Birth in four cultures
Subtitle: a crosscultural investigation of childbirth in Yucatan, Holland, Sweden, and the United States
By: Brigitte Jordan ; revised and expanded by Robbie Davis-Floyd.
Contributors: Davis-Floyd, Robbie.
Edition: 4th ed.
Publisher: Waveland Press
Published: 1993
Place of publication: Prospect Heights, Ill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 235
Subjects: Birth customs.; Childbirth -- Cross-cultural studies.; Obstetrics -- Social aspects.; Childbirth -- Folklore.
Description: While the process of childbirth is, in some sense, everywhere the same, it is also everywhere different in that each culture has produced a birthing system that is strikingly dissimilar from the others. Based on her fieldwork in the United States, Sweden, Holland, and Yucatan, Jordan develops a framework for the discussion and investigation of different birthing systems. Illustrated with examples and anecdotes from Jordan's own fieldwork, this comparative ethnography brings the reader to a deeper understanding of childbirth as a culturally grounded, biosocially mediated, and interactionally achieved event.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-235).