Macdonald Margaret
Department of Anthropology, York University.
Med Anthropol Q. 2006 Jun;20(2):235-56. doi: 10.1525/maq.2006.20.2.235.
In this article, I examine the meaning of natural bodies and natural births in contemporary midwifery in Canada and explore the impact of these central concepts on the embodied experiences of pregnant and birthing women. The ideal of a natural birth has been used as a successful rhetorical strategy in scholarly and popular feminist works on childbirth to counter and critique the predominant biomedical or "technocratic" model of the pregnant and birthing body as inherently problematic and potentially dangerous to the fetus. Contemporary Canadian midwifery--which only as recently as 1994 made a historic transition from a grassroots social movement to a full profession within the public health care system--continues to work discursively through the idiom of nature to affect women's knowledge and experience of their bodies and selves in pregnancy and birth. However, my key finding in this ethnographic study, which focused primarily on midwifery in the province of Ontario in the years following professionalization, is that natural birth is being redefined by the personal, political, and pragmatic choices of midwives and their clients. I argue that the construction, negotiation, and experience of natural birth in contemporary midwifery both reflects and promotes a fundamental shift away from essentialized understandings as it makes room for biomedical technology and hospital spaces, underpinned by the midwifery logics of caring and choice. Natural birth in this context also carries important cultural messages--gender expectations--that posit women as persons and bodies as naturally competent and knowing.
在本文中，我审视了加拿大当代助产实践中自然分娩和自然身体的意义，并探讨了这些核心概念对怀孕及分娩女性身体体验的影响。自然分娩的理念在有关分娩的学术及大众女权主义作品中被用作一种成功的修辞策略，以对抗和批判将怀孕及分娩身体视为本质上有问题且可能对胎儿有危险的主流生物医学或“技术官僚”模式。当代加拿大助产实践——直到1994年才经历了从草根社会运动到公共医疗体系内一个完整专业的历史性转变——继续通过自然这一习语进行话语运作，以影响女性在怀孕和分娩时对自身身体及自我的认知和体验。然而，我在这项主要聚焦于安大略省助产实践职业化后几年情况的人种志研究中的关键发现是，自然分娩正由助产士及其客户的个人、政治和实际选择重新定义。我认为，当代助产实践中自然分娩的构建、协商及体验既反映又推动了从本质主义理解的根本转变，因为它为生物医学技术和医院空间留出了空间，其基础是关怀和选择的助产逻辑。在这种背景下，自然分娩还承载着重要的文化信息——性别期望——将女性视为有能力且有认知的个体和身体。
