident	366	(31)
Marsden Wagner
PART V VIABLE INDIGENOUS SYSTEMS OF AUTHORITATIVE KNOWLEDGE: CONTINUITY IN THE FACE OF CHANGE
``Women come here on their own when they need to'': Prenatal Care, Authoritative Knowledge, and Maternal Health in Oaxaca	397	(24)
Paola M. Sesia
Maternal Health, War, and Religious Tradition: Authoritative Knowledge in Pujehun District, Sierra Leone	421	(20)
Amara Jambai
Carol MacCormack
Heeding Warnings from the Canary, the Whale, and the Inuit: A Framework for Analyzing Competing Types of Knowledge about Childbirth	441	(33)
Betty-Anne Daviss
An Ideal of Unassisted Birth: Hunting, Healing, and Transformation among the Kalahari Ju/'hoansi	474	(19)
Megan Biesele
Notes on Contributors	493	(8)
Index	501