- 310 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
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About this book
Even childbirth is affected by globalizationâand in India, as elsewhere, the trend is away from home births, assisted by midwives, toward hospital births with increasing reliance on new technologies. And yet, as this work of critical feminist ethnography clearly demonstrates, the global spread of biomedical models of childbirth has not brought forth one monolithic form of "modern birth." Focusing on the birth experiences of lower-class women in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Birth on the Threshold reveals the complex and unique ways in which modernity emerges in local contexts.
Through vivid description and animated dialogue, this book conveys the birth stories of the women of Tamil Nadu in their own voices, emphasizing their critiques of and aspirations for modern births today. In light of these stories, author Cecilia Van Hollen explores larger questions about how the structures of colonialism and postcolonial international and national development have helped to shape the form and meaning of birth for Indian women today. Ultimately, her book poses the question: How is genderâespecially maternityâreconfigured as birth is transformed?
Through vivid description and animated dialogue, this book conveys the birth stories of the women of Tamil Nadu in their own voices, emphasizing their critiques of and aspirations for modern births today. In light of these stories, author Cecilia Van Hollen explores larger questions about how the structures of colonialism and postcolonial international and national development have helped to shape the form and meaning of birth for Indian women today. Ultimately, her book poses the question: How is genderâespecially maternityâreconfigured as birth is transformed?
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Yes, you can access Birth on the Threshold by Cecilia Coale Van Hollen in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Anthropology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Contents
- Maps appear on pages 17 and 30
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Transliteration
- Prologue: Birth on the Threshold
- Introduction: Childbirth and Modernity in Tamil Nadu
- 1. The Professionalization of Obstetrics in Colonial India: The âProblemâ of Childbirth in Colonial Discourse
- 2. Maternal and Child Health Services in the Postcolonial Era
- 3. Bangles of Neem, Bangles of Gold: Pregnant Women as Auspicious Burdens
- 4. Invoking Vali: Painful Technologies of Birth
- 5. Moving Targets: The Routinization of IUD Insertions in Public Maternity Wards
- 6. âBaby Friendlyâ Hospitals and Bad Mothers: Maneuvering Development during the Postpartum Period
- Conclusion: Reproductive Rights, âChoices,â and Resistance
- Epilogue
- Appendix I. Sample Interview Questionnaires
- Appendix II. Official Structure of Maternal-Child Health Care Institutions and Practitioners in Tamil Nadu, 1995
- Glossary
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index