My contribution to the special issue on Contamination for the EnviroSociety bog post.
Category: Uncategorized
[REVIEW] Midwives and Mothers: The Medicalization of Childbirth on a Guatemalan Plantation
[Originally published on August 8, 2018 on the Association for Feminist Anthropology website] Midwives and Mothers: The Medicalization of Childbirth on a Guatemalan Plantation, Sheila Cosminsky, University of Texas Press, 2016, 303 p. Midwives and Mothers builds on Sheila Cosminsky’s decades-long involvement with midwives in Guatemala, where she has been conducting research since 1974. This thoroughly documented … Continue reading [REVIEW] Midwives and Mothers: The Medicalization of Childbirth on a Guatemalan Plantation
[ PUBLICATION ] Structural Violence: An Important Factor of Maternal Mortality Among Indigenous Women in Chiapas, Mexico
[Book Chapter published in Schwartz, David (ed) 2018 Maternal Health, Pregnancy-Related Morbidity and Death Among Indigenous Women of Mexico & Central America: An Anthropological, Epidemiological and Biomedical Approach, Springer, pp.147-167] Abstract In Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state, indigenous Mayan women are twice more likely to die in childbirth than are non-indigenous women. To comply with international development … Continue reading [ PUBLICATION ] Structural Violence: An Important Factor of Maternal Mortality Among Indigenous Women in Chiapas, Mexico
[ REVIEW ] Ostrach, Bayla 2017 Health Policy in a Time of Crisis
[Review Originally published on Anthropology-News ] “In Catalunya and beyond, abortion is never just a medical or even a moral issue. It is an explosive nexus of intense social conflict over power, ‘rights,’ bodily autonomy, access to health care and the equal distribution of resources in society” (Ostrach 2017: 69). Health Policy in a Time … Continue reading [ REVIEW ] Ostrach, Bayla 2017 Health Policy in a Time of Crisis
[ PUBLICATION ] Long-Distance Ethnography
A tool for collaboration between anthropologists and NGOs Since 1985, the Organization of Indigenous Doctors of Chiapas (OMIECH) has been supporting and promoting the work of traditional midwives in indigenous communities in the Highlands of Chiapas. Collaborating with non-governmental organizations, anthropologists and medical doctors in Chiapas as well as abroad, OMIECH has built an international and … Continue reading [ PUBLICATION ] Long-Distance Ethnography
[ BLOG ] Chiapas health workers strike against reforms
[Article originally published in ROAR Magazine] Workers of the Chiapas Health Jurisdiction have been on strike for one month, in protest against the structural reforms the government intends to pass. It isis 8:30 pm and the nurses are just starting their 12-hour shift. “There are three teams. Now we have a 12-hour shift, until 8 … Continue reading [ BLOG ] Chiapas health workers strike against reforms
[ PUBLICATION ] Reforming Pregnancy Care and Childbirth in Chiapas
At each consult with a pregnant woman, Doña Gabriela starts by asking: “Does your head hurt? Do you hear buzzing in your ears? Do you feel nauseous? Have you vomited? Do you see little lights?”
[ PUBLICATION ] Les sages-femmes traditionnelles du Chiapas : Une approche holistique de la grossesse et de l’accouchement
[Originally published in Grandir Autrement, Hors-Série n9, 2015] « Le don qu’a la sage-femme lui a été donné par Dieu. Ce n’est pas quelque chose de facile, d’accompagner un accouchement ; ce n’est pas pour n’importe qui… Car l’objectif principal est la vie du bébé et de la maman. Les sages-femmes travaillent jour et nuit, à n’importe … Continue reading [ PUBLICATION ] Les sages-femmes traditionnelles du Chiapas : Une approche holistique de la grossesse et de l’accouchement
[ BLOG ] Workshop on Plant Use and Women’s Reproductive Health
This series of pictures was taken in April 2015, while I was conducting fieldwork in Chiapas. My colleague and the founder of the Women and Midwives Section of the Organization of Indigenous Doctors of Chiapas.
[ BLOG ] Notes from the field
“Oh, I see, so you want to be a partera (midwife)” is the typical response I hear after explaining the purpose of my visit; that I am doing dissertation research to document how midwives live and work.
Mounia El Kotni 