This study explores birth as a biosocial event and consists of an ethnographic account of the work of a ‘postmodern’ midwife in the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador. Maternity care is seen here a multifaceted field in which individual experiences and worldviews come to terms with highly structured professional relationships and protocols, and in which debated liberal ideas such as personal responsibility and freedom of choice meet the challenges of the structural lacking, misunderstanding, or poor delivery of proper information on safety, pregnancy, and birth. Through the experiences of my super-informant (the ‘postmodern’ midwife G.), I try to highlight the ‘salutogenesis’ potential that derives from an ‘empowering’ approach to maternity care and from individuals (midwives, family members, physicians) that are able to interpret, revise, and dynamically relate to ‘alternative’, ‘local’, or ‘traditional’ midwifery training, technology, and contemporary biomedical practices and protocols.

La cicogna sono io. Una etnografia dell'accompagnamento alla vita nell'Ecuador contemporaneo

BENAGLIA, BRENDA
2013

Abstract

This study explores birth as a biosocial event and consists of an ethnographic account of the work of a ‘postmodern’ midwife in the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador. Maternity care is seen here a multifaceted field in which individual experiences and worldviews come to terms with highly structured professional relationships and protocols, and in which debated liberal ideas such as personal responsibility and freedom of choice meet the challenges of the structural lacking, misunderstanding, or poor delivery of proper information on safety, pregnancy, and birth. Through the experiences of my super-informant (the ‘postmodern’ midwife G.), I try to highlight the ‘salutogenesis’ potential that derives from an ‘empowering’ approach to maternity care and from individuals (midwives, family members, physicians) that are able to interpret, revise, and dynamically relate to ‘alternative’, ‘local’, or ‘traditional’ midwifery training, technology, and contemporary biomedical practices and protocols.
2013
Benaglia, Brenda
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/600091
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