Main description:

This 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 midwifery, and above all, into the ways in which contemporary Mexican midwiferies relate to a complex set of human rights.

The book will be of interest to a range of scholars from anthropology, sociology, politics, global health, gender studies, development studies, and Latin American studies, as well as to midwives and other professionals involved in childbirth policy and practice.

Contents:

Introduction: Navigating the Midwifery Waters in Mexico

Hanna Laako and Georgina Sanchez-Ramirez

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 Sanchez-Ramirez

4. Dejar Pasar: The Safe Interruption of Pregnancy by Traditional, Indigenous Midwives in Southern Mexico

Georgina Sanchez-Ramirez and Geicel Llamileth Benitez 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 Sanchez-Ramirez