Description
Book SynopsisFocusing on the birth experiences of lower-class women in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, this title reveals the complex ways in which modernity emerges in local contexts. Through vivid description and animated dialogue, it conveys the birth stories of the women of Tamil Nadu in their own voices.
Table of ContentsMaps 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 "Problem" 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. "Baby Friendly" Hospitals and Bad Mothers: Maneuvering Development during the Postpartum Period Conclusion: Reproductive Rights, "Choices," and Resistance Epilogue Appendix I. Sample Questionnaires for Interviews Appendix II. Official Structure of Maternal-Child Health Care Institutions and Practitioners in Tamil Nadu, 1995 Glossary Notes Bibliography Index
