LEADER 03792nam 2200613Ia 450 001 9910811462003321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-674-03720-0 024 7 $a10.4159/9780674037205 035 $a(CKB)1000000000805457 035 $a(OCoLC)456229858 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10326095 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000099756 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11130740 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000099756 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10019748 035 $a(PQKB)10874493 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3300551 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3300551 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10326095 035 $a(OCoLC)923111651 035 $a(DE-B1597)574558 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780674037205 035 $a(EXLCZ)991000000000805457 100 $a19970930d1998 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aAfrican American midwifery in the South $edialogues of birth, race, and memory /$fGertrude Jacinta Fraser 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aCambridge, MA $cHarvard University Press$d1998 215 $a1 online resource (x, 287 pages) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 0 $a0-674-00852-9 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 269-282) and index. 327 $tFrontmatter --$tContents --$tAcknowledgments --$tAfrican American Midwifery in the South --$tPrologue --$tI THE BODY POLITIC --$tII AUTHORITATIVE KNOWLEDGE --$tIII MEMORY AND EXPERIENCE --$tNotes --$tReferences --$tIndex 330 $aStarting at the turn of the century, most African American midwives in the South were gradually excluded from reproductive health care. Gertrude Fraser shows how physicians, public health personnel, and state legislators mounted a campaign ostensibly to improve maternal and infant health, especially in rural areas. They brought traditional midwives under the control of a supervisory body, and eventually eliminated them. In the writings and programs produced by these physicians and public health officials, Fraser finds a universe of ideas about race, gender, the relationship of medicine to society, and the status of the South in the national political and social economies. Fraser also studies this experience through dialogues of memory. She interviews members of a rural Virginia African American community that included not just retired midwives and their descendants, but anyone who lived through this transformation in medical care -- especially the women who gave birth at home attended by a midwife. She compares these narrations to those in contemporary medical journals and public health materials, discovering contradictions and ambivalence: was the midwife a figure of shame or pride? How did one distance oneself from what was now considered "superstitious" or "backward" and at the same time acknowledge and show pride in the former unquestioned authority of these beliefs and practices? In an important contribution to African American studies and anthropology, African American Midwifery in the South brings new voices to the discourse on the hidden world of midwives and birthing. 606 $aAfrican American midwives$zVirginia$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aMidwifery$zVirginia$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aChildbirth$zVirginia$xHistory$y20th century 615 0$aAfrican American midwives$xHistory 615 0$aMidwifery$xHistory 615 0$aChildbirth$xHistory 676 $a618.2/0233 700 $aFraser$b Gertrude Jacinta$01598613 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910811462003321 996 $aAfrican American midwifery in the South$93920955 997 $aUNINA