PMID: 11619824Oct 20, 2001Paper

Race, culture, and the colonization of childbirth in northern Canada

Social History of Medicine : the Journal of the Society for the Social History of Medicine
P Jasen

Abstract

This paper traces the history, in northern Canada, of what childbirth has been made to stand for in the relationship between aboriginal women and the agents of colonization. During the early centuries of contact, European impressions of aboriginal women were dominated by associations with animal nature and the myth of painless childbirth, with the result that the culture of childbirth and the role of the midwife were overlooked. During the nineteenth century, the emphasis upon racial difference was reinforced by evolutionary theory, and the myth of the 'savage' woman's 'parturition without pain' was put to rhetorical use by health reformers, physicians, and feminists in Europe and North America. Meanwhile, the realities surrounding childbirth in aboriginal communities received little attention from colonial authorities until high infant and maternal death rates began to arouse official concern in the early twentieth century, when they were blamed on aboriginal women's ignorance of healthy child-bearing practices. As part of its 'civilizing mission', the Canadian government adopted an interventionist policy which led, in recent decades, to the practice of evacuating pregnant women to distant hospitals. This policy has had seriou...Continue Reading

Citations

Jul 28, 2013·Midwifery·Ruth Montgomery-AndersenIna Borup
Mar 22, 2013·Health Care for Women International·Jessica C A Shaw
Mar 13, 2014·Breastfeeding Medicine : the Official Journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine·Rachel EniPunam Mehta
Apr 2, 2009·The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research·Oladapo OlayemiOladosu A Ojengbede
Oct 10, 2014·Canadian Review of Sociology = Revue Canadienne De Sociologie·Nadya Burton, Rachel Ariss
Sep 11, 2004·Journal of Transcultural Nursing : Official Journal of the Transcultural Nursing Society·Pertice M Moffitt
Oct 19, 2011·Journal of Nursing Measurement·Jude KornelsenStefan Grzybowski
May 23, 2006·International Journal of Circumpolar Health·Vasiliki K Douglas
May 24, 2006·ANS. Advances in Nursing Science·Dawn SmithBarbara Davies
Oct 11, 2019·Health Care for Women International·Karen M LawfordAudrey R Giles
Apr 10, 2021·Canadian Bulletin of Medical History = Bulletin Canadien D'histoire De La Médecine·Jennifer Fraser
Aug 22, 2020·Canadian Bulletin of Medical History = Bulletin Canadien D'histoire De La Médecine·Karissa R Patton, Emily B Kaliel

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