Description
Book SynopsisThis book presents the contemporary history and dynamics of Mexican midwifery - professional, (post)modern or autonomous, traditional and Indigenous - as profoundly political and embedded in differing societal stratifications.
By situated politics, the authors refer to various networks, spaces and territories, which are also constructed by the midwives. By politically situated, the authors refer to various intersections, unsettled relations and contexts in which Mexican midwives are positioned. Examining Mexican midwiferies in depth, the volume sharpens the focus on the worlds in which midwives are profoundly immersed as agents in generating and participating in movements, alliances, health professions, communities, homes, territories and knowledges. The chapters provide a complex panorama of midwives in Mexico with an array of insights into their professional and political autonomy, (post)coloniality, body-territoriality, the challenges of defining midwi
Table of Contents
Introduction: Navigating the Midwifery Waters in Mexico
Hanna Laako and Georgina Sánchez-Ramírez
1. Underdogs, Turf Wars and Revivals: Politically Situated Mexican Midwiferies in Historical, Multiscale Perspective
Hanna Laako
2. She Breaks Paradigms and Leaves a Trail: The Contested Terrains of Midwifery Activism
Hanna Laako
3. From Infantilization to Body-Territoriality: Birth Centers in Mexico
Georgina Sánchez-Ramírez
4. Dejar Pasar: The Safe Interruption of Pregnancy by Traditional, Indigenous Midwives in Southern Mexico
Georgina Sánchez-Ramírez and Geicel Llamileth Benítez Fuentes
5. Postcolonial Midwifery: Midwives, Territories and Human Rights in Development
Hanna Laako
Conclusions: Situatedness and the Making of Worlds in Midwifery
Hanna Laako and Georgina Sánchez-Ramírez
