Birth Politics

Colonial Power, Medical Pluralism, and Maternity in Nigeria

Ogechukwu Ezekwem Williams

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781421452777
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: African History

An exploration of the cultural, political, religious, and gender dynamics of Nigeria's maternal health care landscape.

In Birth Politics, Ogechukwu E. Williams examines the cultural, political, and medical connections that have shaped childbirth in Nigeria from the colonial era to the present. Offering a unique perspective on competing frameworks and their influence on Nigerian maternal health care, this book calls attention to the complex relationships between traditional midwives, biomedical maternities, and faith-based birthing homes.

With a focus on Nigeria's colonial and post-colonial history, Williams explores how childbirth became a battleground for control, legitimacy, and societal transformation. Through critical examination, the work reveals how international organizations and local actors—ranging from traditional healers to missionary nurses and Aladura faith leaders—negotiated their roles within an evolving health care landscape. By underscoring the intersections that emerged among these players, it also addresses the urgent relevance of medical pluralism in tackling contemporary health inequities and Nigeria's ongoing challenges with maternal mortality.

Highlighting the influences of international organizations, colonial administrators, and indigenous practitioners, Williams provides a comprehensive and nuanced history that redefines our understanding of reproductive health care and its deeply rooted connections to state power, gender dynamics, religious sentiments, and cultural identity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgments
• On the Politics of Childbirth in Nigeria: An Introduction
• 1 Local Mothercraft: Traditional Birthing Institutions and the Politics of Reproduction
• 2 Instruments of Propaganda: Colonial Maternities, Medical Missions, and Colonized Women
• 3 “Attendants Mostly Women”: The Indigenous Aladura Faith-Healing Movement and the Advent of a New Space for Childbirth
• 4 “Birth Control Under Whatever Name”: The International Population Control Movement and a New Reproductive Politics in Nigeria
• 5 Reinventing Themselves: “Decolonized” Hospitals, Tradomedical Maternities, and Legitimate Faith Homes
• Coda: An Ongoing Era of Medical Pluralism in the Realm of Birth
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index