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A history of the re-emergence of midwifery in America

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9781439902196

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[A] great example of feminist ethnography. [Craven's] open discussion of balancing her own personal commitment to homebirth activism with her academic interest in midwifery is a useful model for other feminist scholars. Craven's ethnography gives an insight into the lives of homebirth activists in Virginia, where there still remains substantially less written about the experiences and voices of low-income women. She is successful in creating a text which is accessible to many audiences, including homebirth and reproductive rights activists, scholars, and students...Pushing for Midwives provides a thoughtful critique of how the ideology of consumer rights is impacting homebirth activism. Association for Feminist Anthropology

[A] great example of feminist ethnography. [Craven's] open discussion of balancing her own personal commitment to homebirth activism with her academic interest in midwifery is a useful model for other feminist scholars. Craven's ethnography gives an insight into the lives of homebirth activists in Virginia, where there still remains substantially less written about the experiences and voices of low-income women. She is successful in creating a text which is accessible to many audiences, including homebirth and reproductive rights activists, scholars, and students...Pushing for Midwives provides a thoughtful critique of how the ideology of consumer rights is impacting homebirth activism. Association for Feminist Anthropology [Craven] masterfully deploys contextual analysis, incisive critique, and accessible language to engage readers who might be more interested in the status of or struggle for midwifery elsewhere, grassroots organizing, and/or mothering studies...Thus, while Pushing for Midwives focuses on the state of Virginia, it offers broad insight into the medicalization of reproduction, the 're-birth' of midwifery, and grassroots organizing among diverse populations that support midwifery. The book is a welcome and timely addition to mothering studies and the anthropology of reproduction. Journal of the Motherhood Initiative Volume 2, Number 1

In her beautifully rendered study of midwifery in Virginia, Craven shows how the rhetoric of 'consumer choice'-a shibboleth of those promoting reproductive rights for women-excludes large segments of the childbearing population. In the best tradition of anthropology, she unpacks an irony, illustrating how our social and economic environment can simultaneously celebrate and constrain women's choices. Great stuff. -Raymond De Vries, Professor, Bioethics/Sociology/Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan and author of A Pleasing Birth: Midwifery and Maternity Care in the Netherlands Craven makes a convincing case for her claim that a continued commitment to expanding reproductive justice is dependent on finding ways to see, and then to ameliorate, the race and class prejudices that lurk, thinly veiled, below the surface of the push for midwives. The most important contribution of this book is the author's sophisticated and nuanced historical discussion of factors that have shaped struggles over reproductive healthcare in the Unites States. - American Journal of Sociology

Author Information

Christa Craven is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the College of Wooster.

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