Birthing Centers as Ritual Spaces: The Embodiment of Compliance and Resistance Under One Roof: A Case Study
Datum
2008-12
Autor:innen
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Verlag
University of Oregon
Zusammenfassung
A somewhat unknown option for pregnant women receiving prenatal, birth, and
postpartum care is that of a birthing center, where midwifery and medical practices come
together in varying forms. After conducting feminist-based, participant-observation
research at a particular birthing center in the northwestern United States run by a
licensed, certified professional midwife, I use ritual and rites of passage analysis to
display both the benefits and downfalls of the mainstreaming of midwifery as found in a
birthing center. I discuss how the birthing center is a ritual space. Within this ritual
space, elaborated rituals act as both compliance with and resistance to established
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medical paradigms of birthing. These rituals serve as active negotiated appropriation and
display the ways in which midwives knowledgeably balance trust in natural birth and
medical practice, which both play important roles in pregnancy and birth.
Beschreibung
x, 156 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.