Introduction
Birth, the physiological process of childbearing, is both a biological and cultural event. In all societies, the universal physiology of birth is culturally shaped and managed. Jordan’s (1978, 1993) groundbreaking work Birth in Four Culturesinitiated the field of study now known as the anthropology of birth, or more broadly, the anthropology of reproduction. Following Jordan, anthropologists have focused on the study of birthing systems rather than on the comparison of individual and isolated “birth practices” which characterized the earliest anthropological references on this topic. The cross-cultural analysis of birthing systems has documented that birth is globally a culturally marked life crisis event that is socially patterned as well as being a biological phenomenon. The cultural patterning of birth includes beliefs and practices surrounding pregnancy; expectations regarding the circumstances in which pregnancy may occur and who may legitimately reproduce;...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Browner, C., & Sargent, C. (1996). Anthropological studies of human reproduction. In C. Sargent & T. Johnson (Eds.), Medical anthropology: Contemporary theory and method (Rev. ed., pp. 219–235). Westport, CT: Praeger.
Cosminsky, S. (1976). Cross-cultural perspectives on midwifery. In F. X. Grollig, S. J. Harold, & B. Haley (Eds.), Medical anthropology (pp. 229–249). The Hague: Mouton.
Davis-Floyd, R. E. (1992). Birth as an American rite of passage. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Davis-Floyd, R., & Sargent, C. (1997). Childbirth and authoritative knowledge: Cross-cultural perspectives. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Daviss, B.-A. (1997). Heeding warnings from the canary, the whale, and the Inuit: A framework for analyzing competing types of knowledge about childbirth. In R. Davis-Floyd & C. Sargent (Eds.), Childbirth and authoritative knowledge: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 441–474). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ebin, V. (1994). Interpretations of infertility: The Aowin people of southwest Ghana. In C. MacCormack (Ed.), Ethnography of fertility and birth (2nd ed., pp. 131–151). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
Ford, C. S. (1964). A comparative study of human reproduction (Yale University Publications in Anthropology, No. 32): New Haven Human Relations Area Files Press.
Fraser, G. J. (1995). Modern bodies, modern minds: Midwifery and reproductive change in an African American community. In F. D. Ginsburg & R. Rapp (Eds.), Conceiving the New World Order: The global politics of reproduction (pp. 42–59). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Freedman, L. Z., & Ferguson, V. M. (1950). The question of painless childbirth in primitive cultures. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 20(2), 363–372.
Ginsburg, F., & Rapp, R. (1991). The politics of reproduction. Annual Reviews in Anthropology, 20, 311–343.
Ginsburg, F., & Rapp, R. (1999). Fetal reflections: Confessions of two feminist anthropologists as mutual informants. In L. M. Morgan & M. W. Michaels (Eds.), Fetal subjects, feminist positions (pp. 279–296). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Handwerker, W. P. (Ed.). (1990). Births and power. Social change and the politics of reproduction. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Jeffery, R., & Jeffery, P. (1993). Traditional birth attendants in rural north India: The social organization of childbearing. In S. Lindenbaum & M. Lock (Eds.), Knowledge, power & practice. The anthropology of medicine and everyday life (pp. 7–32). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Jordan, B. (1978). Birth in four cultures: A crosscultural investigation of childbirth in Yucatan, Holland, Sweden and the United States. Montreal: Eden Press.
Jordan, B. (1993). Birth in four cultures: A crosscultural investigation of childbirth in Yucatan, Holland, Sweden and the United States (4th ed., revised and expanded by R. Davis-Floyd). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
Kaufert, P., & O’Neil, J. (1993). Analysis of a dialogue on risks in childbirth: Clinicians, epidemiologists, and Inuit women. In S. Lindenbaum & M. Lock (Eds.), Knowledge, power & practice: The anthropology of medicine and everyday life (pp. 32–55). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Kay, M. (1982). Anthropology of human birth. Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis.
Laderman, C. (1983). Wives and midwives: Childbirth and nutrition in rural Malaysia. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Layne, L. L. (1999). “I remember the day I shopped for your layette”: Consumer goods, fetuses, and feminism in the context of pregnancy loss. In L. M. Morgan & M. W. Michaels (Eds.), Fetal subjects, feminist positions (pp. 251–279). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
MacCormack, C. (Ed.). (1994). Ethnography of fertility and birth (2nd ed.). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press. (Original work published 1982.)
Malinowski, B. (1929). Practical anthropology. Africa, 2(1), 22–38.
Malinowski, B. (1932). The sexual life of savages in northwestern Melanesia. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Martin, E. (1987). The woman in the body. A cultural analysis of reproduction. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
McClain, C. S. (1975). Ethno-obstetrics in Ajijic. Anthropological Quarterly, 40(1), 38–56.
Montagu, M. F. A. (1949). Embryology from antiquity to the end of the 18th century. Ciba Symposia, 10(4), 994–1008.
Ram, K., & Jolly, M. (1998). Maternities and modernities. Colonial and postcolonial experiences in Asia and the Pacific. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Romalis, S. (Ed.). (1981). Childbirth: Alternatives to medical control. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Rozario, S. (1998). The dai and the doctor: Discourses on women’s reproductive health in rural Bangladesh. In K. Ram & M. Jolly (Eds.), Maternities and modernities. Colonial and postcolonial experiences in Asia and the Pacific (pp. 144–177). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Sargent, C. (1982). The cultural context of therapeutic choice. Obstetrical care decisions among the Bariba of Benin. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: D. Reidel.
Sargent, C. (1989). Maternity, medicine and power: Reproductive decisions in urban Benin. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Sargent, C., & Stark, N. (1987). Surgical birth: Interpretations of cesarean delivery among private hospital patients and nursing staff. Social Science and Medicine, 25(12), 1269–1276.
Trevathan, W. (1987). Human birth: An evolutionary perspective. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
Trevathan, W. (1996). An evolutionary perspective on authoritative knowledge about birth. In R. Davis-Floyd & C. Sargent (Eds.), Childbirth and authoritative knowledge (pp. 80–91). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Whiteford, L., & Sharinus, M. (1988). Delayed accomplishments: Family formation among older first-time parents. In K. Michaelson (Ed.), Childbirth in America (pp. 239–253). South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey.
Whiting, J. W. M. (1964). Effects of climate on certain cultural practices. In W. Goodenough (Ed.), Explorations in cultural anthropology (pp. 511–545). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers
About this entry
Cite this entry
Sargent, C. (2004). Birth. In: Ember, C.R., Ember, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29905-X_26
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29905-X_26
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-306-47754-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-29905-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive