A Good Position for Birth: Pregnancy, Risk, and Development in Southern Belize (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780826522016)

In order to understand the local realities of health and development initiatives undertaken to reduce maternal and infant mortality, the author accompanied rural health nurses as they traveled to villages accessible only by foot over waterlogged terrain to set up mobile prenatal and well-child clinics. Through sustained interactions with pregnant women, midwives, traditional birth attendants, and bush doctors, Maraesa encountered reproductive beliefs and practices ranging from obeah pregnancy to 'nointing that compete with global health care workers' directives about risk, prenatal care, and hospital versus home birth.

Fear and shame are prominent affective tropes that Maraesa uses to understand women's attitudes toward reproduction that are at times contrary to development discourse but that make sense in the lived experiences of the women of southern Belize.

Author: Aminata Maraesa
ISBN-10: 0826522017
ISBN-13: 9780826522016
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
Language: English
Published: 11/23/2018
Pages: 240
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.84lbs
Size: 9.22h x 8.03w x 0.68d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 06/01/2019