Opara Ijeoma Nnodim, Elmi Yasmine M
Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America.
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada.
PLOS Glob Public Health. 2025 Jul 18;5(7):e0004703. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0004703. eCollection 2025.
Black maternal health narratives have long been dominated by crisis-focused frameworks that emphasize morbidity and mortality, often reinforcing narratives of vulnerability, pathology, and systemic failure. While these statistics are crucial in identifying disparities, they obscure the full spectrum of Black maternal experiences, erasing stories of joy, resilience, and thriving. This essay argues for a shift toward a vitality framework-one that reimagines Black maternal health beyond survival to center joy, liberation, and healing. Drawing from historical and contemporary contexts, we explore how systemic factors-including racism, sexism, and colonialism-have shaped dominant narratives, contributing to the weathering of Black bodies. We introduce ethering as a framework that transforms these harmful effects by reclaiming Black joy as an essential component of maternal health. Grounded in principles of reproductive justice, Black feminist thought, and Ubuntu, this approach moves beyond deficit-based models to highlight the collective power of Black communities in shaping new possibilities for maternal well-being. By integrating insights from public health, advocacy, and cultural expression, this essay proposes a reorientation of Black maternal health discourse toward holistic, affirming, and future-building strategies that recognize Black motherhood as a site of power, agency, and transformation.
长期以来，黑人孕产妇健康叙事一直被以危机为重点的框架所主导，这些框架强调发病率和死亡率，常常强化脆弱性、病理学和系统性失败的叙事。虽然这些统计数据对于识别差异至关重要，但它们掩盖了黑人孕产妇经历的全貌，抹去了喜悦、韧性和蓬勃发展的故事。本文主张转向一种活力框架——一种超越生存来重新构想黑人孕产妇健康，将喜悦、解放和治愈作为核心的框架。从历史和当代背景出发，我们探讨了包括种族主义、性别歧视和殖民主义在内的系统性因素如何塑造了主导叙事，导致黑人身体的损耗。我们引入“ethering”作为一个框架，通过将黑人的喜悦重新作为孕产妇健康的重要组成部分来转变这些有害影响。基于生殖正义、黑人女性主义思想和乌班图原则，这种方法超越了基于缺陷的模式，以突出黑人社区在塑造孕产妇福祉新可能性方面的集体力量。通过整合来自公共卫生、宣传和文化表达的见解，本文提议将黑人孕产妇健康话语重新定位为全面、肯定和面向未来建设的策略，这些策略将黑人母亲身份视为权力、能动性和变革的场所。
