{"product_id":"midwives-and-mothers-sheila-cosminsky-9781477311394","title":"Midwives and Mothers: The Medicalization of Childbirth on a Guatemalan Plantation","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe World Health Organization is currently promoting a policy of replacing traditional or lay midwives in countries around the world. As part of an effort to record the knowledge of local midwives before it is lost, \u003ci\u003eMidwives and Mothers\u003c\/i\u003e explores birth, illness, death, and survival on a Guatemalan sugar and coffee plantation, or \u003ci\u003efinca\u003c\/i\u003e, through the lives of two local midwives, Do Maria and her daughter Do Siriaca, and the women they have served over a forty-year period.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy comparing the practices and beliefs of the mother and daughter, Sheila Cosminsky shows the dynamics of the medicalization process and the contestation between the midwives and biomedical personnel, as the latter try to impose their system as the authoritative one. She discusses how the midwives syncretize, integrate, or reject elements from Mayan, Spanish, and biomedical systems. The midwives' story becomes a lens for understanding the impact of medicalization on people's lives and the ways in which women's bodies have become contested terrain between traditional and contemporary medical practices. Cosminsky also makes recommendations for how ethno-obstetric and biomedical systems may be accommodated, articulated, or integrated. Finally, she places the changes in the birthing system in the larger context of changes in the plantation system, including the elimination of coffee growing, which has made women, traditionally the primary harvesters of coffee beans, more economically dependent on men.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sheila Cosminsky\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1477311394\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781477311394\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Texas Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/06\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 318\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.10lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2017","brand":"Sheila Cosminsky","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43994998538495,"sku":"9781477311394","price":27.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c6284583-5e70-4ced-aeef-ba36ec3839ac.jpg?v=1683333426","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/midwives-and-mothers-sheila-cosminsky-9781477311394","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}