Midwives in Mexico

This book presents the contemporary history and dynamics of Mexican midwifery - professional, (post)modern or autonomous, traditional and Indigenous - as profoundly political and embedded in differing societal stratifications.

Hanna Laako is a Senior Researcher at the Department of Social Sciences of the University of Eastern Finland (UEF). Georgina Sánchez-Ramírez is a Researcher-Professor at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. She is also member of the Mexican National System of Researchers (CONACYT).

Introduction: Navigating the Midwifery Waters in Mexico Hanna Laako and Georgina Sánchez-Ramírez 1. Underdogs, Turf Wars and Revivals: Politically Situated Mexican Midwiferies in Historical, Multiscale Perspective Hanna Laako 2. She Breaks Paradigms and Leaves a Trail: The Contested Terrains of Midwifery Activism Hanna Laako 3. From Infantilization to Body-Territoriality: Birth Centers in Mexico Georgina Sánchez-Ramírez 4. Dejar Pasar: The Safe Interruption of Pregnancy by Traditional, Indigenous Midwives in Southern Mexico Georgina Sánchez-Ramírez and Geicel Llamileth Benítez Fuentes 5. Postcolonial Midwifery: Midwives, Territories and Human Rights in Development Hanna Laako Conclusions: Situatedness and the Making of Worlds in Midwifery Hanna Laako and Georgina Sánchez-Ramírez